Last night, The Aussie and I went over to Olympic Stadium to see AC/DC perform their first Sydney show. To say it was “TOTALLY AWESOME” would be an understatement. The “Thunder from Down Under” lived up to the hype and blew me away — literally as this likely the loudest concert I’ve ever been to.
Do you remember when AC/DC used to be hard rock? I’m showing my age here, but I remember when “Back In Black” hit the charts in America, and I had never heard anything like it. It was almost painful to listen to – an assault of the senses, but at the same time, I could not turn it off. They paved the way for Metallica, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Korn and all the other heavy metal bands to follow. Funny, that although these “rock gods” have still got it, it does not seem quite so hard anymore.
It was an interesting crowd. There were plenty of families, supposed “die-hard” fans who were not even alive when AC/DC had their first hit in 1974, and lots and lots of people old enough to remember, and even older than my parents, rocking out like it was 1974 and loving every minute of it.
Wolfmother provided the opening act. I really like this Australian band, but I don’t know if they have “crossed the pond” so to speak and had any success in US. Sadly, we missed most of their performance while grabbing a quick bite to eat, but made it in time to see their big hit, and my favorite, “Joker & the Thief”.
Then AC/DC took the stage and blew us all out of our seats with the sheer volume of “Runaway Train”. The Aussie and I had seats in the “nosebleed” section, but it was still fantastic. Sadly, the only camera I had with me was on the iPhone, so please forgive this grainy pic. I cracked myself up when I leaned forward to take this photo as if a couple of inches would really make a difference.
They performed some new songs and plenty of the old favorites that the 70,000+ crowd had come to see. Brain Johnson and Angus Young provided the show while the others hung back near the drums and only came forward to the microphones to sing backup.
Some of the highlights were “High Voltage” which featured a photographic tribute to their late singer Bon Scott. And, the rather bluesy “She’s Got The Jack” saw Angus join many of the ladies in the crowd and give us a strip tease. It was so funny… during this song the cameramen would pan the girls in the crowd, and they were all lifting their shirts. OK, so I’ve seen this before – I’ve been to Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras a time or 2 and this is not really new. But, the funny part, and different from my Bourbon Street past, was that all these girls only flashed us their bras. We saw plain bras, pink bras and lace bras, but really, just bras. Then Angus, stripped out of his schoolboy uniform and flashed us all his AC/DC boxers. Very, very funny!
“Let There Be Rock” saw Angus perform probably the best guitar solo ever. And, it went on and on and on. Amazing. The final song of the night, “For Those About To Rock We Salute You”, was accompanied by 6 cannon’s firing off. Just in case it wasn’t loud enough, let’s fire off some cannons. Several times. And if that’s not enough, how about a fireworks spectacular for a finish?!?
These boys really know how to put on a show. And, in honor of that, I’ve written my own AC/DC MasterCard commercial.
Concert Tickets: $200
Horny Devil Headbanger Headband: $15
Schooner of XXXX Gold (in Sydney?!?) at the stadium: $6.30
Angus and the boys “Shakin’ Me All Night Long”: Priceless
Fabulous night… The Aussie and I are wishing we had tickets for the Saturday show too so that we could do it all again tomorrow night…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
great post. loved the review!
Oh yeah! AC/DC is loud. I had never really been big fans of theirs but my husband loves. loves, loves them. So for Christmas last year I purchased two tickets for him. Of course I had to be his date. Well I was amazed at the crowd. There were families sitting all around us. The opening of the show made me blush I can only image what the younger kids were texting their friends. When big Rosie blew up and sat riding the train between her legs I couldn’t help but look around and see all these teenagers texting as fast as they could. Made me giggle. My husband couldn’t hear for a week after the concert and was ready to go see them again 6 months after. I told him he could find another date to go with I had enough of AC/DC for awhile. I value my hearing more.
Nicole, it was very loud. The only thing that saved my hearing was that the stadium had an open roof to dissipate the sound. BTW, I wore the horny devil headband that you sent us from the Atlanta show. Thanks!