Snow Patrol and The Corrs - Plymouth Summer Sessions - 14/06/2025
Two Days of Great Music in Plymouth
The Summer Sessions are a series of 4 day mini festivals held across the UK featuring some of music’s finest talents from across generations. Last year, my first Summer Sessions gig, was in Plymouth and the headline act (on the night that I photographed) was the legendary Tom Jones!
So, when the opportunity to photograph the Summer Sessions in Plymouth again I jumped at the chance. While I was only able to shoot two of the four days, the bonus was that on the Sunday one of my favourite bands were playing, Snow Patrol. This would be my 3rd opportunity to photograph Snow Patrol in less than 12 months. I was not going to complain.
Fortunately for me the weather was pretty good on the Saturday and Sunday. The stories I was hearing about the “biblical” weather on Friday night meant that I didn’t feel left out for missing it.
So here are the photos from the musicians I photographed on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15th of July 2025 at the Plymouth Summer Sessions. I’m looking forward to next year already.
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol and Nina Nesbitt at Utilita Arena Cardiff - 18/02/2025
There’s very few bands that I’d be willing to make a 4 hour round trip to Cardiff for but Snow Patrol is one them!
A Trip to Wales
The Utilita Arena in Cardiff is a venue that I’ve not photographed in before, but I have been to two concerts there. In 2009 (when it was still called the Cardiff International Arena) I saw Tom Jones, and then Dolly Parton in 2011. Both shows were tremendous as you might expect.
When I heard that Snow Patrol were playing at the Utilita Arena and that my friends over at MusoMuso had secured me a photo pass, the 4 hour round trip to Cardiff seemed a small price to pay to have the opportunity to photograph one of my favourite bands (again).
Nina Nesbitt
Nina Nesbitt was there to kick things off with a beautiful acoustic set as the arena started to fill up to capacity.
Snow Patrol
I was lucky enough to photograph Snow Patrol last year in London for one of their special pre-tour shows. It was a special set, from a special band in a special venue. But the Cardiff show was a whole different beast. It was bigger and brighter in every sense!
Enjoy these photos, but with Snow Patrol playing so many gigs across the UK in 2025, I don’t think this will be the last time I photograph them this year!
A Recap of My 2023 and 2024 Live Music Photographs
A recap of the photographs I captured in 2023 and 2025 featuring Muse, Snow Patrol, Nick Mason and Del Amitri!
Where Have I Been?
While I have been out photographing concerts and festivals as normal, I have been rather slack and not posted on the Unplugged Blog since May 2022! But I've got some great concerts to photograph in 2025 and I will be sharing those photographs here on the blog. Before I do though I thought I'd share some of the photographs I've captured from the last two years. It seems a shame not to share those photographs, especially as I have photographed so many amazing artists and bands!
There's a lot of photos to share with you, so I'll keep the words to a minimum, but let's make a start with one of the biggest bands in the world!
Muse - Plymouth, 27th May 2023
Not only is Muse one of the biggest bands in the world, but I'm also a massive fan. So having the opportunity to photograph them in Plymouth was something I was definitely not going to miss. Due to the position and limited space available for photographers at the gig, it was tricky to get the compositions I wanted, but this doesn't take the shine off photographing such an amazing gig!
Beautiful Days Festival, Devon - August 2023
My annual attendance of my local festival is always a highlight and a great oppertunity to photograph some amazing bands and artists.
LYR, Exeter Phoenix - 2nd October 2023
After hearing Simon Armitage interviewed on the Rockonteurs podcast I knew I had to check out LYR live when they played the Exeter Phoenix.
Ocean Colour Scene, Bristol - 4th December 2023
Plymouth Summer Sessions - June 2024
This was my first time covering a Summer Sessions and it proved to be an excellent chance to photograph some really big names!
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Plymouth - 17th June 2024
After the disappointment of being turned away just as Nick took the stage in Plymouth in 2022, it all came together for his Bristol gig. A rare opportunity to photograph one of my musical heroes.
Sleeper, Exeter Phoenix - 21st June 2024
Beautiful Days, Devon - August 2024
My annual pilgrimage to my local festival yielded another collection of cracking photographs!
Snow Patrol, London - 11th September 2024
What’s better than photographing Snow Patrol? Getting to photograph them again ahead of their new album release and tour!
King Creosote, Exeter Phoenix - 23rd November 2024
Del Amitri, Bristol - 8th December 2024
If photographing Muse, Snow Patrol and Nick Mason wasn’t enough, I finished off 2024 by photographing a band that I’d been listening to since high school!
Snow Patrol at the Plymouth Pavilions - 14/11/2019
Photographing Snow Patrol
Over the years I’ve photographed hundreds of bands and artists. I’ve shot everything from local bands to chart-topping artists at the peak. Naturally some of the bands will be new to me and some them I will be really familiar with. However, it is rare that I get the chance to photograph a band I am a real fan of.
I’ve been a fan of Snow Patrol for around 15 years now. I think it probably all started with their first big hit album Final Straw. It was an album that I played so much that if CDs did indeed wear out I probably would be on my 3rd copy by now! Over the years I’ve bought all their albums and been lucky enough to see them in concert a few times.
I listen to a lot of music but there is something about the lyrics of Snow Patrol songs that seem to really connect with me. I’d often listen to them while I was out running and I would find the miles would fly by as I lost myself in those meaningful lyrics. Those songs became the soundtrack of my life during that period.
After the release of Fallen Empires in 2011, things went very quiet for Snow Patrol. The reasons for this are well documented but I think like most Snow Patrol fans we wondered if they would ever come back. Fortunately the release of Wildness this year saw the band come back at full strength. It is a cracking album and one that I’ve played many, many times. As soon as the tour for the album was announced I bought tickets and so my wife I went to see them in Birmingham. It was great to see the guys back on the stage and on great form.
All that said, it should be obvious to you by now that I like Snow Patrol. Fast forward to November 2019 and I get an email from my friends at MusoMuso asking if I’d like to photograph Snow Patrol at Plymouth Pavilions on their Reworked tour. It took all of few microseconds to say yes!
At the gig it was business as usual for me. Well, for the first three songs anyway. Regardless of my personal attachment to the band I always take my job seriously and aim to do a professional job while capturing images in the three-song window. After I captured the images I got to enjoy m 2nd Snow Patrol gig of the year. This job can definitely have its perks sometimes!
I know this is a slightly different blog post than normal, but getting the chance to photograph a band or artist that you are a real fan of doesn’t happen very often. It was a real privilege taking these photographs and I hope you have enjoyed them as much as me.