JLS and others perform at Rays of Sunshine Concert

JLS performing at the Rays of Sunshine Concert

Friday 11th March I was lucky enough to be asked to cover the Rays of Sunshine concert held at the Troxy in East London. This was a charity event, the Rays of Sunshine charity raises money to turn wishes into happy memories for children living with serious or life threatening illnesses between the ages of 3 and 18.

Performers at the concert seemed to be all x reality tv talent show contestants, including JLS who were headlining the event, Olly Murs, Joe McElderry, George Sampson and Spelbound. Also performing were Tinchy Stryder and The Saturdays. Spelbound were amazing to watch, but difficult to photograph. As I was at the front all night, I made sure I had some hearing protection, this wasn't because I don't want to listen to the music, just to stop my hearing getting damaged.

Pictured is JLS performing at the concert.

X factor live tour - Cher Lloyd

I was lucky enough to be asked to cover the Matinee performance of the X factor Live tour on Sunday 6th March at Wembley Arena. Normally with live shows photographers will only get the first 3 songs. I once had 1 song only. With the X factor show, because they had pyrotechnics, we weren't allowed to shoot any acts then. In addition, all the top 10 acts from the X factor finals were spread across the whole show. This meant for some a long day, or a chance to see more than one song from the show. Great. 

 Cher Lloyd © Nathan J Hulse

I was very pleased to see they actually used a real band with real musicians, playing real instruments rather than just backing tracks. It was good to see more of a show than normal, I still left just before the end to avoid thousands of people all catching the same train.

Simon Cowell's Syco had a 6 month restriction on use for any photography from these concerts. They were only available for 6 months from the date the picture was taken. Other use had to be arranged via syco. 

Usually photographers photograph the first 3 songs of a concert. However, because this concert had many performers, we were there for almost the entire duration. After standing at the front, I managed to blag some ear plugs from a security officer. When I got back I decided it was time to get some proper ear plugs. Best decision I made.