Picture This: Last night of the Parked Car Conversations Tour.
words + photography by Nicola O'ConnellIrish pop-rock band, Picture This, ended their Parked Car Conversations Tour at the O2 Brixton Academy in London on 24th October. The band were supported by the wonderful Sam Fischer who warmed up the crowd for the evening ahead. Initially I didn’t know of Sam Fischer’s music but as he got further into his set he sung a song I was familiar with called ‘This City’.
If you don’t know the name Sam Fischer but you have TikTok, I can tell you now that you most likely know this song. My ears perked up instantly as I clocked it and just like that, I was forced back in time to the pandemic when I heard the song most. During the lockdowns a lot of us found ourselves engrossed in apps like TikTok to keep ourselves entertained and this is one of those viral songs that stuck with me. & by the sounds of the crowd that night in London, I think it stuck with many others too. It felt like everyone in the crowd was suddenly singing this song.
Generally, Sam Fischer’s set was brilliant. He’s great on stage and he has a fantastic voice. And extra kudos to Sam for being a 10/10 human to photograph whilst I was down in the pit. From my own experience and photos I’d seen from previous shows, Fischer loves to interact with the camera and as a photographer it’s (personally) one of my favourite things. It makes for great shots.
Onto Picture This’ set, I have to start with how much I LOVED their stage design. It’s possibly my favourite I’ve seen in a while. In the middle of the stage is a black car with a warm yellow/orange glow of light coming through the windows. The drum-kit perched on top of this was a cool addition as sometimes it’s hard to see drummers up on stage behind the band, so for him to be on a platform designed as a car. Love it. And the lamppost just truly added to the aesthetic of it all, the album title and style. Whoever came up with it, I love you. Carry on.
As the band are coming onto stage one by one, ‘London’ is being spray-painted onto the side of the car. It’s a cool bit in which they done throughout the tour by putting each cities name on the car. It’s a nice little touch.
Kicking off the set with ‘Act Of Innocence’, the fans were quick to go wild and singing with all their hearts. Frontman, Ryan Hennessy truly said (not literally) “catch me if you can” because that man shot back and forth across that stage like a whippet. & massive shout out to his photographer/videographer who was down in the photo pit because I watched that human sprinting back and forth keeping up, I was in awe. Give that man a raise.
The nights setlist included songs ‘Unconditional’, ‘Call It Love’, ‘Parked Car Conversations’, just to name a few, and a personal favourite ‘Winona Ryder’. Picture This are a band I was dying to see and definitely one of my favourites to get to photograph too. They deserve all the success and recognition they are currently getting and I’d love to see them keep growing in popularity. They’re a super cool band and since the release of their album ‘Parked Car Conversations’ they’re proving themselves to be consistent with making some really great music. It’s sad to see a tour come to it’s end but I’m grateful to have been there for the last night of it.
