The music photography magazine gallery of
Judas Priest in concert
`Judas Priest` are a Heavy Metal band from England formed in 1969.Here they are photographed & captured in Analog from the stage and pit area during a concert in America in 1980. For more information & to follow the band on social media use the following external links.
Judas Priest concert pictures ~ Bill O’Leary
A word from the photographer
ON THIS NIGHT: Judas Priest
Once again, I was shooting one of my favorite bands as a teenager, Judas Priest. This tour was in support of their newest album at the time, British Steel. I had photographed the band at two different shows on the previous tour, Hell Bent for Leather (Killing Machine in Europe), unfortunately the images were mediocre at best due to angle and location within the venue. This time around I had secured front row seats and was very excited to shoot the band, un credentialed.
A 50mm lens and some rolls of film
At that time in 1980, promoters and venues had just begun to crack down on concert goers bringing camera equipment or any type of recording devices into the shows. As long as you were discreet and definitely NOT using a flash, you could take pictures from your seat. Sometimes entering a venue, we would use so called “gorilla tactics” to get camera equipment in with us. Hiding a camera lens here and the camera body there discreetly to get thru security. That was the case on this night, I got the bare minimum of equipment in, a 50mm lens and the camera body itself with 3-4 rolls of film as well.
How things have changed
I find it ironic in today’s concert going world that everyone has a mobile phone with both still photo capability, as well as even worse, video capability. Just look at YouTube and you can see EVERYTHING is filmed. Obviously, the quality is very lacking in most cases, but the fact that it has been allowed so far is ironic as I said. Over 35 years of keeping photographers jumping thru hoops, securing credentials, band management permissions, etc. and now everyone is a “photographer”.The irony of it all.
Perfect concert
Anyway, back to Judas Priest. Everything this night was perfect, the lighting, the angle for composition, the crowd was also great, completely into the artist. As it turned out, I was the only person up front with a camera, not even a credentialed photographer was shooting the performance. Judas Priest came on with full throttle energy as usual. I love shooting show’s where I feel as if I am the only person there, just you and the band thru the viewfinder. In the end, you may agree, I got some amazing images capturing Judas Priest just as they were breaking the big time.
Location and date of these concert captures
British Steel tour / America / 03.07.80
Photographer`s favourite shot
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Photographer
After enjoying the Judas Priest concert pictures by Bill O’Leary then make sure to visit his GALLERY. You will find more of his work, social media links & websites.
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Slideshow
Watch the slideshow of Judas Priest in concert
