URIAH HEEP‘s Bernie Shaw has defended Rob Halford over an incident last month when the JUDAS PRIEST singer kicked a cell phone out of a fan’s hand during a concert.
Here’s what he said:
I feel he took it a little bit too far in the way he responded to the fan. I can sure understand [Rob’s] frustration. Cause as a performer, you get into the moment, you get into the mood, and you don’t come out of character until you walk offstage. And for him to get interrupted like that… His space was invaded, in my opinion. This is only truly my opinion. I don’t think it was the right thing to do — maybe he overreacted — but I can sure understand where it came from.”
He continued:
“[The audience is] getting carried away with the adrenaline and the evening as well, but there’s a fine line — there’s a bit of decorum. And in my opinion, there should be a little bit more respect to the band that you supposedly like and follow.”
He further added:
“Personally, I’m not a lover of people that steal my show. The audience pay good money to come to a concert and enjoy the evening and enjoy the event and the adrenaline and the energy. And for somebody who just thinks that they can waltz right in, get their little GoPro out and steal my show — ’cause that’s an infringement of copyright…
I spent hours, months, years honing my craft, as the whole band did. And we put everything into a show. It costs us thousands of dollars to put on a show with the production. It’s a thousand dollars a day just for the bus, let alone the diesel that goes into it at six miles an hour, and let alone the hundred and fifty bucks a day just for the driver. You add everything — all the wages and all that — up, it’s a pretty big monetary, financial — whatever you wanna say — investment. And you get people waltzing in with their cameras and their GoPros and just put it up on social media. My personal view is, I don’t like it, but I have to embrace it, because at the same instance, it’s a little bit of promotion. Back in the day, it used to be sold — you used to be able to buy bootlegs. You probably still can. But it’s all up on YouTube now.”