Way back in December of 1979 and again in June of 1980, Doug Bower, a friend and fellow employee, went to see Queen perform at The Pacific Coliseum here in Vancouver. Back in these days of festival seating and lax security, a young aspiring photographer like Doug could bring his camera along to take photos of the band while standing a few rows back from the stage. (Yes, those were the days when we could get close to our rock idols without guard rails and security personnel. We refer to them as the good old days of rock.)

Doug mentioned the photos he had taken back then as we discussed our favourite bands from the 70′s and I asked him to dig them out and let me have a look. For a 17-year-old rookie photographer who was being jostled about in the front row mosh pit and without the aid of a tripod or any other stabilization hardware, the photos he took are fantastic. I appreciate this great piece of rock history and thank Doug for allowing me to post them here for all to see.

Have a look at Doug’s photos by clicking the thumbnails below.

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