TREACLE · Archive
Archive.
Everything we have published, newest first.
2026
- 16 Oct
Justice are scoring GTA VI, and their new track features Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard
Rockstar has confirmed Justice as the composers of the GTA VI score. The first song out, "Flower in a Hurricane", brings back Kevin Parker, who won a Grammy with them in 2025.
The Wire · Coda
- 15 Oct
Emei at the Danforth Music Hall 2026: opera masks, a sit-down "Dear Emily" and a song for Nai Nai
The Toronto stop of the Night at the Opera tour opened with masked dancers and ended in chants. In between, Emei asked the whole room to sit down and sang to her late grandmother.
Heard · Zach Aureliano
- 13 Oct
Chlapecka at Modus Berlin 2026: a drag opener, rhinestoned CDs and "Brain"
The "Girl on the Moon" tour stopped at Modus in Berlin: a drag persona as opening act, two backup dancers and CDs rhinestoned by hand at the merch stand.
Heard · Katie Ramsay
- 12 Oct
Doechii's Swamp Sessions are back with "BOMBS". The last run ended in a Grammy.
In 2024, six Swamp Sessions led straight into Alligator Bites Never Heal. Now there is a fembot with guns in her chest, and no word yet on what comes next.
The Wire · Coda
- 9 Oct
Girli at Säälchen Berlin 2026: hot takes, a pink mic and a book swap
Girli's opinionated tour stopped at Säälchen in Berlin: a book swap at the door, an inflatable pink mic for the crowd's hot takes, and signed drumsticks on a pay-what-you-can basis.
Heard · Katie Ramsay
- 8 Oct
Six songs for Attenborough, and the fans who sang them
JADE's "Into The Deep (Seas Cry)" is the newest song Hans Zimmer has made for a BBC nature series. The first one, nine years ago, was also about Blue Planet. We look back at all of them, with photos from the shows where we met four of the voices.
Heard · Annelies
- 7 Oct
Epik High stopped their own show so nobody got left outside
Nine songs into the Toronto stop of their 3.0 tour, Tablo cut the sound and waited for the line. Zach Aureliano walked in to his first Epik High show and walked out a fan.
Heard · Zach Aureliano
- 5 Oct
ADE 2026: what a day actually looks like
The 30th Amsterdam Dance Event runs 21 to 25 October, from an aquarium at nine in the morning to hundreds of club nights. Here is the shape of a day.
Field Notes · Coda
- 4 Oct
From a Brampton tape to W.I.T.C.H. at Lee's Palace: three nights at Second Summer
Toronto's newest festival said it booked bands on how they feel live, not on follower counts. Zach Aureliano picked six sets from three nights in the west end.
Field Notes · Zach Aureliano
- 29 Sept
Apple built a 600-capacity venue in London. Its first season is booked with people who sell out arenas.
Elton John opened it on Monday with twelve songs, none released after 1983. Apple says rooms this size matter because young artists need somewhere to grow. Then it booked Burna Boy, Troye Sivan and Charli xcx.
The Wire · Coda
- 28 Sept
The 2026 VMAs: Madonna won seven, Taylor Swift passed Beyoncé and Yung Lean smashed a Moon Person
Nirvana collected the Video Vanguard Award, and seventeen of the twenty-three categories were handed out off air. Four of the night's names have been in front of our cameras.
The Wire · Coda
- 26 Sept
EsDeeKid heads to Berlin and Cologne
The Liverpool rapper brings his Council House Rat Tour to Germany for two shows in November 2026, on a forty-eight-date world tour across North America and Europe.
The Wire · Damien Töpfl
- 24 Sept
Alison Moyet wrote "Nobody's Diary" at home as a teenager. In Berlin she sang it back.
Tempodrom, Berlin, 22 September. A tour made only of Yazoo songs and tracks from her two solo electronica albums.
Heard · Andrea Roell
- 24 Sept
Genesis Owusu has won Album of the Year twice. Now his third album is nominated.
He leads the 2026 ARIA nominations with eight, level with Tame Impala. Ecca Vandal has seven. We photographed Owusu and Vandal at Roskilde in July, one day apart.
The Wire · Annelies
- 23 Sept
A borrowed bass and a stack of paper: Emma Harner and preyhound in Toronto
A tour with its European leg cancelled, a bass that ran out of battery halfway through, and a stack of paper where the merch should have been. Toronto, 20 September.
Heard · Zach Cortes Aureliano
- 18 Sept
Ten 2027 tours in two weeks, and one apology
Oasis booked 38 shows. Harry Styles booked 25 and abolished dynamic pricing. Charli XCX booked six and explained herself to fans who were not happy about it.
The Wire · Coda
- 15 Sept
FKA twigs is Josephine Baker, and the cameras are already rolling
The casting was announced back in May. Shooting started this month across Paris, the Dordogne and Sofia, with the backing of Baker's sons and the Rainbow Tribe.
The Wire · Coda
- 15 Sept
Nobody owes you a photo pass. Here is how to ask for one anyway.
Who actually decides, what they want to see, why the answer is often no, and what to do when it is.
From the Pit · Annelies
- 13 Sept
GoldFord left business for music. Frankfurt gets the result.
Eleven years after his first album, GoldFord is touring the EP that finally broke. The tour has one German date: Batschkapp, Frankfurt, 16 October.
Field Notes · Damien Töpfl
- 12 Sept
John Coffey wrote their new single for the man who threw the beer
Niels van den Ham threw the beer that David Achter de Molen caught at Pinkpop in 2015. He died by suicide two years ago. 'Not Alone' is for him.
The Wire · Coda
- 11 Sept
Wild Wild Women: "If the hunger dies, you die"
India's first all-female hip-hop collective spent this summer on their most extensive European run yet, ending at Sziget. MC Mahila, one of the five, on how it started at a cypher in Mumbai, what it cost to get there, and why nobody in the group writes anybody else's verse.
Voices · Annelies
- 10 Sept
Fontaines D.C. step into the Dopamine Chamber
The Dublin band's fifth album arrives on 16 October. Grian Chatten says Romance was 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted. On Dopamine Chamber those numbers have flipped.
The Wire · Bobby Hogan
- 9 Sept
Apache 207 returns to Mannheim for two more arena nights
Three sold-out nights in February were not enough. On 22 and 23 September he is back at SAP Arena, a home game for somebody from Ludwigshafen.
Field Notes · Damien Töpfl
- 9 Sept
Songs in the Key of Life turns 50. Stevie Wonder is playing it in full again.
Four weeks after the album's fiftieth birthday, Stevie Wonder brings it to Hannover, and four days later to Amsterdam, start to finish.
Field Notes · Damien Töpfl
- 8 Sept
Seven years, 100,000 women, and a dancefloor without fear
Femmazing filled two stages at IJland on Saturday without putting a single man on either bill. That is not a booking quirk. It is the whole argument.
Field Notes · Annelies
- 6 Sept
Oasis got an eight-minute ovation in Venice. The documentary is softer than either brother would admit.
Don't Look Back In Anger premiered on Saturday. Two hours on the reunion tour, the first joint interviews the brothers have given in over twenty years, and in cinemas from this week. Here is what is in it.
The Wire · Coda
- 4 Sept
Sam Tompkins has a new album, and an open invitation from The Fray
ARE WE GONNA SING? landed this morning. By the afternoon the band whose song he has been covering since 2023 had asked him on TikTok to come to Europe.
The Wire · Coda
- 3 Sept
Shooting at Melkweg Amsterdam: A Photographer's Guide
What to expect from the Max, the OZ and the Rabozaal, where to stand when there is no pit, and how photographers actually get in.
From the Pit · Coda
- 2 Sept
Olivia Rodrigo raised $20 million in a single day. Attendees say the shade ran out.
Daisy Chain Fields raised ten million dollars on 29 August, doubled on stage by Melinda French Gates. In June we wrote that nobody on the bill was getting paid. Then the reports from the field started arriving.
The Wire · Coda
- 28 Aug
WILDCHILD: Alex Warren named his second album after what his father called him
Thirteen songs, out today, named after the nickname his late dad used and that he now has tattooed on him. We photographed him at AFAS Live eighteen months ago, one arena before the arena.
Heard · Coda
- 26 Aug
Cosmic winks and calm vibes: Juliet Ivy and Deb Never at the Drake Underground
Nobody was filming. A basement full of people who came early for the opener, and a song during which almost nobody reached for a phone.
Heard · Zach Aureliano
- 25 Aug
Where to see live music in Amsterdam: a guide to the rooms
A church, a dairy factory, a horse-tram depot and a former film academy. The Amsterdam rooms worth knowing, what plays in them, and what to expect when you walk in.
Field Notes · Coda
- 24 Aug
Culling 1,200 frames in 90 minutes
Our actual workflow. Lightroom flags, the two-pass system, and how to deliver a final set to an editor by 1am after a midnight show.
From the Pit · Annelies Vollmuller
- 19 Aug
HEADSEND tears up the Drake Underground
Three Australians who learned to play by annoying the neighbours, one broken string, and a Toronto basement that got louder every time they stopped talking.
Heard · Zach Aureliano
- 18 Aug
From Tunis to Sziget: "our sound belongs on those big international stages"
Illbucks won a place on a European festival stage, brought his band from Tunis to Budapest, and played Sziget with them behind him. The Tunisian rapper, singer and producer on the set, the crowd and what he was watching when he was not on stage.
Voices · Illbucks / Annelies
- 18 Aug
"Don't only chase the biggest names"
Half a million people, nine stages and a main stage inside a football stadium. What Untold is actually like, from someone who spent all four days moving between them.
Voices · Bruno Majdenic
- 11 Aug
Sziget 2026, Day -1 and Day 0: the year the festival got itself back
For the first time since 2017, Sziget belongs to the people who built it. You can hear it in what they programmed before the festival even opened.
Field Notes · Coda
- 8 Aug
Soft clubbing with SWANA sounds: Bedouin love songs and backgammon in Munich
Bedouin love songs on a one-stringed rababa, backgammon instead of chess, and a museum afternoon built so that everyone feels allowed to walk in. A report from Munich.
Voices · Maxi
- 7 Aug
Where to see live music in Berlin: a guide to the rooms
From a 200-capacity former canteen to a 22,000-seat amphitheatre in the woods. The Berlin rooms worth knowing, what plays in them, and what to expect when you walk in.
Field Notes · Coda
- 5 Aug
WorldPride Amsterdam is not over: the Reguliersdwarsstraat, and what is still to come
We photographed Regulier Celebrates in the Reguliersdwarsstraat this weekend. Half the programme is still ahead, including a march that carries the flag of every country where being gay is still a crime.
Field Notes · Coda
- 4 Aug
Ten European festivals worth your August, and where you can still get in
August is the heaviest month in the European festival calendar. Ten of the best, in date order, with what is still on sale as of this week.
Field Notes · Coda
- 3 Aug
What Doechii is actually saying on "girl, get up."
Her answer to the industry-plant accusation, with SZA on the hook and a Clipse drum sample underneath. A song worth understanding properly.
Heard · Coda
- 2 Aug
"A handcrafted pop star": Tyla on Zara Larsson, and the two songs they made
Tyla's second album A*POP is out, and the duet with Zara Larsson turned into a friendship. We have both of them in the archive, a year and a continent apart.
Heard · Coda
- 30 Jul
The 2026 Mercury shortlist reads like a festival lineup
Twelve albums, announced this morning. Most of these artists have been on a stage this summer, and four of them have been in front of our cameras. Here is the full list.
The Wire · Coda
- 30 Jul
Gut Genug, explained: why the KitschKrieg hook will not leave your head (and now Skepta is on it)
Du bist gut genuuuug. Once you have heard it, it stays. Why the KitschKrieg, Blumengarten and Shirin David hook refuses to leave your head, and what a Skepta verse does to it.
The Wire · Annelies
- 28 Jul
Pitbull and Jason Derulo made PRIVACY on two continents
Their fourth collaboration landed on 24 July, recorded on opposite sides of the planet while both were out on tour.
Heard · Coda
- 27 Jul
Pledge your allegiance: Allegion's first ever show, at Hard Luck Bar in Toronto
Toronto's newest gothic metal band played their debut at Hard Luck Bar, and instead of a mosh pit they froze the room. Nothing to stream yet, but five influences that tell you plenty.
Voices · Zach
- 23 Jul
Sziget for first-timers: the island festival, explained
Five days on an island in the middle of Budapest, running 11 to 15 August. What Sziget actually is, and what to know before your first one.
Field Notes · Annelies
- 22 Jul
Knights, bagpipes and epic fights: a day at the Kaltenberg knight tournament
Our guest photographer Maxi went to Schloss Kaltenberg's Ritterturnier expecting swords and horses, and found a live music scene hiding in the Middle Ages.
Voices · Maxi
- 21 Jul
What is a festival secret set, and how to actually catch one
Surprise shows, fake names, TBA slots on the clashfinder. Here is how secret sets actually work, and how to be in the right field at the right time.
Field Notes · Annelies
- 20 Jul
Two full Raye shows are online right now, and together they explain the hype
The award-winning Royal Albert Hall film and this month's Montreux opening night are both online. Watch them in order. We've been photographing the run-up for years.
Heard · Coda
- 18 Jul
Sorting cans between sets: what volunteering at Roskilde Festival is actually like
Roskilde runs on around 27,000 volunteers, and every krone of profit goes to charity. We asked one of them, 23-year-old Maxi from Germany, what that looks like from behind the pant station.
Voices · Annelies
- 13 Jul
Let God Sort Em Out turns one: Clipse's comeback year, from the Grammys to Roskilde
Twelve months ago Clipse ended sixteen years of silence. We watched the anniversary lap from the Roskilde photo pit, nine days ago.
Heard · Coda
- 13 Jul
Flea has a jazz band now, and it just played North Sea Jazz
The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist brought Flea and the Honora Band to the 50th North Sea Jazz on Saturday night, playing trumpet, not bass.
The Wire · Annelies
- 11 Jul
Yungblud pulls out of tomorrow's Calgary show: "I'm working on myself"
His management pulled him from Sunday's Cowboys Music Festival slot. Behind the cancellation sits a tearful Bludfest speech and a feud over two words: industry plant.
The Wire · Coda
- 10 Jul
Rein Me In: Sam Fender and Olivia Dean now own the longest-running British number one ever
Sixteen weeks at number one, a 32-year-old record broken. We shot both halves of the duet before the song existed.
The Wire · Coda
- 4 Jul
Ken Carson at Roskilde 2026: hype and chaos
Hours before xperiment dropped, Ken Carson turned the Arena tent into strobes, smoke and fire.
Heard · Annelies
- 27 Jun
Daisy Chain Fields: Olivia Rodrigo's all-women festival sold out in 30 minutes, and nobody is getting paid
An all-women bill, every artist playing for free, all the money going to women's and girls' charities. Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields revives Lilith Fair for one day in Irvine, and it sold out in 30 minutes.
The Wire · Annelies
- 25 Jun
Kneecap: who they are, and how a Belfast trio became music's most argued-about band
We shot the Belfast rap trio at Roskilde in 2024. A year on, a Hungary ban and a UK terror charge made them one of music's biggest flashpoints. The story, kept to the facts.
Voices · Coda
- 24 Jun
You Never Take Me to Bangladesh: How a 49-Second Song Took Over the Internet
A 49-second song about a country it is not really about took over TikTok. Here is why it spread, who is remixing it, and what people think it means.
The Wire · Annelies
- 24 Jun
Yungblud's biggest year: a Grammy for Ozzy and a festival going global
We shot him at Sziget in 2023, and his crowd told us everything. Inside Yungblud's biggest year: the Black Hearts Club, the Ozzy tribute, and a festival crossing borders.
Voices · Coda
- 23 Jun
A visa mix-up became FKA twigs' new song with Lil Yachty
Her first release of 2026, On Your Mind, came out of a cancelled Coachella set and US tour. A small case study in turning a bad week into something worth hearing.
Heard · Coda
- 21 Jun
Doechii performs at the BET Awards with four nominations
We knew Doechii would be big, so four BET nominations are no surprise. Plus the story of how we keep just missing the shot.
Heard · Coda
- 19 Jun
Little Simz joins Gorillaz for their first stadium headline show
Going to Gorillaz at Tottenham tomorrow? Little Simz is one of 23 guests. The Simz and Gorillaz history, and why Roskilde is the one to watch.
The Wire · Coda
- 18 Jun
Yseult's Now or Never is a love letter to survival
I let Spotify do the work and stopped chasing music videos. Then Yseult's Now or Never, all 80s sound and red leather, pulled me back in.
Heard · Annelies
- 16 Jun
The music photography contests worth entering right now
Abbey Road's Music Photography Awards are free and close on 30 June. Here are the contests worth a working music photographer's time, and the rights traps to skip.
From the Pit · Coda
- 15 Jun
Olivia Rodrigo's first ever feature is Robert Smith of The Cure
Nobody saw an Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith duet coming. The backstory is better than the surprise.
Heard · Colin
- 10 Jun
Ten Queer Artists, one Pride Month
Ten queer artists we've photographed, from Chappell Roan to Peaches and Gossip: our Pride Month 2026 list, with the songs and quotes that say it best.
The Wire · Annelies
- 8 Jun
The FIFA World Cup 2026 album: 8 tracks from artists we've seen live
Eight cuts from the biggest World Cup soundtrack yet, all from artists we’ve already sweated for in festival pits and city venues across Europe.
The Wire · Annelies
- 7 Jun
Charli XCX puts Cale, Jacobs and Scorsese on her album cover, instead of herself.
Music, Fashion, Film drops 24 July. The cover, shot by Aidan Zamiri, frames the title's three categories with one figure each. We shot Charli at Sziget last summer.
The Wire · Annelies
- 6 Jun
Three reasons to catch Palaye Royale at Rock am Ring tonight.
We caught Palaye Royale at Sziget last August. Three reasons to be at Orbit at 12:30 tonight.
Heard · Colin
- 5 Jun
Dance first, film later. Since 2017.
Solomun has been quietly running phones-down Sundays at Pacha Ibiza since 2017. Now the rest of the industry is catching up, and it changes what the pictures are worth.
The Wire · Annelies
- 5 Jun
Body to Body. The Sam Tompkins song you already feel you know.
Sam Tompkins road-tested Body to Body at a secret Hoxton Hall show in April. Hearing the studio version now, it lands like a song you somehow already knew.
Heard · Annelies
- 3 Jun
What you missed at SXSW London. And what is still on.
Three days down, three to go at SXSW London 2026. What already happened, and the five sets and one panel still worth catching before the music wraps on Friday night.
The Wire · Colin Darbyshire
- 1 Jun
Festival season opens: Primavera, Governors Ball and Bonnaroo 2026
The summer run starts this week. Three festivals open the 2026 season on two continents. You know the headliners, so we skip them: here are the acts further down the bill we would not miss.
The Wire · Coda Photos
- 29 May
The folder Fred opened.
Fred again.. turned his USB002 tour folder into a public archive, trading phones-down rooms for better photos and open files. It is a mechanic any working music photographer or artist team could copy.
Heard · Coda Photos
- 28 May
The night my screen died: shooting Jungle in the rain
Fifteen minutes of Jungle in the rain with a dead camera screen. What you do when you have to shoot blind, and why the take still made it home.
From the Pit · Annelies Vollmuller
- 19 May
Roskilde 2026: Why we keep coming back
A festival run as a non-profit since 1971, with sustainability you can see and art that makes you stop walking. Why Roskilde keeps earning the trip back, and why this year might be the one to put on your list.
Field Notes · Annelies Vollmuller
- 30 Mar
Shooting at SO36 Berlin: A Photographer's Guide
A practical guide to lighting, lenses, and pit access at Berlin's most important and most demanding 250-cap room.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
- 24 Mar
Paradiso Amsterdam: Spring Concert Photography Recap 2026
Song one for the engineers, song three for the lighting designer. A spring of live photography at Paradiso, and what the room teaches you about timing.
Field Notes · Colin Darbyshire
- 17 Mar
Live Music in Leeds: March and April 2026
A working city with an unaffected relationship to its music scene. What that means for the photographs that come out of it, March through April 2026.
Field Notes · Colin Darbyshire
- 14 Mar
The unwritten rules of the pit
What gets you yelled at in a pit. What gets you the second pass. And how to come back next time without burning the bridge.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
- 21 Jan
Exposure when the lights are doing the work
Manual mode, ISO floors, and why your camera's meter is lying to you under stage lighting. Notes on nailing exposure when the lights are doing the work.
From the Pit · Annelies Vollmuller
- 17 Jan
The three-song rule, and what to do with it
Three songs, no flash. Roughly nine to twelve minutes. How to shoot song one, song two, and song three so you leave with a portfolio.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
- 14 Jan
Reading a brief properly
What 'usage' really means in a music photography brief. The three questions that change the price, and how to spot a problem brief before you say yes.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
2025
- 3 Dec
Where to stand. When to move.
Pit geography for music photographers. Where to stand, how to read mic-stand sightlines, and why centre is rarely the best spot.
From the Pit · Annelies Vollmuller
- 1 Dec
Gear minimums for live music
What gear you actually need to start. The DSLR we began with, the Leica that came after Colin's consultancy payout, and the two Sony bodies we use today.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
- 24 Nov
Image rights, in plain language
Why selling unlimited usage forever for two hundred euros is the worst trade in the industry. The contract clauses we have walked away from, in plain language.
From the Pit · Colin Darbyshire
- 28 Jul
The night Perel debuted 'Kill the voices' at Brunch Electronik
A new Perel track nobody in the room had heard yet. It landed at RSO Berlin on a Saturday afternoon, with the sun still up.
Heard · Annelies Vollmuller