And so, on the 9th of November 2006, the indie gig known as Moonshine had its 1st year anniversary at Laundry Bar, The Curve.

It was also the perfect place to test my infrared-modded Fujifilm Digital Q1 with Seagull 50mm F1.8 lens! The spotlights were full of infrared, giving me 1/60th of a second at ISO 100, F1.8. (On my unmodded Canon Powershot A520, it was about 1/2th of a second at ISO 100, F2.8.)

Solsta* does the British 90’s wave. I remember them most for their excellent Supergrass cover during the second season of hitz.tv’s Blast Off (though a judge asked why they picked a song he had never heard before. Sir, have you not heard We Are Young?)

Reza Salleh has a showdown with sound engineer Leonard.

Reza Salleh and the Fumakillas; there he goes melting hearts again with his sexy voice, to 90’s modern rock.

Hanafi jangan tak solo!

Bittersweet from Ipoh was my favorite, playing very catchy British-tinged rock. You’ll point your fingers in the air and clap along, while stomping your feet.

I like how his sunglasses seem to vignette his face.

The crowd (okay, so I cheated and used my Canon. Look at the fans!)

When I first heard them, the following line came about my head: “Panic in the streets of London, panic in the streets of Birmingham… hang the deejay hang the deejay.” You know, that infectious Smiths stuff.

Force Vomit from Singapore also played Brit… rock? I’m not quite sure what genre, as they don’t sound like the current British revival but sound British anyway.

Rappers on the open mike.

Melodica was awesome! When you see a six-string green John Myung bass, you know you’ll be in for a treat. I swear I heard a Black Sabbath bassline somewhere in their soundcheck. They did instrumentals, ending with a cover of Deja Voodoo Spells – Arrhythmia! As it turns out, while the bassist was never with DVS, he did session with them. That does not account for the guitarist knowing the song note for note, double-tap for double-tap, though!

Never forget the next song with a setlist! (Taken from behind the glass behind the stage.)

Never forget your pedals, either!

Smek happy.

From like way, way out. The 300mm equivalent crop is fun.

There was an explosion outside, but all was calm soon.

The 300mm equivalent crop meant that I could take this from across a big room. Spot the Nicole who doesn’t look like her from first glance! (Eh, you don’t need glasses to look wise oh you enlightened-looking person.)

Others get up real close to the sound monitors; I’m glad I can shoot comfortably from such a distance.

Spot the Ivan.

I’d never had so much fun with my camera before, stuck at a 300mm equivalent (which is like 8x optical zoom for you point-and-shoot digicam owners) and manual focus. I could shoot people without them suspecting! Plus, the Q1 is deadly silent. It has no mechanical shutter (why do digital cameras have mechanical shutters anyway?), so the only sound you will hear when shooting is the shutter press. It does not have auto-focus so there’s no half-press either.

Also, despite it being 300mm equivalent, I didn’t get any motion blur at 1/30th of a second! It could be because the lens was really 50mm, with a 6x crop… or that there was no mechanical shutter or mirror to produce the slightest vibration, or that I was holding it mostly by the lens, where the Q1 was very light, thus shifting the center of gravity into the lens, reducing the effects of shake? I don’t know.

Conversely, you could add a lens hood, and perhaps a weight tied at the front of the lens, to counter the weight of the camera body!

Oh and there’s another show this Thursday!

What: Project Bazooka
Where: Laundry Bar, The Curve
When: Thursday 16th November 2006, 9:30pm
Who: Estranged, Frequency Cannon, Sizlomania
How much: FREE! But if you like a band’s music, go get their CD.

More details here.