My Summer vacation's been over for quite some time now, but I'm quite happy to tell you that I finally can scratch another category off my "things to shoot" bucket list: concerts :-)

If only I hadn't had so much fun doing it; I yearn for more... ;-)

Here's a brief description of how it all went down!

It's Thursday morning, August 6th. I'm two weeks into my vacation and so far all I've done is work like a madman around the house. During a brief break from pulling weeds and mowing the lawn, I decide to have a quick look at the Internet and discover that it's actually the first day of this year's e-Lake festival.

2015 is actually pretty special as it marks the twentieth birthday of this absolutely fantastic open-air festival which usually spans over three days.

• Friday's live bands day
• Saturday's electronica day
• Sunday's traditional party / DJ day

This year though, Thursday was added as an additional live bands day to celebrate :-)

Hmmm... How about a little "me-time" ? Enjoying music and photography at the same time sounds like an absolute dream combo!

However, I read on the website that only pocket cams are allowed to us mere mortals outside of the press. Now, don't get me wrong; I own two absolutely fantastic pocket cams (the Sony RX100 III and the Panasonic LX100), but for what I had in mind, I wanted to bring along the "big guns".

Ah well, what do I have to loose ? Let's just give it a go and send an e-mail asking if it would be possible to bring the Nikon nevertheless.

Good morning dear e-lake team!

Looking forward to this year's edition, I actually wanted to snap some pictures over the next couple of days. However, I found on your website, that only pocket cams are allowed, or one would have to apply for a press pass. Unfortunately I'm no reporter, neither am I a pro-photog, nor do I make a living running a blogging website. Just an enthusiast hobbyist living in Echternach, who happens to enjoy music and photography but never shot a show. Is it possible at all for me to bring my Nikon to the lake and have a good time ?

Many thanks in advance and warmest regards,

Oli

About an hour and a half later, I had already received a reply!

OK - no problem - just ask for an accreditiation an you will get a Media-badge

greetings,

ROLL

Well, a BIG THANK YOU to Roll ! :-D

I arrived at the site about half an hour before the first band was scheduled to play; plenty of time to pick up my badge and scout the location.

7 p.m., SHOWTIME! Luxembourgish metal band Luceed take the stage by storm; I was blown away! Unfortunately, there were not yet many people present, and those who were, were not ready to party. This was a bit of a letdown, because this amazing band was putting on one hell of a show and I so loved every. single. second. of it !

Click here to access the complete Flickr gallery of my Luceed shots.

I was quite wired after this, so Luxembourgish rock legend Moof didn't have too much of a problem to win me over ;-)

Click here to visit my Moof Flickr gallery.

I was... surprised... about the next artist to follow these two high-octane acts: Hip-Hop-Reggae-Feel-Good master Nasou.

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much, because this usually isn't the kind of music I listen to on a regular basis, but after five minutes I was feeling relaxed, mellow, at ease, just... HAPPY :-)

My Nasou Flickr gallery can be found here.

Although there were still two additional bands lined-up on Thursday, I went home after Nasou's gig, feeling incredibly happy and thankful. This nicely concludes the first day I attended :-)

Back on Friday, where I started with Luxembourgish punkrock legend, Versus You.

Frankly spoken, this is not my kind of music, but I was more than impressed by the raw energy Eric Rosen et al displayed on stage.

Follow this link for my Versus You Flickr gallery.

And now, for something completely different, I give you... RRRRRRIOOOOOTTTT REEEEEEEFFFF (read this part in your best Michael Buffer voice ;-) ).

Ska Punk = FUN! Need I say more ? :-)

This way for my Riot Reef Flickr album.

Next up: 257ers ! German fun hip-hopers which left me thinking "WTF ?" for about 15 minutes with their crazy party lyrics.

More 257ers shots can be found here.

From German hip-hop to Luxembourgish hip-hop => Edel Weis is freaking brilliant! Thought-provoking lyrics and an amazing show, full of passion and energy.

My Edel Weis shots can be found here.

Although there were quite a few additional artists on the schedule, I only had time for one more gig before I had to get home. Fortunately Curse was the PERFECT way to round off this amazing experience.

Follow this link for the full Curse Flickr album.

I'm already counting the days to e-Lake 2016!

Until next time, cheers,

Oli

P.s. here's a couple of additional shots. Many more can be found by clicking on the Flickr album links above ;-)