As you can see, I couldn’t go head-on with my photos in the beginning because the backdrop was this kind of frosted-looking glass that blew everything out in the background.

But as the day went deeper into the evening, the purple lighting above got stronger and the Kodachrome recipe was looking like a great choice.

Next up (no pun intended) was the host of the evening: a poet, event organiser and a novelist who gave us a taster of her latest work, a novel full of poetic prose.

The penultimate act is a rapper that I have been following for nearly a decade now and is the reason I attended this event.

We met after he supported Akala at a show in Southampton Engine Rooms and after a written interview and a Podcast interview two years after, he's been quiet on the music end…

Until recently, where he's given himself a year to "do it or dump it": dropping tracks that he's held onto since 2020 and making a push in this music to see if he can actually succeed in it.

As an appreciator of his music, I wanted to support in any way I could. And here I am.

Shouts to his partner who was also present and a great vibe.

The final act was the Master of Ceremonies for this evening. A poet with a heavy lean on loose-thread storytelling that comes off as him yapping but when the poems come around the threads start to tighten.

Shout out to the frames that added to the storytelling. You can see his son’s eye, his father, a portrait of him and his logo.

I personally love the eye photo. Great detail.

As you can imagine, I didn’t just take photos of the people performing. This was a very intimate affair – which you know I always like – and a lot of beautiful Black faces, which you know I love.

But since I was initially there for my guy DEACON, I thought it would be nice to dedicate a section to him and his partner.