Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Stadion Partizana / Belgrade / Serbia
Concert date: 26.05.2009
Attendance: 60
Ticket price: 48.40 (standing, back)
After months of impatient waiting, the end of May finally rolled around, and with it the time for a nostalgic cruise down the highway of brotherhood and unity all the way to Belgrade, to Partizan Stadium to be exact. The reason? Last Tuesday, everything was set there for the landing of the undisputed champions of the electric-current-converting trade, the Australian hard rock thunder-lords who go by the name AC/DC. After their big studio comeback (you can read the RockLine review of the album Black Ice here), which, besides the all-round hysteria and the sickly ticket-buying frenzy, set off an exodus of Balkan nations toward the Serbian capital, a trip to Dedinje instantly became a must for every true believer in rock.
THE ANSWER:
As part of the push for their new album Everyday Demons, The Answer could hardly have wished for a better warm-up than the global warming of millions of AC/DC sheep. The young Irish quartet belongs to the big hopes of the new generation of rock & roll, one that isn’t ashamed to show off roots growing deep into the distant past. The Answer, as befits up-and-comers, jealously cultivate their own musical math, of course. With the unexpected announcement of a tour at the start of this year, which now leads them around the world under the patronage of hard rock’s thunder giants, The Answer’s axe has doubtless fallen deep into the honey, since the lads, with a fairly safe backing behind them, can calmly feed their fast-growing appetites. The lads, relative inexperience notwithstanding, spiced up the revelry on this well-trodden proving ground, built to show off all of the band’s virtues and potential, with some bold steering of a freshly painted rock ship in Belgrade.
The Answer just couldn’t shake off their sound problems at first. A booming chaos of countless, hard-to-pin-down sounds, spewing out of the stage PA (AC/DC used an extra army of electric screamers during their set, placed deep in the offside trap of Partizan’s back line), ruthlessly sucked up all the energy of the first three songs, which is a real shame, since the opening trio of tunes had promised a lot on the album. The Answer tackled the job the way untamed stallions should: briskly, first-time, with no needless chatter between songs, dressed in an imposing creation of live-wire, high-energy outfit that rightly bets above all on the material of their recently released record. These guys left nothing to chance. A good three quarters of an hour of playful repertoire-chewing served up a real lesson in gigging at the highest level, and doubled as a good advert for the rumble of old-school rock & roll!
The Answer’s live sound confirmed the retouching of rock & roll’s basic guidelines that you can hear on Everyday Demons. Cormac Neeson has a great voice, and the guitar delivery of the tireless Paul Mahon, caught in the vise of Lizzy-style intricacy, constantly feeds The Answer onstage with a life energy for which you’ll struggle to find a worthy opponent on the modern rock scene. With its huge injection of energy, the band’s proudly standing repertoire distinguished itself with the potential to create a classic stadium-concert rock pulse. Despite the impressively restrained peaks of the album, Too Far Gone, Comfort Zone, and an especially well-served Pride, The Answer failed to reap an ecstatic reaction from the crowd, and the thanks for that go first of all to the Belgrade crowd’s unfamiliarity with the band’s tangible musical texture. If anything, the guys can be faulted for a dictated stance that, with its strict observance of the “opening act” code, left behind a barely noticeable aftertaste of predictability.
AC/DC:
Angus’s crew of well-seasoned warriors took up their battle positions a little after nine in the evening, when dusk had already started to cover the stands of the stadium of Red Star’s biggest rival. After a slightly too long visual intro of a distinctly perverse flavor, an avalanche of three-chord slaps of that so very recognizable character poured over Partizan Stadium on the wings of Rock & Roll Train. With their proven stamina, despite hardly dewy years, AC/DC thrilled from the first contact with the crowd onward, especially Angus, whose famously rickety little legs haven’t lost any of their charm over the years, with the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Young is remarkably vital despite his 54 years, and over the course of a concert lasting just under two hours you could see him in every imaginable position, on every spot on the stage. His signature guitar playing carries a tangible roughness even in 2009, serving as opium for the people. At times downright sloppily frayed, a carpet of roughly edged tonal ornaments is far from any schoolbook-polished guitar showmanship, yet it still radiates authority and charisma, in which the very essence of the AC/DC message is mirrored. The big question mark before the start of the evening was Brian Johnson’s fitness! The old boy is still in surprisingly good vocal shape, especially considering that his vocal cords have endured unenviable conditions over almost thirty years on the job. Brian nevertheless always took a moment for a short breather between songs whenever the chance came up. The occasional longer breaks between songs soon became a fixture, and by force of circumstance the evening’s charge did lose a bit of intensity here and there, but the army of AC/DC addicts didn’t mind much.
AC/DC are sticking to an identical setlist throughout the tour, one that roughly draws on every creative period of their catalog. Alongside the indispensable discographic peaks, which practically since Back In Black have been steadily building on the band’s mainstream image, the real fans’ hearts this time skipped a beat at the revival of the greatness of mostly lesser-known numbers. Next to monstrous heavyweights like Highway To Hell, Thunderstruck and the rest of the piled-up ironware, anthems from some other, much simpler and sadly long-gone days boldly jostled for space. It was lovely to hear Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be and Dog Eat Dog, both of which sounded convincing coming from Johnson’s warmed-up vocal cords, while Shot Down In Flames bravely eyed the standards of the Scott days in terms of energy. As expected, the in-the-mood Belgrade crowd paid the least attention to the novelties from Black Ice. The best off in that respect were War Machine, served up in a package with some clever visuals, and the already mentioned opener of the evening, which passed in the domain of the thunder of Rock & Roll Train. As expected, there was no room for any major departures from the anticipated all-people’s march in honor of the band’s electrified achievements. Of course, the Back In Black gems Hells Bells, You Shook Me All Night Long, Shoot To Thrill and the famous title track couldn’t be missing, the latter including Brian’s gymnastic virtues (Johnson swapped swinging the hammer this time for the role of a dangling infernal bell-ringer). Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap brought us to our knees, the roaring reaction to Thunderstruck reminded us of the band’s commercial peak, T.N.T. as usual demanded some well-tuned “skinhead” chanting, and the closing of the evening with For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) was traditionally explosive too, this time upgraded in keeping with the times with a visualization of a fearsome cannonade.
The Belgrade show lived up to every expectation, but the wonderful feeling of satisfaction afterward could hardly outweigh the thought that this was probably the last time we’d see the legends. AC/DC didn’t betray the rock & roll tradition, which would of course have been illusory to expect from them. The concert doubtless reinforced the longtime devotees’ conviction that the old-timers still have enough spark and desire to forge granite-hard rock sawdust, and the evening certainly succeeded in satisfying the curiosity of people for whom this was their first AC/DC experience. And one last thing. On top of everything, with rare exceptions, the old boys managed to avoid duping the crowd with all sorts of showman tricks, which in the trade of genre-related titans of rock music are practically an indispensable element these days. AC/DC are simply too old, too simple for sensationalism, and above all too heartfelt and honest. Hats off, gentlemen!
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
THE ANSWER: 1. Tonight 2. On And On 3. Demon Eyes 4. Too Far Gone 5. Pride 6. Comfort Zone 7. Preachin’ 8. Dead Of The Night 9. Under The Sky AC/DC: 1. Rock & Roll Train 2. Hell Ain’t a Bad Place Too Be 3. Back In Black 4. Big Jack 5. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 6. Shot Down In Flames 7. Thunderstruck 8. Black Ice 9. The Jack 10. Hells Bells 11. Shoot To Thrill 12. War Machine 13. Dog Eat Dog 14. Anything Goes 15. You Shook Me All Night Long 16. T.N.T. 17. Whole Lotta Rosie 18. Let There Be Rock —encore— 19. Highway To Hell 20. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
Photo Gallery
