The annual In The City music convention and festival took place from Sunday 5 to Tuesday 7 October.
As in previous years, I was one of the official photographers covering the event. I’ve covered 1998-2000 and 2004-2008. A selection of my photographs is displayed below. To see the full set of images taken by all the photographers, including myself, go to In The City 2008 on Flickr
- In The City was founded by Tony Wilson and Yvette Livesey and has taken place every year since 1992.
- It brings together people from the music industry and unsigned artists.
- In the past few years, In The City has been based at the Midland Hotel. It has also been held at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel Manchester, the Lowry Hotel Salford, in Liverpool, as well as Dublin and an extra event in New York.
- By day in a conference atmosphere, panels take place where music industry people discuss the key issues facing the music business today.
- By night, hundreds of artists perform in venues across the city centre, all hoping to gain the attention of some key person or group of people and achieve a breakthrough in their career.
- Many famous names were discovered at In The City, including Elbow, Stereophonics and many others.
- Many famous personalities from the music industry have come to In The City, some from far afield, for instance Andy Taylor, founder Sanctuary Records, music industry veteran Kim Fowley, Chris Blackwell, founde Island Records, and music producer and innovator Brian Eno.
- Tony Wilson died in August 2007, so ITC08 is the second one without the great man at the helm. Despite his absence, the event has a momentum of its own and will probably provide the best memorial to him.
See below for my personal ITC 08 highlights
My personal In The City 2008 highlights:
- The Kevin Cummins presentation and interview with Andy Spinoza. The slide show revealed the breadth and depth of Kevin Cummins photography, and just how many famous Manchester bands he has captured… Joy Division, the Smiths, New Order among many others…
- The panel ‘Has the music industry come full circle?’ with a distinguished group of music industry personalities, including Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, co-founders Sire Records, Andrew Loog-Oldham, former manager of the Rolling Stones and Geoff Travis, founder Rough Trade records.
- The talk and presentation by Jarvis Cocker about songs that ‘speak the unspeakable’. The highly respected pop star came across like a professor with his beard and baton.
As for music, I have to say that this year, I did not see any bands or artists that particularly impressed me. I was out of action on Monday night due to a bad cold. I went to see a selection of bands, some images of which are displayed above. See the ITC Flickr page for all images.
All in all ITC 08 was very enjoyable – as usual – and I made some excellent contacts. I am already looking forward to In The City 2009, taking place towards the end of October. Visit the In The City official website www.inthecity.co.uk.