Simon Rushworth
@ Hampden Park, Glasgow, June 30 2009
Awe struck. Thunderstruck.
And finally struck by the sobering thought that this could well be the final time AC/DC play in front of a UK audience. If these are the last days of this mighty old beast as a live phenomenon then the Black Ice tour will leave a legacy of rock performance at its peak.
It is staggering to think Brian Johnson and Angus Young are still willing and able to cavort around a stadium size stage like boozed-up kids jamming blues rock in the back of a dusty old garage. At their age they really should know better. Fortunately for the band’s legion of fans across the globe, galavanised by a new record and a new focus, these pubescent youths in pensioners’ bodies don’t know anything of the sort.
They know soaring riffs, they know catchy choruses, they know the tricks of the rock trade and the value of experience. With AC/DC familiarity doesn’t breed contempt – quite the opposite. A pleasingly predictable set simply pushes all the right buttons for punters praying for a full-on blast through a bulging back catalogue. Culling the clear winners from the brilliant Black Ice this was a set which fused a taste of the new with a feast of the old to triumphant effect. In so many ways this tour has been a lesson to entertainers everywhere.
Just as Johnson and Young know their strengths, they accept their limits. Ensuring their ear-bleeding tunes were complemented by an eye-catching stage set this was a show which demanded attention from start to finish. The overblown opening, the blown up Rosie, the Angus striptease and the six-gun salute were the trademark foundations on which to build a spellbinding AC/DC gig. With the gimmicks nailed down it was time for the band’s dynamic duo to turn the screw.
Johnson, the genial Geordie in working class flat cap and skin tight jeans, doesn’t look like the archetypal rock star but he sounds every inch the vocalist blessed with star quality. Almost uncomfortable when faced with the brief but necessary breaks between songs he comes alive in the comfort zone of a verse-chorus, verse-chorus scenario. And all the while Young feeds of his buddy’s shrieks with a volley of fret-fuelled angst.
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was, without doubt, the winner on the night. Whole Lotta Rosie sounded jaded by comparison but Back In Black bristled with intent and Highway To Hell had thousands of delirious fans rocking with sheer delight. The aforementioned Thunderstruck is like a vintage wine, a track which gets better with age and a tune which belongs on the big stage. If Johnson struggled to get to grips with The Jack then he nailed just about every other note that pierced the sultry Glasgow air.
Watching Angus propelled skyward on his own platform, in the midst of the heaving masses, it was possible to believe again in the fabled rock God. Whether we will come to worship at the altar of AC/DC again remains to be seen but if this was it then it was very, very special.