According to Wikipedia, Angus Young – now 55 - is “is known for his wild, energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and the duck walk,” and is ranked by Rolling Stone as 96th of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. After his performance last night, which included a 15 minute solo performance during which he held the crowd in the palm of his guitar-string-bruised hands, I would say the first is still true but the last shouldn’t be – his guitar playing – while running around the stage or lying on the floor and spinning himself around especially, is “Awesome” in the true sense of the word. He Rocked!
The show overall was a spectacular experience, not just of ACDC’s music but of Australian life generally. The crowd was a superbly wide-ranging cross-section of Australian society – Acca Dacca is the height of Ocker. I even got into some “agro” for the first time in probably 20 years. The short, stocky and perhaps best described as ‘bogan’ gentleman in front of me allowed his enjoyment of the show to impede that of the gentleman next to him. When this chap took umbrage with him, both he and his equally short, stocky bogan friend standing next to me both remonstrated with him to strongly reinforce their right do whatever they wanted. I suggested to the chap next to me that he might want to concentrate on the gig and he rounded on me “I’ll fucken take the pair of yous on “. Fortunately though, after a great deal of beer, both just didn’t have the attention span to maintain the affray and soon just seemed to forgot what they were doing…I chuckled afterwards thinking it more-or-less exactly what I expected from the evening.
As their performance moved on past their dramatic entrance aboard a “Runaway Train”, the huge scale of their stage show started to unfold. There was a 20ft tall inflatable Rock Chick for A Whole Lotta Rosie, canons (For Those About to Rock) and of course the predictable giant Bell, presumably procured from Hell. The crowd played their part as well though, of the 90,000 odd there, about a quarter were wearing small red devil horns which all flashing in open air stadium made for a stunning vista when not absorbed by Angus et al. When the band struck up “The Jack”, female members of the audience made a particularly special contribution to the show responding enthusiastically to lead singer Brian Johnson’s request for them to “get ‘em out if you got ‘em” when sniper-eyed camera men trained their cameras on girls riding their boyfriend’s shoulders. Not to be out done though, Angus also shed clothing, eventually – and somewhat disturbingly – revealing his AC/DC-branded jockeys with which he mooned the audience.
I’m not the world’s greatest Acca Dacca fan I must admit. I laid out the (not inconsiderable) ticket fee on the basis of the Ocker adventure, Wolfmother (who were tres poor), AC/DC’s reputation for enormous shows and the old classics which the band delivered with surprisingly youthful and adept expertise. Back in Black, Hell’s Bells (Audioboo sound clip), TNT, this blog’s title track and of course the great finale with the Canons blasting to For Those About to Rock. Mr Johnson left the stage to “We salute you Sydney” sparking and explosion of fireworks over the stadium.
As the final firework smoke dissipated, a baby-boomer in ear shot of me turned to his friend and said “I can die happy now”. The sheer importance of AC/DC to Australia’s cultural Heritage cannot be overstated – 1 in 35 Australians will see AC/DC on this Black Ice tour – see ‘em if you can, it’s a awesome show, mate…