Joel Barrios - Photography That Rocks

Queensrÿche owned the night, closing day one of Monsters of Rock cruise. A packed theater, well past midnight, and nobody was leaving early.

The “Promise Land” faithful got their moment — “I Am I” straight into “Damaged,” a double punch earlier in the setlist like a gift for those paying attention. Some nods simply never get old.

I’ve written about this band more times than I can count, but at some point the words run out and the music does the talking. Todd La Torre said it better than I ever could anyway — spotted me in the front row, camera in hand, mid-song, came over for a fist-bump - as he closed the night with these words: “We are the one, the only Queensrÿche.”

That sums it all. No more needs to be said.

After decades of photographing electrifying concerts and hundreds of extraordinary bands, there's something utterly inexplicable that connects me with a Queensrÿche live show. Many would say it's the undeniable and timeless quality of the breathtaking music this legendary band created and continues to produce with relentless brilliance; others will point to Todd La Torre’s earth-shattering, visceral vocals, Eddie Jackson's thundering bass lines, Casey Grillo's uber-kinetic and surgical drumming, or the ever-melodic and precise guitar lines of both the incomparable Michael Wilton and the formidable Mike Stone.

However, there's so much more… there's this raw, primal, almost transcendent out-of-body feeling that comes with all of the above and compels me to sing at the absolute top of my lungs while standing in the photo pit, even driving me to drop my camera at times for some fervent air-guitar or frenzied air-drum parts. These are not images of a band coasting on a gilded legacy; these are photos of five ferociously passionate guys rocking their very souls out, and I am profoundly fortunate to continue capturing their relentless energy and savoring their extraordinary craft at a deeply personal level that so very few bands on this Earth can satisfy for me…

Photos taken during their last night performance a Cruise to the Edge

"...Come now, let us all kneel before Lamb of God, for to them we owe our metal souls…"

📷 Sony A1 with GM Lenses | Edited on Capture One and Adobe Photoshop
Mark Morton | Art Cruz