HTC One Hot Press Photojournalists Get Snappy With Royseven

Dublin Indie rockers Royseven proved the perfect test for 12 finalists in the HTC One Hot Press Photojournalist competition, as Messrs Walsh, O'Hara, Garland, Barrett, Oglesby and O'Neill strutted their stuff at the HTC Most Personal Experience gig in 4 Dame Lane.

A dozen eager photographers were each awarded a very swanky HTC One handset for making it to the final 12, and were asked to put their prizes to work by snapping Royseven's performance.

The finalists had plenty to work with: tricksy lighting, impromptu flag dances, showboating guitarists and a charismatic front man with a penchant for doing what could easily be described as the running man.

Tracks from the band's poptastic second album You Say, We Say took a rockier turn under the 4 Dame Lane lights, with the New Wave-inspired 'Every Line's The Last One', the infectious 'Dance, Dance, Dance', the decidedly epic 'Killer' and Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year 2011, 'We Should Be Lovers', leading the charge.

The dramatic tunes yielded a suitably theatrical performance, with frontman Paul Walsh cutting a menacing figure in his dark hood and coming over all wide-eyed innocent by turn. Album tracks 'I Need To Know Your Name', 'You Can't Hide That' and 'No Romance' also made an appearance to the delight of the expectant crowd, who were themselves winners, from among 4,000 who applied for tickets to HTC and Hot Press.

With music supplied by DJ Jesse Valentino and later by Goldie it was, in every respect, an evening to remember.

The whole show was – hopefully! – captured in all its hook-laden glory by the 12 finalists (Sean Conroy, Sophia Harding, Rachel Hegarty, Adrian Heffernan, Eoin Kirwan, Emilia Krysztofiak, Matt Loughrey, Robert Manning, Beatrix Matthews, Tommy McArdle, Martina McDonald and Ronan Melia) on their HTC One handsets. We've already had a sneak peek at some of the results and we can proudly confirm that our gang have put the phone's 8 megapixel camera to wonderful use.

The finalists have until close of play tomorrow to submit their entries. Following which our esteemed jury will pick the outstanding entry, thereby selecting the HTC One Hot Press photojournalist who will get the chance to capture some of the biggest and best gigs this summer including Forbidden Fruit, Snow Patrol, Florence + Machine and Electric Picnic.

Stay tuned to hotpress.com to see who has bagged the title, and look out for full coverage in the next issue of Hot Press! Click here to browse our man Graham Keogh's gallery of pics from the night. Over and out...