|
AC/DC at Roseland Ballroom
Here's a blast from the (sort of) past...It's Earl! Of course you remember him from the Opie and Anthony radio program, but did you know he's a rock afficionado, and when he WANTS to, can write his ass off. We've tried to get him to make regular contributions to this site before, but he's never taken us up on the offer. Well, Earl managed to get himself into the AC/DC show at Roseland in New York City on Tuesday night to watch them peform to a more intimate crowd (in order to celebrate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a day earlier)...and what he saw was... Well, we'll let him tell you. Here's Earl!
Fresh off their induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, AC/DC threw a free concert at New York's very tiny Roseland Ballroom (tiny for them, considering that they are still one of the top stadium acts in the world!). Tickets were more or less given away online, on various radio stations, or if you bought the first set of the recent AC/DC reissues (which is part of the band's new deal with Epic Records, who footed the bill for the show), you got a pair of tickets! Not a bad deal!
I've never been surrounded by more beer drinking, pot smoking, ratty T-shirt wearing folk in my life! They roundly booed the opening band and I thank God that the staff at Roseland serves beer in plastic cups instead of bottles because those poor bastards on stage would've been far less brave to goat them into more abuse. In any case, after that disaster, the house PA blared a steady diet of Chuck Berry and The Rolling Stones, and the apes were calm. At least until AC/DC took to the stage promptly at 9:00.
This was a show strictly for, and made up largely of, serious hardcore AC/DC fans. With the exception of 'Thunderstruck' and 'Stiff Upper Lip' (which is already considered an AC/DC classic judging by the reaction it got), the set was made of a large chunk of 'Back In Black' and a ton of Bon Scott-era material. When they dug out seminal album tracks such as 'Gone Shootin', 'What's Next To The Moon' and 'If You Want Blood', I swore that there was going to be a collective orgasm in the joint! The place was bananas from start to finish!
There's a reason why AC/DC is still on top of their game: These guys are great musicians. Why Angus Young is never mentioned in the pantheon of great guitarists in beyond me. Brother Malcolm is an excellent rhythm guitarist, and the rhythm section of Phil Rudd (drums) and Brian Williams (bass) is as steady as any band out there. It rocks so hard that it almost swings! Brian Johnson's voice is a gruff as ever, and even though it's lost some of the high end, it's still no wonder why he was the perfect choice to replace the seemingly irreplaceable Bon Scott. Great musicians, power riffs, and songs about partying, drinking, and bad women equals a kick ass rock n roll band.
There won't be a new AC/DC CD until next year, but as I mentioned earlier, their soon-to-be new label Epic Records has already reissued a series of older albums: 'Back In Black', 'Highway To Hell', 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', 'High Voltage' and 'Live' with new and original liner notes and digitally remastered sound. These are absolute must-haves.
The Set List for the March 11th show was as follows:
1. Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be
2. Back in Black
3. Stiff Upper Lip
4. Gone Shootin'
5. Thunderstruck
6. Rock And Roll Damnation
7. What's Next To The Moon
8. Hard As A Rock
9. The Jack
10. If You Want Blood
11. Hells Bells
12. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
13. Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
14. Shoot To Thrill
15. T.N.T.
16. Highway To Hell
17. Whole Lotta Rosie
18. You Shook Me All Night Long
|
