Festival afternoons are the hardest light of the year and the easiest crowd.
Daylight is not kind to a stage. There is no plot to lean on, no colored wash to hide behind, just a flat sun and a band that has to win the crowd on charm alone. The Verve Pipe did exactly that at Mo Pop, and a field full of people who had been standing in the heat since noon seemed happy to be won.
For photos, the trick is to stop fighting the sun and use it: backlit hair, squinting grins, hands in the air against a bright sky. It is not moody, but it is honest, and it looks like what the day felt like.