Oscar Cash, saxophonist with 'Metronomy'.

Another first for me this month. I've never photographed a band in near complete darkness before-usually they are in the spotlight!

The band was 'Metronomy' and I photographed them in Bedford for The Guardian. Unfortunately the timings were out, so I watched some backing bands while I waited. 'The Casio Kids' were first up- sad to say, but I am old enough to be their grandfather! Their performance was really good considering they were all aged 15yrs and playing their first ever gig together. Amongst the small group of onlookers were their moms and dads.

In their usual quirky way, The Guardian had decided to experiment that week and send the sports reporters out to report on arts jobs and the arts reporters out on sports assignments. So I was teamed up with an amused reporter who normally covers the Tour de France amongst other sporting greats. He was of even more advanced years than me, but had cunningly brought a friend along who was older still.

Everything was going fine until 'Metronomy' took to the stage and then the lights dimmed and I realised that my careful planning was a waste of time. So it was on with the flashgun and drop the shutter speed down to 2 seconds to get some kind of image, even at high ISO. If I'd looked on the net first, I would have realised that the band wear black T-shirts with what appears to be a white circle on the front. Turns out to be nightlights, which they occasionally turned on!