Simon Rushworth
Continuing our celebration of the greatest rock and roll band on the planet, Self Made Man takes another trip down memory lane to offer his personal perspective on AC/DC.
With just four days to go until the rushonrock team heads north to Glasgow it’s little wonder our resident blogger is working himself up into a riff fuelled frenzy as he laments Geordie Brian Johnson’s failure to bring his band home time and time again.
In the five years between AC/DC’s first appearance at the Mayfair in October 1977 and their last at Newcastle City Hall in October 1982, the band played 15 times on Tyneside.
In the 27 years since, they’ve played in the region just twice – once at Whitley Bay Ice Rink in 1986 and then their one and only appearance at the Newcastle Arena a decade later.
There are those of us fortunate to be heading up to Glasgow next week to see them at Hampden Park and I know of several North East-based fans who’ve seen them either at either Wembley or Manchester on their Black Ice tour.
But it’s a sobering thought that in 1980, 1981 and 1982, AC/DC staged more concerts on Tyneside in one week than they’ve managed in the subsequent three decades!
By the time Brian Johnson succeeded the late Bon Scott, AC/DC had outgrown most of their previous haunts thanks to the incredible popularity of Back In Black.
Yet they still managed one last gig at the Mayfair on October 31 1980 which was to prove Johnno’s first-ever gig in his native city. I saw him a week later – on Bonfire Night – at the City Hall. It should have been a special gig but the night was flat and having waited so long to see AC/DC, the experience left me feeling let down.
Johnno appeared nervous on the night I saw him and surprisingly indulged in little rapport with his fellow Geordies. The concert wasn’t a disaster but neither was it the memorable occasion it should have been.
There was little spontaneity, few sparks and no evidence that this was – or at least should have been – one of the greatest nights of the new vocalist’s musical life.
Back in the early 80s, most major rock bands would book in for a couple of nights at the City Hall, with its 2,000-plus capacity. But few matched AC/DC’s ability to sell out three successive nights in a matter of hours but that’s what they did in 1981 and again the following year.
The band were tighter, more focussed and louder on their For Those About To Rock tour with Brian Johnson looking much more relaxed and engaging with the crowd far more than he previously did.
By 1982, it was obvious that AC/DC had outgrown venues the size of the City Hall and I remember reading at the time that we would be deprived of the full stageshow because of the restrictions imposed.
Those present on October 6 that year would probably have realised this would be the last time they’d see AC/DC at the City Hall. No-one, however, could have imagined that they’d only witness them twice more in the vicinity.
Four years later, Whitley Bay hosted the band – one of only five venues AC/DC would play in the UK in 1986. But back then, we took it for granted that because of Johnno’s connections and the reception the band had always received in the region, the North East would always be one of their stopping-off points.
How wrong we were.
They made their one and only appearance at the Arena in late 1996 and the gig had a profound effect on me. Because of family commitments, it was my first live gig for many years and the experience rekindled my love affair for concert-going.
Sadly, however, it soured the band’s love affair with the North East because, astonishingly, the gig wasn’t a complete sell-out. And for a band who could pick and choose where they played, that was the ultimate crime.
AC/DC snubbed us for the Stiff Upper Lip tour and again this year. It’s a scenario that would have seemed preposterous to those who were treated to annual, sometimes even bi-annual visits by the band during their early years.