“The seventies: hectic, exciting, creative, constantly reinventing itself, full of self-confidence, sometimes tiresome, but never for long. What I’m saying is nothing new. Many have said it before me in different words, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I know, because I was there,
– Gijsbert Hanekroot
In the 1970s, Dutch photographer Gijsbert Hanekroot was up close and personal with the likes of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and and other rock gods and music legends.
Born in 1945, Gijsbert, better known as Gilbert, got his first camera for his 13th birthday. At 16 he took an internship with Philip Mechanicus, a photographer and journalist best known for his portraits of writers and photographs of his native Amsterdam. As he recalls:
“He had an assignment to photograph The Outsiders for a broadcasting magazine,” he said ‘Bring a camera and take photos too.’ Which was, of course, very kind of him. I then took that photo to an acquaintance, Pim Oets, who worked for Aloha, which was still an underground newspaper at the time. That photo wasn’t published then, though it was later, of course. That was in 1969. That is when I started working with him. At that time, a kind of avalanche occurred, an explosion of bands from America and England coming here to conquer the market. I consider the 70s the Golden Age of rock ‘n’ roll. Big groups made their first, second, and third albums. Things went very differently after that.”
In the 1970s, Gilbert was an in-demand rock photographer and working for Dutch music magazine Oor.
Tina Turner at Ike and Tina Turner show, Rotterdam.
“We were catapulted from one (music) world to another. You could say that it was Abba one day and Zappa the next. We saw The Eagles in London, Paul McCartney in the south of France, Bob Dylan in New York and the Stones in Hamburg. We visited London every two months. It was the most natural thing in the world back then, and looking back now, it was a fantastic time.”
– Gilbert
Bob Marley, The Hague (Voorburg), 1976, reggay, music
photo Gijsbert Hanekroot
Elton John in Amsterdam
“Back then, the rock scene was not quite the well-oiled machine it is today. Things still had to be invented: light installations, sounds, promotion, organisation, crowd control. This also applied to music journalism. How do you capture music, describe it? And equally important, how do you photograph it?”
– Gilbert
“One of the more important shots I did is in 1973 of Neil Young with his band The Crazy Horse at the venue The Rainbow Theatre in London. It became the cover of his Tonight is The Night, released in 1975 which according to some is his best record to date.”
– Gilbert
David Bowie, 1973 – Lndon
“My ultimate favourite artist of all time was David Bowie,. In 1971 I was in Air Studio, London, to shoot Roxy Music. During a break, I went to the canteen where I bumped into David Bowie for the first time. He was by himself working on the lyrics of a song.
“He looked up and asked me my opinion about one particular line he was working on. I thought it was rather peculiar he asked a simple guy like me. I still regret not photographing him at that time but it was such a private moment and photographing him somehow seemed not appropriate. He was recording Ziggy Stardust, released a few months later. I did meet him five more times where I did get the chance to photograph him on and behind the stage. He was something special, a true artist.”
– Gilbert
Ten years ago Gilbert began to digitise his archives, this led to the publication of Abba..Zappa | Seventies Rock Photography.
Via Blue Lotus, Hong Kong.
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