It’s been a tiring, sucky couple of weeks. But my day is done, my buddy’s meeting me in SF and we’re going to see AC/DC over at the ballpark in a few hours.
I don’t care if they call it the “Rock Or Comfy Chair” tour Been watching recent concert footage today to get myself in the proper spirit and they still put on a great show. Opening act (Vintage Trouble) looks good too.
So there will be earplugs and excessively raspy singing and awesome short dudes and a giant inflatable Rosie and I will be there whooping it up and at least for tonight I will forget about all the shit bothering me because, well, AC/DC.
Stevie Young is the son of the oldest Young brother, Stephen, and he’s filled in on rhythm guitar before. He’s Angus’ and Malcolm’s nephew but not a kid and has been in plenty of bands; I’m sure he’s great.
Chris Slade is behind the drums in place of Phil Rudd, who is unable to travel due to the various criminal charges against him. Mr. Slade played with AC/DC in the early '90s, so he too knows how to rock.
I hope Valgard wakes up soon and tells us how the concert was. Reviews were generally very positive back in the spring when the tour started and I read a few from the early summer as well that were good, so I hope he saw a kick-ass show.
Hope this means** Valgard** had a GREAT time. I’d love to see AC/DC. I hadn’t been to a concert in ages, but saw Toto and Yes two weeks ago. We had fifth row seats and it was fantastic. I don’t know why I hadn’t done that sooner. Looking for the next one.
I’m amazed at AC/DC’s longevity. I saw them in the late '70s open for Savoy Brown at small local theater. I thought Angus Young’s head was going to snap off and roll off the stage. One of the show’s memorable moments was when the singer put Angus Young on his shoulders and ran up the aisle and out the door and back down the other aisle. I didn’t think they were going to make it 5 years. They’re still hanging in there.
I haven’t seen AC/DC yet, but I am hoping to do so one of these days. This time around it was between AC/DC on the 25th at AT&T and Tesla/Styx/Def Leppard on the 19th at Shoreline. It was really no contest as Styx is my 17 yr old’s favorite band of all time and we gave him the choice.
I don’t think that I would like to go to an AC/DC live concert.
But there was a thread recently about the best American Rock band and I wanted to say something about AC/DC. But they are all Australian.
However, now it seems I have the chance to say with a great deal of pride that when it comes to Rock & Roll music, IMHO, AC/DC makes the greatest music on the planet. I know that many people will disagree with me (some even almost violently). But I have every one of their albums and anytime I have to go somewhere or do something that I expect will be unpleasant, I put on my wireless headphones and I listen to AC/DC and shut out everyone else and everything else and I am blissfully sublimely happy in the knowledge that I have found a way to achieve total bliss for myself.
God reached down to this planet one day in the 1970s and touched all of these band members and gave the rest of us the greatest gift of rock ever given.
IMO, they are heads and shoulders above any other rock band - leastwise when it comes to the music they make. Best Rock music ever made by anyone.
Charlie, I think they’ve written and recorded a bunch of clunkers over their long career, but I’ll stand with you and fend off anyone who would try and dispute that Back In Black is the most perfect hard rock album ever. It’s 10 perfect hard rock songs; all killer, no filler. And every song rocks soooooo fucking hard they practically break the Mohs scale.
Yes. I def think you are correct. They have written some klunkers. But I have listened to all their Studio Albums many times and if you love Back in Black, I would like to recommend to you that you check out Let There Be Rock if you have not already done so.
LTBR was released in 1977 while Back In Black was released in 1980 and so, IMO, LTBR was released while the band was close to the very top of their abilities and I like LTBR almost as much as Back In Black (which is my all time favorite album by any band at any time).
Interesting that Powerage and Highway to Hell were two albums released in between Back In Black and LTBR. But, I have never been able to generate as much excitement for either of these two albums - least ways not when comparing them to Back In Black.
I fully agree with your opinions when it comes to Back In Black. But I won’t express my own opinions for fear of angering a lot of fans of other bands.
I have everything from T.N.T. up to For Those About To Rock, plus Blow Up Your Video, Ballbreaker, Stiff Upper Lip, Black Ice and the new one, Rock Or Bust. I’ve heard every album I don’t own, some, like Fly On The Wall, more times than I could count.
I also own nearly every live video they’ve put out, I think. Friends of mine worked on the Donnington concert and are listed in the credits, even.
And I’ve seen them at least a dozen times, including 4 times on the Blow Up Your Video tour (they played a lot of Florida shows).
One of the best live hard rock acts on the planet, right up there with (at their peak) Cheap Trick, KISS, and Van Halen (but not Van Hagar).
Vintage Trouble was quite good although they hit a sour note when they tried to get everyone to cheer for a song about LA, that doesn’t play well in SF Aside from that, good stuff - puts me in mind of the Blues Brothers.
AC/DC rocked. Volume seemed to be perfectly calibrated for earplugs - with 'em in, the concert was LOUD without being deafening or leaving me with any ringing in my ears. I suspect this is not accidental. Everyone was enjoying themselves, saw plenty of parents with kids (very cute to see a 6-year old girl on her dad’s shoulders, wearing huge hearing protectors) and some people in the “grandparent” range. I guess that’s the crowd you get when you’ve been around for 40+ years. The whole place was a sea of blinking red devil horns. Very enthusiastic crowd, everyone on their feet and singing along for a solid 2 hours.
Plenty of favorites plus three off the new album; they opened with “Rock Or Bust”, did “Let’s Play Ball” later and also “Baptism By Fire” later which seemed a little less polished.
Brian’s voice is certainly more scratchy and less powerful than it used to be (hell, he’s 65 years old)but he was belting out tunes no problem. Stevie did great, as has been noted it’s not his first time touring in place of Malcolm (looked like he was playing Mal’s guitar). Cliff and Chris absolutely solid. Angus was nonstop playing, soloing and running from one side of the stage to the other. Incredibly long solo to finish “Let There Be Rock”. No striptease, don’t know if they’ve dropped that from the act.
So here’s what’s cool - they’re getting up in years; the “new guy” (Stevie) is 59. Angus is 60. Brian, Cliff and Chris are all 65+. They are very successful and don’t need to do this, it just looks like they enjoy putting on a hell of a show for tens of thousands of people at a time.
Only downside was getting home afterwards - about 50,000 people left the ballpark at once and BART was swamped, took us longer to get home than the concert lasted (I got home about 1:45am, crawled into bed about 2).
Thoroughly enjoyed myself. If you enjoy a big loud rock and roll show, go see them if you get the chance.
I don’t know if I could do an AC/DC concert any more. But I’d love to sit and talk with Brian Johnson about cars over many drinks. He seems like a great guy.
Been watching recent concert footage today to get myself in the proper spirit and they still put on a great show. Opening act (Vintage Trouble) looks good too.