Thin Lizzy - Sydney Opera House 1978
I travelled the world with Thin Lizzy, I did numerous American, British and European Tours, but I also went to Japan and Australia with the band.
The concert in Sydney was going to be televised live, a stage had been built on the steps of the Sydney Opera House and it was a free concert. This meant that more than a hundred thousand people showed up to see the performance.
This gave me the chance of one of the best backgrounds to a live photograph you could ever get. I positioned myself between the amps onstage and waited for the band to go on.
The first number was Jailbreak and the crew had built three ramps for the guitarists to use to get closer to the audience. Philip, Scott and Gary immediately used these ramps for the first chorus, Philip machine gunned the crowd in true Wilco Johnson style and the audience erupted in applause.
I rattled off about a dozen frames before the band came back onto the regular stage, I realized that my job was probably done, nothing could beat this photo for atmosphere, it really summed up the dynamic stage presence the band had.
Of course I shot more film, but this one frame, in black and white and shot in daylight is almost as good as the color image of Philip on his knees that graced the cover of Live and Dangerous.