Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Stadio Friuli / Udine / Italy
Concert date: 18.05.2010
Attendance: 45
Ticket price: 75 €
This year’s concert season has no mercy on our wallets, with nothing but big rock names playing right on our doorstep. This time the scene of the crime was Stadio Friuli in Udine, home of the Udinese club, which has already hosted giants like Pink Floyd, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Bruce Springsteen. This time, though, the culprits were none other than the dirty giants of hard rock, Ac/Dc, who pulled into the stadium on their still-running tour in support of the album Black Ice.
Right at the entrance to Stadio Friuli, the gathered crowd was greeted by a colossal stage, with a “catwalk” sprawling deep into the floor section and, up top, a pair of big red devil-horned Angus caps pulsing on either side. Just the sight of that over-the-top stage made your stomach flutter, since there was only a good hour left until the hard rock giants hit the stage. But first we had to endure two dreadful Italian support acts, neither of which is worth mentioning. It was some kind of weird, ear-unfriendly mess of modern indie rock, alternative rock and hard rock. The second opener did kindly and respectfully remember the departed little big king of rock ‘n roll Dia, but he was probably painfully covering his ears over their awful take on a Led Zeppelin classic. Any support act playing before a name as mighty as Ac/Dc has a tough job, but this time the openers earned the reaction they got – the crowd roared, flipped them off and even bared their asses.
When the Italians finally stopped torturing us (music in the league of those two bands could easily be slotted into the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the UN), the agonizing wait began for darkness to fall over Stadio Friuli. The darker it got, the more the crowd buzzed, and when it was finally pitch black and the big screen on stage started running the perverse and mischievously erotic Ac/Dc animation, the crowd of around 40,000 exploded. And with a head-on collision, the rock ‘n roll train exploded too, smashing straight into the middle of the big stage above drummer Phil Rudd’s head. Ac/Dc greeted us with the opening track of the current album Black Ice, Rock ‘n Roll Train! The gentlemen of alternating current are still in excellent shape despite no longer being spring chickens. Phil Rudd, who had a freshly lit cigarette in his mouth every time the camera showed him on the big screen, held down the tempo with bassist Cliff Williams throughout the whole show as a rock-solid, confident rhythm section, unerringly torpedoing the low end into the not-at-all-bad crowd. The older of the Young brothers, Malcolm, planted firmly at his microphone, which he shared during the occasional “backing vocal” parts, kept up an incredible rhythm foundation during his younger brother’s soloing escapades. Angus, the band’s true mascot, calmly, precisely and quickly moved his fingers along the neck of his Gibson SG and delivered a wildly energetic performance that suits some snot-nosed twenty-year-old better than Mr. Young at 55! Angus’s stage energy is breathtaking, and when he drops into one of his “trademark” struts and that iconic duck-walk hopping, your eyes nearly well up seeing it live. The biggest question mark of the night was Brian Johnson’s vocal performance. He won everyone over the second he stepped on stage, in his mandatory getup, of course – the cap and the sleeveless vest. Vocally, though, the 63-year-old Johnson was sadly pretty rough at times, and his trademark screech has dropped quite a bit lower and deeper. Johnson had to catch a short breather between songs several times, which slightly spoiled the hellish intensity of the show, but I really wonder whether any of us will be able to pull off anything like that at 63. I reckon that by then, unlike Johnson, we’ll be under a blanket doing crosswords, eating porridge and trying to remember our grandkids’ names.
Over a good two hours, the wild Ac/Dc reminded us that hell is definitely not a bad place, and how well the classic Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be fit among thousands of blinking red devil horns on both side stands! The obligatory anthem Back in Black couldn’t be missing, and the folk-hero hard rock tunes were interrupted at just the right moments by tracks from Black Ice – with Big Jack they naughtily reminded us, Ac/Dc style of course, that Jack has something big in his pants, and with the majestic Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap we got a goosebump-raising moment when a crowd of tens of thousands sang the chorus together with Johnson! It was lovely to hear Shot Down in Flames, and even lovelier when Angus caressed us with fast, unerring electric riffs and sent a bolt of lightning straight into our foreheads with his three-chord moves. Thunderstruck! With the bluesy, naughty The Jack we got what was really the only slow moment of the show, and Angus provided yet another “highlight” when he slowly started stripping off his trademark school uniform. That gave us a glimpse of little Angus’s bony figure with sexy skinny chicken legs, who proved he can match the stamina of people half his age, since he was the only one of the five who didn’t rest during the pauses, but instead rolled around, did calisthenics, danced and hopped about, firing up the crowd all over again every single time. What is that little devil doing up there! When a gargantuan bell was lowered over the stage, it was clear to everyone that only one thing could follow, the classic Hell’ Bells, which Johnson kicked off by swinging on the rope of the huge bell. The string of classics was interrupted only by the new War Machine, spiced up with a fitting animation and a true ode to Ac/Dc, since after almost forty years they’re still a real war machine! The fantastic You Shook Me All Night Long and T.N.T could not be left out, with the whole stadium once again giving the boys a big hand. Pure dynamite! During yet another classic, Whole Lotta Rosie, a gargantuan Rosie, with her female attributes suitably Ac/Dc-style emphasized, joined the boys on stage and shamelessly and naughtily rode the rock ‘n roll locomotive. With Let There Be Rock we sailed to the end of the main set, which Angus led us into the finale of with a breathtaking ten-minute solo spot. Angus is a truly praiseworthy guitarist, because with seemingly simple guitar moves, phrases loaded with eroticism and naughtiness, typical chords and traditional rock soloing, he creates a potent mix that many a technically far better guitarist can’t pull off. After the thunderous chanting that we wanted more, Ac/Dc made us happy with the eternal anthem and a reminder that we’re all on the road to hell (but hell is not a bad place, remember?) and with a brilliant tribute to everyone who rocked with Ac/Dc – For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) – and shelled us with cannon salvos and a spectacular fireworks display. “Fire!”
An Ac/Dc concert is a musical spectacle without equal that would be a sin to miss. Ac/Dc prove that, despite years and years of performing, they’re in top form, even with Johnson’s occasionally weak vocals. Johnson himself says that at 63 he really doesn’t feel like living the rocker’s life anymore, and this was probably one of the very last chances to see Ac/Dc near us. And what a chance it was, because an Ac/Dc concert gets indelibly seared into your memory cells forever!
Photos: Francesco Zanet
Setlist
1.Rock N’ Roll Train
2.Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to 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.High Voltage
14.You Shook Me All Night Long
15.T.N.T.
16.Whole Lotta Rosie
17.Let There Be Rock
—encore—
18.Highway to Hell
19.For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
Photo Gallery
