So I just purchased tickets to my very first rock concert. I would have gone in the late 80's or early 90's when my musical tastes had matured enough for me to know what I liked, but alas the death of Freddie Mercury ended any chance of seeing Queen live. So here I am, now 40 and with a must see list of musical acts that includes the likes of Rush, Paul Carrack, Nightwish and Roxette. I'm happy to say that my wife and I scored tickets to Roxette in San Francisco this September. We'll be flying down from Calgary and have decided to turn the trip into a week-long vacation so we can spend some time in San Diego and San Francisco respectively. I'm just wondering what advice people have regarding cameras at concerts? I know DSLR's aren't allowed, but I know of some friends being able to take small point-and-shoot cameras in.

Given how many people are clearly recording video at concerts now - see any recent concert on YouTube, and pay attention to how many recording device you see held high - I can't imagine that you'll have trouble with a small point-and-shoot. That said, I've never taken a camera to a concert, so I can't say first-hand that they'll let you take it in.

As an aside, Queen was my first concert. I won tickets and the LP of The Game from the local AM rock station. 14th caller or whatever. I can still envision Freddy with his knee pads on. I was SO lucky. Since then I only saw them live again once, on the last tour with Paul Rodgers. I never thought that I'd see him sing my favourite old Bad Co. songs either. Great stuff.

Bayne, you might want to check with the venue, though that's not always helpful.

Before I started photographing concerts, I attended one in a small venue here in town that has had some good Blues acts. I was told "No cameras with interchangeable lenses" so I left mine home. I was pissed when I saw 50 other people there with DSLRs because I know I could have gotten great shots right from my seat on the 7th row.

The venue where I was the "official house photographer" had the same policy, but they actually enforced it with security at the gates. I don't really know what the gain is by saying "no interchangeable lenses" when there are (semi) compact cameras with fixed lenses that equal 500mm or 700mm..... much longer than the 70-200mm I used almost exclusively from "the pit" (the area directly in front of the stage).

Every show has it's own rules based on the group and/or tour management. Every venue is different in how they well they enforce anything. In short, it equals random. I don't think a point and shoot will be a big deal though. It's almost impossible to enforce now with camera phones.

I had no idea Roxette was still around. I remember having their cassette back in the day.

They've been big in the rest of the world for a long time. For 6 weeks last year it was I think they had the number 1 single on the global charts. No a lot of love for most foreign bands in North America these days.

I couldn't have said it better myself. In the last number of years, Europe and the rest of the world has been a much more "mature" and accepting audience when it comes to the variety of music, old and new. In NA, especially the US, all they want are these "cookie cutter eventually disposable" entertainers who sing the same way and do the same dance steps in their videos. I swear the local contemporary radio stations only play about eight songs since I hear the same ones about twenty times a day!