2025 The great Reboot! Feat... The Welfare Collective and Trevor Horn | Year-End REtrospective

Hello 2026, Yes, I am writing this very late for a 2025 retrospective!

2025 was pretty good, I think, at least from a personal perspective, and ignoring the abomination that global politics has become. I think the world needs music concerts more than ever, for escapism and sanity.

The year was a bit different for me. I felt reinvigorated. I haven't done many shows, at least by my old standards. But I left 2025 feeling so alive. I've been gone for so long it didn't feel like I'd be able to do music photos again. Too old and too anxiety-filled for those big crowds. This show was exactly the fuel I needed. It was just pure magic.

The Welfare Collective kindly invited me along to snap some candids of their concert performing with uber hitmaker Trevor Horn and His Band at their Newcastle O2 City Hall concert on 18th December 2025.

It was an honour to do this show and on such an emotional day for me, as I said a fond farewell to the Wizard: David Curle from First Ave earlier this day. (I shall refer to Mr Curle in this writing, as I knew him... as the Wizard. He earned that title and I was lucky to have witnessed his talent on multiple occasions. I reckon he and Trevor would have talked for hours on microphones and gear geekery that would dumbfound the rest of us.

I don't feel like I was there in my mind; I certainly lost myself in the moment when the musicians hit the stage, and that is really what music is about. I’ve always had a fondness for brass music, which my Grandad adored; the thought never left me as I said farewell to him (Jacky) in the very same Chapel.

I just looked on in awe of these lovely humans playing songs that have echoed through the decades. I was in awe of the humbleness of the headline artists, I love the authentic shots we got. Very surreal looking back at these now, my head was elsewhere but my photo instincts seemed on form.

Thank you, The Welfare Collective, for having me along. This was such a warm and lovely experience, I had the best time ever 🎺

I think the Wizard would have approved of this show. It was truly wonderful from my perspective, and I hope the photos shared here do it justice 💜

More favourites from 2025

It's been a tremendously busy year for my photo businesses. Which have taken me all over the UK. I also returned to the world of drone photography, having vowed never to do so again many moons ago! I decided to invest in a DJI Mini Pro 4 as the technology has progressed so much since my old Phantom. It's been a great motivator to get out and about and revisit places I'd long since become bored with!