The Theatre Royal isn’t used all that often for concerts. In fact I think I’ve only ever shot one other show there before. It’s a beautiful venue, but it’s difficult to find a spot to shoot from that isn’t completely obtrusive to the crowd who, after all, have paid a lot of money to be there.
When confirmation of the pass came through I was told to ‘bring a long lens’ and that sends shivers down my spine because when the PR says that it could mean anything from a 300mm to an 800mm. What was clear though was that we would be shooting from the back and the 300mm I have would simply not be enough. So I asked specifically about being allowed down one side, about half way forward, so that I could shoot over the crowd, out of everyone’s way but much closer to the stage and was told it should be fine.
I arrived early and took up the spot I had asked for which on the 300mm lens was about as good as it could get. I only saw two other photographers but it seems they had been told to shoot from the back corner.
I got the impression I could have stayed there for the whole performance – the stewards were lovely and seemed almost puzzled when I packed up to leave after 3 or 4 songs. But I’d got what I could and although it sounded lovely, I wasn’t going to get better shots by hanging around any longer.