High Rise Tour - Leicester - 16/5/17
Luckily enough for me I was invited to join High Rise on their longest UK tour, with Callous Caligula, as their photographer . Unfortunately I couldn’t make all 11 dates but I joined them on the road after the first 4 shows when they were in Leicester. That Tuesday I took a train up to Leicester from St Pancras to meet the band there in the afternoon. The lead singer, Jovic, and driver, Martin, were there to pick me up with a lovely post-it note welcome for me on the inside window! Then we set off to go meet the others back at the hotel we had booked for the night which was just outside the city centre. Whilst their guitarist Tom was finishing up uni work in the hotel I joined the others in the pub next door for a few drinks before it was time to head off to the venue for soundcheck.
The venue for that night was called The Firebug. It had a bar downstairs and the stage area was upstairs so the band had to lug all their gear UP the stairs, which they were thrilled about! During their set up and soundcheck I took a few photos to test out the lighting and camera settings I would need for their set. The Firebug was actually the only venue on the tour that had a green room area for the bands, along with a kitchen and bathroom. Although the kitchen didn’t look very clean and only really had a working microwave we decided to head out for food instead. Originally the plan was to find food we could heat up at the venue but I soon found out that not only was I indecisive, but so was their guitarist Ricky! (Just for the record he’s way more indecisive than me ;) ) In the end of course we settled for convenience and went to the place next door which just happened to be a McDonalds! I soon found out that on tour McDonalds tends to become your diet since it’s the only place open 24 hours after you’ve finished a gig so this was a great start.
First band that was on stage was a local act then At Dawn We Attack, Callous Caligula and High Rise headlining. I quite liked the venue as the lighting was decent and there were cute fairy lights above where the audience were, it had nice aesthetics. During High Rise’s set I was able to make the most out of the space I had to run about to get different photos from different angles. Especially towards the end of their set where I got on stage to take photos from a different perspective, this was particularly useful as Jovic really gets the crowd going with lots of involvement.
After the gig was over I had the chance to hang out with Callous Caligula in the green room as the others were loading out. It was at this point that I found out they’re all from around the same area I live which was a massive coincidence! I also found out that their bassist Gaz (also the guy that put the whole tour together) can not pour spirit and mixers proportionally correct to save his life - stick to the day job mate! Shortly after everyone was loaded in High Rise went for one last drink and you guessed it - a McDonalds before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before Newcastle the next day.
