Back in the 1980 s , I had a friend who would smuggle in his Canon 35 mm camera and a long lens to get the good closeups of the band members performing . At that time , the bands would hire security goons to stand and watch the audience for any cameras being used , then security would go over and collar the photographers and kick them out . Pro photographers knew better than to use camera flashes , but a lot of normal people would try to snap off a few pics and the flashes could be annoying during the concert . So , security was there to stop all photographers and any sound recorders , if they saw them . A smart photographer could work with their friends and if someone saw security coming , the camera would be handed off to a friend who would then move away and hold the camera while the photographer was checked out by security . My photographer friend would work with another buddy . The buddy would bring a HUGE pair of binoculars , which would look similar to a longlensed camera binoculars were allowed at concerts . The photographer would shove the camera lens down the front of his pants , along with the camera body this was before metal detectors were in use . The two guys would then take turns during the concert , switching off between the camera and the binoculars . If security approached , my friend with the camera would hand the camera to his mate and grab the binoculars so when he was frisked , he ' d just have the binoculars on him while his friend scurried off with the camera and long lens . It worked pretty well for the photographer he got lots of nice photos of various bands . He didn ' t sell the photos , he just enjoyed taking photos of the bands and he wasn ' t annoying since he used no flash .