AC/DC Review

AC/DC
Black Ice Tour 2010

Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington NZ
When: Thursday January 28th 2010
How many: sold out

The AC/DC concert was the first concert of that size that Wellington hosted. Westpac Stadium, which is a fairly new outdoor arena, was used for the first time for something of this caliber. AC/DC were playing two nights in Wellington, Thursday the 28th and Saturday the 30th. I witnessed the Thursday show, thinking to my self that the very first concert of their tour would be the very best. I must admit that going to the concert I had my doubts about their performance, I knew it would be good no matter what, but the words “washed up rock band” came to my mind more than once. I mean, they are starting to reach middle age, and was wondering to myself if these older gods of rock could still pull off singing about “American thighs” and girls that “shook them all night long” with as much conviction. Would I still be able to listen to them in the same way, or would this concert fade my love for the band a little bit? I was very excited to find out, and would soon have all my answers.

The lines into the stadium were not bad, and Westpac had made a very good system. People started filling up from the minute the doors opened at 5.40 pm to AC/DC started playing at 9 pm. The first warm up band was ok, but not a hit. They were a local band from Wellington. The vocalist was trying a bit too hard to be Mick Jagger and they just didn’t get the crowd excited with their soft rock. About an hour later the kiwi band Shihad came on stage, they were a bit more hard rock and managed to get the crowd going and excited, but for me the songs were too similar to each other and after half an hour I wanted them to get off stage and let the gods take over. At 9 pm, when all was dark, the three TV screens lit up and a short movie appeared (one of the nights many amazing graphics). Rock and roll train was driving on the tracks, faster and faster towards town. Two girls tried to stop Brian Johnson (the vocalist) who was the conductor, but didn’t manage to. The train crashed as the stage exploded into smoke and the TV screen in the middle of the stage parted in two and showed a full size train crashed on real train tracks. It was then, out of the smoke, that AC/DC entered the stage and started playing ‘Rock and Roll Train’ from their new album for a crowd of screaming fans. As you probably guessed, I was one of them. After the song, the vocalist Brian said in his unreal raspy voice: “We’re here to play rock n roll tonight!!”, and the crowd went mad.

From then on the show just kept getting better, there was not one single moment during the concert that I thought to myself: “next song” or “that wasn’t too good”. They played all the classics, but in-between they played the new songs off their new album “Black Ice”, and still managed to keep the crowd going. The props they had were unreal as well. When they played “Whole Lotta Rosie” they had a humongous blow-up doll that they positioned so that she was straddling the train and blowing air under her foot so that it looked like she was keeping the beat. At the start of “Hells Bells”, a massive bell came down and the Brian Johnson ran onto it and swinging on the cord started the song. The hits just kept on coming throughout the night, with ‘Thunderstruck’, ‘TNT’, “Shook me all night long’, ‘The Jack’, ‘Highway to hell’, ‘For those about to rock’, ‘Shoot to thrill’, ‘Dirty deeds done dirt cheap’, ‘Who made who’, ‘Back in Black’ and so many more.
They kept it going through out, but maybe the most enthusiastic was Angus Young, the lead guitarist, he was jumping around on stage the entire concert from start to finish. During “The Jack” he stripped off his famous schoolboy uniform, piece by piece to the roar of the crowd, to reveal his boxers that read AC/DC all over them. He also had an absolutely amazing guitar solo that lasted for the good part of 15-20 min. He was everywhere, lying on the stage, feet kicking in the air, running back stage while playing and doing one part to each side of the stage and crowd. The man has still got it, that’s for sure! He ended his solo coming through the bottom of the stage with just one beam of light transfixed on him, ran down the stage, jumped in front of the drums and they started playing right back into the song just as they left off. The drummer Phil Rudd was sitting playing his advanced stuff while smoking a cigarette, making it look like a breeze. Malcom Young and Cliff Williams were more in the background, but very much there!
The band itself seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot during the entire show, Brian Johnson making some joke or comment in between each song.

Everything was so tight and to the key, and so well done that the hour and 50 min they played felt like 10 min. They left the stage the first time in a rain of confetti. They then came back for an encore and played one more song in which the entire stage, bit by bit, shot out fireballs. The show ended with a massive fireworks show and the stage yet again shooting off fireballs. I was then left there in awe and just begging for them to re-enter the stage and do it all again.

All my wonderings and questions were answered. No they are absolutely not a washed up rock band, they can definitely pull off singing about women without sounding gross, Brian still has an unbelievable voice and YES they are still very much still the gods of rock. On Thursday the 28th of January I witnessed true rock in its very purest form, and I would gladly have paid three times the amount to see them again. For all of you that didn’t get to witness them, I’m sorry, because to be honest, you really missed out! All I have to do, is close my eyes and Angus Young lying on stage playing the guitar with his feet kicking in the air, will still be a vivid picture in my mind.

Stand up and be counted, for what you are about to receive. We are the dealers, we’ll give you everything that you need. Hail hail to the good times, cause rock has got the right of way, we ain’t no legend, ain’t no cause. We’re just living for today. For those about to rock we salute you!