Through the Lens of Photographer Anastasia Pantsios

Anastasia Pantsios’ dad had a darkroom — and when a friend made yearbook editor in college, Pantsios volunteered to take photos. That summer, she learned to use a camera and develop her own film.

Later, while obtaining her graduate degree at Case Western Reserve University, she started photographing for The Observer — and began to receive promotional concert tickets.

“I got to see bands like Led Zeppelin, the Who, Little Richard, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Black Sabbath,” Pantsios says. “I could just take my camera and walk up to the stage and start taking pictures.”

She began writing and photographing for some small alternative papers — then, in the mid ‘70s, landed a column at The Plain Dealer, also selling concert images to magazines.

“Eventually I got an agent in New York and started getting a lot of pictures in bigger publications, such as Rolling Stone,” she recalls.

Pantsios released a book, Girls to the Front: 40 Years of Women in Rock, in 2017. Its contents are based on those of an exhibit of that included her work at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. She shares her memories of photographing — and attending — concerts at Blossom Music Center.

“I remember the first time I went to Blossom. … Blood, Sweat & Tears played there. … It was kind of a famous concert, too, because it supposedly … was the worst traffic jam they’ve ever had. … But you’re paying for that isolated beauty there.

Once the new wave years started, there were a lot of great people. I remember the Eurythmics. That was another show that was just oh, my God. Annie Lennox — totally amazing performer.

A lot of the more mainstream bands really surprised you with good shows. Journey was a fabulous live band, and I’ve got a great picture I love of Steve Perry of Journey wearing a Cleveland T-shirt. … I love the composition of it, because he’s just looking up, and you can see the lights to one side of him.

It was great seeing the Pretenders there, because Chrissie Hynde, this local Akron girl … she never played locally. She didn’t really start making music till she moved to London. ... She came back here, and the first show she ever played in Cleveland was a sold-out show at the Agora. … And then within two years, she’s headlining at Blossom.

Very memorable were the Michael Stanley shows, particularly the summer of [‘82], when he played four sold-out shows at Blossom. … That energy was just off the charts. It’s a little hard for people to believe now that a local band was that huge.

Linkin Park is still one of my favorite bands. … I have a lot of photos from that era too. … There’s one of Chester Bennington, where he’s just pointing at the crowd, and he’s got this interesting projected backdrop behind him.

Tom Petty was another one. … He was one of the few artists who we were able to shoot the whole show. So, I got some amazing, amazing pictures of him, because I had the opportunity to take my time and just go for the best.

That was social capital back then — to say that you were at one of these big concerts. It was an experience that you shared with people, and I think that the photos were one more way of sharing it. … You would see the photos that were in publications, and say, I was there. I saw that happen.” — as told to Cameron Gorman

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