Lizel Strömberg

Backstage with De Vet Du
Quite a while ago, De Vet Du performed at Trädgårn in Gothenburg and I was there to photograph them. The reason why it took such a long time for me to publish this post, is because it took me so long time to edit these photos. Also because it has happened a lot since then, I haven't had the time to finish it earlier. Anyway, during Melfest I had already talked with them about their tour and had let them know that I was thinking about attending the show when they came to Gothenburg
 
It's always a struggle for me to get in to shows whether it's me having access or just tickets, it's always something that comes up. I was a bit worried about getting in the venue because of miscommunications which could have result in me getting kicked out. I made sure to be on set early if any complications appeared. I did had small issues to varify that I was allowed inside, but the guys helped me out and everything went well in the end. 
I was invited backstage and it was nice meeting the guys again. I hung out with them before the set and photographed some candid shots of them since I know they like those kind of photos. 
 
I didn't know what to really expect from the show or anything. I kinda knew that they would have a couple of friends backstage, but not as many as it was during the night. First it was just Rickard Engfors (who worked with them during Melfest) and I, but through out the night it came more and more people. There was no room for everyone to sit basically. And let me tell you this, I was the only girl there. Not the most comfortable situation, but I managed and they didn't made me feel like I didn't belong there. 
Right before the show, I decided to take a group photo of De Vet Du and Rickard since I knew things would be more hectic afterwards.
 
De Vet Du prepared the last things for their show while Rickard and I walked outside to get where we was suppose to be. This was my first time shooting at a clubgig and I have to admit, I was very nervous for it. I was really concerned about the lack of lighting inside the venue and the smoke that I knew was coming. I had to use my ISO at a very high number, which I think was at 3200 as the most which I hated. I couldn't do much about it since I wanted to make sure I had a high shutter speed to be able freeze their movements. 
The major issues I had was the lack of lighting and the colours. Since I don't have a lens cap the light hitted right in the lens several times which made lens flares in my pictures. My settings in the picture style that I usually use didn't work in this kind of enviroment which I only realized what to change after half of the show. 
 
Despite having technical issues, I did managed to capture some of the highlights during their performance. Even if the editing process took a long time, I could fortunate save some of the photos in the editing. 
Beforehand I had made research to see how De Vet Du's show are set up, to get a feeling of what I could expect and to be more prepared of what I could capture. Unfortunately, I didn't found a lot of videos of their shows which is a shame. There were not even a lot of photos, which is really bad. I don't see why not more photographers take photos of them since they are a lot of fun. And if you are going to be one of those photographers that only take photos of people to get you clicks, De Vet Du's fans are dedicated. If I could I would have photographed them at more times before, not for clicks but because you can get funny and good pictures of them. Also because I enjoyed seeing their show.
 
At one point during the show, Dj-Hunk stops the music and doesn't seems satisfied. In response, Johan says something like: "Oh, Dj-Hunk is not happy because we forgot to introduce him". Dj-Hunk gets intoduced to the audience and he walks from the Dj booth to recieve the audience cheer and flex his muscles in response. 
 
I think it's a great idea to give Dj-Hunk his own moment, to get him more into the light and give the audience a chance to see him more since he's always in the back, almost invisible. Also, it was great for me since it gave me another opportunity to get photos of Hunk which was something more than just him standing by the Dj booth. 
It was my first time to get to see De Vet Du perform outside of the Melfest bubble. The only time I've seen them before was at a day gig in one of the malls nearby, which honestly doesn't count. I loved seeing the show and to get a feeling how things are when they are out touring. It was nice to get to see what the actual response is from the crowd. I enjoyed getting to hear them perform all those well known songs such as "Fy Fan Va Stek", "Dansa Som Kungen" and "Fucka Ur".
 
I think there's small things in their show they could work on, to get it even better. Like having something more in between some of the songs, coordinate their movements on stage better so they are not so spread out on stage all the time and maybe have some kind of ending to it? It could be a small thing like just having all the members together at one spot and do some kind of thank you? Overall the show was great and funny. You get to see De Vet Du make jokes with each other, being all silly and you get a feeling of their different personalities. 
After the show, we went backstage a bit to get ready to go out in the club for the guys to meet their fans. We got escourted to a rope off space in the venue beside the bar. The square we had to move in, was super small. It was basically De Vet Du, the guys that were backstage and I in that small area which got even more crowed of people getting in. It got too much at one point and the security had to make the square bigger and bring some fences so people wouldn't get in as easy. It felt like the guys in De Vet Du kept an eye on me to make sure I was okay and didn't got pushed, which I really appreciated. Even some of the guys that were backstage earlier, was keeping an eye on me, helped me and made a way for me to get my photos. 
Despite the pushing it was fun seeing all the fans coming up to De Vet Du to get their photo taken. Some would think that one or two members would get more approached but I think it was equal between them.
 
When I'm at shows or signings, I'm used to see small fangirls approaching the artists and be fangirling a lot. But this time, I got to see people in my age or even older, fangirling over De Vet Du which was fun to see. A lot of the people tried to act cool and talk like if it wasn't a big deal for them, but as soon as one of the members in De Vet Du turned around to the next person, they would fangirl so hard! xD
 
It was one fan in particular which had "dressed up" as Dj-Hunk and wanted a picture with Hunk, he acted all cool and Johan even made a Snapchat video of him with Hunk. He didn't made a fuss, but as soon as they have walked away, he fangirled SO HARD. He basically disappeared behind the fence, crouch down and kind of couldn't believed what happened. Haha. It was so funny, loved it!
On the internet, I've seen a lot of people trying to figure out the mystery behind Dj-Hunk and it was so funny to see it in real life as well. I can't even remember how many times people tried to make Dj-Hunk talk to them, make him take off his glasses and just try to make him react. Haha. 
 
(Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of Dj-Hunk while meeting fans since he was most of the times next to me so it was too close for me to get a decent angle.)
I had a lot of fun attending De Vet Du's show, to meet and to photograph them. I enjoyed seeing the chaos, the love and support they recieve from their fans. It was nice getting to see more of who they are. 
 
Here's a clip of snippets from the night if you want to see more of it. 
 
I want to end this post with saying thank you to Johan, Chris, Tor and Dj-Hunk for letting me to come. It was nice meeting you again and I hope you liked the pictures. I'm sure we will see each other soon enough. 
 
To everyone reading this: until next time, ingat! 
/Lizel