Summary of 2025

WEST SANDS BEACH - ST. ANDREWS

2025 Summary

Well, it’s been a very long break that I’ve had from the photography business and other than attending loads of gigs and sports events, there hasn’t been much productivity.

Full-time work has taken up a lot of my time, and a life changing event has had a huge effect on my availability. When you add to that the awful weather that we’ve had, it’s been tough.

2026 Plans

So, another year has come to an end, and I will get my collage made up of all the gigs and shows, events that I made it to.

I’m pleased to have quite a few booked up for the 2026 diary. With a couple that have taken place already

Date                            Event                                                  Venue

12 January ’26            Biffy Clyro                                           Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham

20 January ’26            All Time Low                                       OVO Hydro, Glasgow

28 January ’26            Callum Beattie                                    The Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh

20 March ’26               Evening with Laudrup and Albertz            Doubletree Hotel, Glasgow

20 June ’26                 Take That / The Script                        Etihad Stadium, Manchester

15 July ’26                   Boys Like Girls                                    O2 Academy, Glasgow

28 August '26              Bon Jovi                                              Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

30 August ’26              Twenty One Pilots                             Victoria Park, London

20 Sept ’26                  Anastacia                                            SEC Armadillo, Glasgow

13 November ’26        Picture This                                         The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh

03 December ’26        The Proclaimers                                  02 Academy, Glasgow

There have been many nights spent on home soil with trips to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling for gigs, with many images and videos taken. I’ll get a bundle uploaded to the site this week, so please have a look and let me know what you think.

There will be others booked up as new events are scheduled. The one that is on my Bucket List is to see Bruce Springsteen live in the ‘Big Apple’. It doesn’t matter where in New York City he’s playing; I will be there!

The stadiums that I’ve seen him in so far are:

            14 July 2009: Hampden Park, Glasgow

            21 June 2012: Stadium of Light, Sunderland

            25 May 2016: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

            05 May 2023: RDS Arena, Dublin

            30 May 2023: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

            22 May 2024: Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Here is one of the live tracks from RDS Arena, Dublin:

https://youtu.be/rHcjJKQwDIE

On the music scene, since 2015 I’ve been attending on average 25 gigs/shows per year. There were 33 in total for 2025.

A collage of some from 2025 is shown below:

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Life Changing Event

So, I mentioned in the intro that there had been a life changing event in 2025. This happened on May 19^th when after my usual Saturday routine (a morning walk, train to Stirling, movies and the train back home). I picked up a parcel delivery at the front door and went inside the house, and that’s the last thing I remember until I regained consciousness and was staring up at the face of a paramedic.

I was then rushed to A&E at Forth Valley Hospital for treatment.

This was the first time that I’d had a seizure since January 2004 that was linked to suffering from Viral Encephalitis on Christmas Eve 2002.

And it really hit me on how lucky I’ve been. After being released from hospital, I was then put back on the medication that I had been taking until 2015.

Epilepsy

All was well until 27 October, when again I was at a gig: The Counting Crows @ The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh and I collapsed about halfway through the show. They think this time I had just fainted, and it was not a repeat of the May collapse.

But once again prior to attending a gig that was a late booking on Wednesday 21 January, I once again fainted at a restaurant prior to attending. Thankfully I was with my daughter, who was able to sit with me after I ‘came to’ and we got picked up by family.

This is unfortunately going to be something that limits my ability to travel as easily as I am suspended from driving unless a go 12-months without any happening.

So, as you can imagine that has hit me extremely hard and is taking some getting used to.

After these events I said to myself that I’d once again take part in fundraising for The Encephalitis Society and booked myself up for a 10k run and a half marathon. But once again things have changed, when I started to feel pain in my left knee after taking part in the Illuminated Kelpies climb. This involved going inside one of the Kelpies (Barron) and climbing the structure in various ways: steps, ropes, nets

etc. I have since been advised that I appear to be suffering from arthritis. This appears to have put an end to me running / hiking / cycling.

Below are a couple of photos from the Inside the Kepies event.

So 2025 was a very tough year and 2026 has not begun the way that I wish it had.

My outlook on life hasn’t changed, but my thought of solo travelling has really begun to worry me.

There’s a huge event in the USA and Canada this summer and one that is in my thoughts.

To be continued…..

Best Wishes

Mitch