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Since his late teens, Neal Preston (b. 1952), has been a rock photographer par-excellence, photographing the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, and U2, to name a few. Before working with Queen, Preston was Led Zeppelin’s U.S. Tour photographer for the early 1970s, enjoying unlimited access and capturing the band more truthfully and successfully than anyone else; unanimously agreed upon by the band and their fans alike. This level of commitment and precision led him to become Queen’s tour photographer during 1978; 1980; 1981 in South America; 1982, in addition to their legendary 1985 Live Aid performance and their final tour, ‘The Magic Tour’ in 1986.
After photographing Queen independently in 1976, Preston joined Queen on-tour the following year, with in-depth intimacy – on stage, off stage, on the road and everything in between, in both bold colour and crisp monochrome (many of which were previously unseen or unpublished):
“Neal just has the knack, the skill, to always be the right place at the right time. He became part of the life of the band… a very trusted companion. Many of my favourite Queen pictures are in this book… Some of them are incredibly evocative, summoning up memories of those fleeting moments; things were moving too fast at the time for us to really take them in.” – Brian May, 2020, pg.7
Preston documented everything – always present, virtually invisible – whether it was John Deacon tuning his bass backstage, Brian May shredding on guitar or the band hanging out with their South American police escort, to Freddie Mercury playing off the crowd. Freddie especially become a focal point for great images, whether he was applying makeup or stretching backstage, to his unpredictable movements onstage wearing bold-patterned leotards to black leather or all-white ensembles, being a source of fun for Preston and the audience alike.
Each photograph of the band onstage is an intense explosion of movement and emotion. Freddie Mercury bouncing around the stage as Brian and John’s cool vigour gels with drummer Roger Taylor’s frenzied playing in the back, Preston makes the energy in each shot feel palpable, with Queen’s dynamic appearing choreographed beforehand; their zen-like unity and focus shown as both contemplative and powerful. Preston found that there were no ‘bad angles’ when shooting Queen; his photographs of the band live equally matched the band behind-the-scenes; carefully and diligently, purposefully working hard every-day – constant soundchecks and rehearsals, press-interviews, signing autographs, photo-ops, travelling – to partying and relaxing whenever possible:
“They always strove for pure excellence, and when the pressure was on, they were at their best. I don’t recall any Queen gig that was not fun to shoot… These were big-time, world-class level musicians at the top of their game and I couldn’t have asked for more.” – Preston, 2020, pg.13
Furthermore, Preston set out to also document the laborious, underappreciated work of the road crew, as well as the band’s evolution to a globe-trotting, headlining act. The crowds got bigger, to the point of overwhelming, alongside the ever-expanding, elaborate theatrical lighting akin to sports stadiums and increasing use of pyrotechnics to dazzle the crowd, to aerial and crowd shots of a full-capacity Wembley Stadium.
As Preston himself has attested, that one specific photograph, the now-iconic shot of Freddie arched back at Wembley Stadium with the crowd as a backdrop in 1986, would go on to become one of the most well-known photos in rock history. Hard to refute, as famed portrait photographer Mark Seliger recreated the shot with actor Rami Malek for his future Oscar-winning performance as Freddie to promote the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
What you will take away from this book is that Neal Preston’s skilled photographs were paramount in capturing the flamboyance and the manic energy of Queen; a respected mutual bond between photographer and subject. Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs serves as a key record of a band at the apex of their popularity and success, but also pleasant memories for everyone depicted.
– Reviewed by Paul Boyling
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Queen: The Neal Preston Photographs – Neal Preston, was published by Reel Art Press.
Forewords written by Brian May and Roger Taylor
