It almost seems like a dream now, but I just met KT Tunstall!! She’s SO nice!!!
I first saw KT Tunstall perform live at the Cambridge Junction back in May (my cousin first told me about her and wanted to go), and was blown away by her talent, energy, and great songs. Her performance live is an order of magnitude better than her album, which is itself fantastic. I decided against taking photos back then, and we both enjoyed the concert much more for it. Since then, her debut album has gone platinum, and she’s been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
So when I saw KT Tunstall on the billing for the Cambridge Folk Festival, I contacted the festival organisers and her manager to see if I could get a photo pass. The festival organisers couldn’t help me out (they didn’t get my original e-mail until it was too late), but KT Tunstall’s manager and tour manager were really helpful and arranged my photo pass and festival entrance. I only found out on the morning of her set that I could get into the festival to use the photo pass they’d arranged a while back, and still wasn’t convinced until I turned up and was given a wrist-band and guest pass!
I had a bit of a wander around, bumped into another press photographer I’d met before, who shared some useful logistical info. About 10 mins before her set was due to start, met the Media Liaison people who escorted us to the pit area. There were about 20 other press photographers there with me (from the music press, local news, photo agencies, folk magazines etc.), and we had 3 songs to get our photos. I snapped my way through a load of photos in that time, which seems like a blur now, and for the rest of her amazing set, took some more photos from the guest area at the front/side of the stage. I spent most of Saturday sorting through all of them, and they’re now on CantabPhotos, along with photos of The Proclaimers, and general shots around the festival. On first glance through the pics when I got home that night, I was worried that they were all blurred or out of focus (low light, difficult angle), but now I’m really happy with the photos I got of KT; I think my very favourite one (for lighting colours and her pose) is photo 48 on CantabPhotos (shown below).
Getting great photos wasn’t the best part of the evening though – I hung around afterwards and asked the media liaison/stage management people nicely if I could say thank you to her tour manager, for arranging my photo pass and ticket. The media liaison person let me backstage and introduced me to the assistant stage manager, who had a better rapport with the performers. I met her tour manager, Murray, who was as friendly and helpful in person as he had been in all of his e-mails while arranging my ticket for the festival. While waiting for KT and her band to finish their discussions, and then for KT to finish talking on her mobile, I spoke with Murray and a couple more musicians (Ryan, the Australian bassist of Cat Empire, and then some of KT Tunstall’s band), before meeting the lovely lady herself! Had a chat in her dressing room, (what exactly we talked about is lost in a blur now!). While she was talking to the one or two other people there, I called up my cousin and said “You’ll never guess who I’m standing next to right now……KT Tunstall!” – she wasn’t sure if I was joking, or how I’d managed it, until I gave KT my phone and they had a chat – my cousin was rather speechless afterwards! Of course I got the requisite autograph (on the concert ticket from May) and photo with her :D before she had to leave, bound for Australia the next day. I was still smiling when I woke up the next afternoon!
She’s SO nice! She truly deserves all the success and happiness that her considerable talents afford her.
These seem to be the most popular photos in the gallery:
