Concert reviews from last night's AC/DC show are in already from Metromix and Indy's 1070 AM and, though they're not the most detailed pieces I've read lately, it sounds like everybody had a good time last night.
Reportedly, there were no changes in the set list but, apparently, Rosie tried to maul Phil Rudd as you can see from the photo below. I'm guessing she must have been after one of his big sticks...
Anyway, here's a brief clip of the ending to Hells Bells from Indy that's fairly decent quality.
Some excellent pictures from last night's show are available at the Indy Star and we also have some great ones at Bon Scott if you'd like to join the free AC/DC fan club on Yahoo.
Speaking of Bon Scott, Three Monkeys Online recently posted a lengthy, but fun, treatise on AC/DC's monster hit from the 70's, Whole Lotta Rosie, that you ought to check out.
In other news, Black Ice is still piling up the huge sales numbers across the world, though in most places it's dropped from the lofty #1 spot. Not so in the USA, however, as Paul Cashmere explains in "AC/DC Sinks The Pink In America." (Nice title!)
If you're interested in another preview of AC/DC's Rock Band Pack, this one from RockGamer ought to satisfy.
Two more Black Ice record reviews have crossed my computer desk since the last update. The better one is from Inquirer.net and the other is from Access Hollywood.
By the way, I believe these photos are from AC/DC's second night in Chicago but don't quote me on it.
Also, Billboard has reported that AC/DC's Plug Me In has won the DVD of the Year at the Classic Rock Awards. There's more on the complete awards ceremony here in case you're interested.
If you want to see a brief, but funny clip of some older fans dancing in Indy last night, go here.
Also, I just found this clip from the November 1st show in Chicago that's definitely worth watching...
That's all for now, folks. Go out and vote today if you're in the United States and may the man who'll least fuck up our country for the next four years win!
AC/DC's in Chicago, IL tonight and the Sun Times has a nice, but familiar preview of tonight's visit to Allstate Arena.
In a story that's already been repeated a million times around the net, Brian Johnson says he's overwhelmed at the success of AC/DC's new album. Hopefully, Brian will be able to afford a new car sometime soon as his 2007 ride just doesn't cut the mustard anymore, if you ask me.
AC/DC Italia's YouTube Channel has some of the best Black Ice tour videos I've seen so far but, unfortunately, their audio quality is less than desirable. By the way, there's a couple of nice shots of the opening night to be found here. Click on each pic to make them extra large.
If you've attended or are going to attend one of AC/DC's Black Ice concerts, please post your reviews of the show including whatever details you can remember in our comments section below.
Ever had conjunctivitis? Ever had it both eyes at the same time? Well, if you have, you might be able to understand why I haven't updated AC/DC News since Monday!
Anyway, what follows will be a quick rundown of all the news and related links to AC/DC I've found lately. Hope you find something here to entertain you while you wait for the band to invade your town on the Black Ice World Tour.
For starters, AC/DC's Black Ice Debuts at #1 in 29 countries! Billboard is reporting that the new album sold 784,000 copies in the United States alone in its first week of release. Additionally, Black Ice is the biggest selling album of the year in Australia and has been certified triple platinum there already. Reuters commented that AC/DC is 'back in black' with a global smash hit. AC/DC hasn't been #1 on the American album chart since 1981's For Those About To Rock, also according to Billboard.
According to the Telegraph, this is the first time in 28 years that AC/DC has topped the album charts in the UK. Interestingly enough, some are saying that AC/DC's rise to the top is a sure sign of bad economic times, particularly in Britain. The Guardian has, essentially, the same story on the odd coincidence but with a few more details.
Here's the latest BBC album chart and the latest Australian chart, by the way. The Globe and Mail noted that millions of illegal downloads didn't seem to affect AC/DC's album sales.
Spin Magazine had the best review of AC/DC's secret gig in Wilkes-Barre that I've seen so far. Billboard had a pretty good story, too. Though, for some odd reason, they seem to think that it's Angus Young who climbs the ropes of Hell's Bell. FMQB did a better job with their show review, however. Reuters noted the special event, as well. Paul Cashmere also filed this report about AC/DC's "secret" fan gig and Stories in High Fidelity briefly mentioned the show, too.
The absolute best review in terms of photos comes from this AC/DC fan's page and should not be missed, by the way. I also highly recommend ArtVoice's piece on the show, as well.
Australia's Molly Meldrum completely wasted his trip to New York by only asking Angus and Brian the most general, boring questions I've ever hears in an AC/DC interview. Video below:
The Times Leader has a fairly interesting story about the AC/DC fan documentary that's scheduled to be on the band's next live DVD. Of course, most interesting is the notion that AC/DC will ultimately release a Black Ice Live DVD...
Hoodlum's Music has asked the pertinent question, "Bon, Where Are You Now?" in a response to AC/DC's marketing moves as of late.
There's a oddly fascinating illustration of Angus Young that was done for a German music magazine posted here.
Here's a Japanese interview with AC/DC that's been translated into Google English (or should I say Google Engrish...).
Adelaide Now has jumped on the AC/DC bandwagon with a story called "AC/DC still shakin' all night long" which might entertain you for a few minutes.
Music Radar has posted 13 idiotic AC/DC facts though I'm not completely sure they're all true...
AC/DC's tour officially kicked off with the paperless ticket system on the 28th, according to Ticket News, and, personally, I'm wondering how smoothly that went?
If you're looking for YouTube users with decent video of the Black Ice Tour you might want to start here, here, and here though I'm sure there's much more out there I haven't seen yet.
USA Today had this story on AC/DC's official opening night launch of the Black Ice Tour. The Scranton Times' review included this huge photo of Brian and Angus, though. The Weekender had this to say, as well. Rolling Stone's story on the gig included the full set list; which turned out to be a disappointingly short 90 minutes, unfortunately. Moons over Wachovia might interest you also.
Slate, the political journal, has a very good article called Still Current on the thirty plus years of AC/DC.
Rolling Stone has published a feature story on AC/DC; a snippet of which they've posted here. As we told you a few weeks ago, AC/DC will soon be on their cover for the first time in the band's history. (Not counting Bon Scott's appearance on the Australian version of Rolling Stone.)
Black Ice is such a big hit that AC/DC's back catalog is selling even better than usual in the United States, according to Reuters. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins voiced his opinion on AC/DC's marketing success here, by the way.
AC/DC took the stage last night for the first time in over five years at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Here's what one fan had to see about the big event!
Hey Jon,
Just got in from the show! What started off as expectations for a late night, turned out to work out well. So first off, I'll just state the obvious, it was at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The show was NOT sold to fill the capacity of the arena. There were maybe 3-4,000 people there. The venue was small to begin with and none of the upper tier seats were filled. It was just the 9 floor section and the sides. The show started at 8:10 ish with an animated video on the big screen of Angus and Brian on a speeding train. The stage prop was a huge train. There was no opening act tonight, so once they were on they would play for about an hour and 20 minutes and then they were done.
Before the show I happened to notice a huge setlist written out (I guess for all the songs they rehearsed) I didn't take a peak because I wanted the show to be a surprise. The set-list was short, but after talking to a sound guy, they said they would probably add like 6 or 7 to this "rough skeleton". There weren't any major errors during the show, all I am saying is that it was amazing. It was by far one of the best concerts I've been to (I've seen almost a couple hundred other bands). Angus is a maniac, he is 53 and was a ball of fire on the stage. There is a huge catwalk and they use it during the show.
So enough of the potatoes, here is the meat! The set-list:
Rock N Roll Train Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be Back In Black Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Thunderstruck Hells Bells You Shook Me All Night Long T.N.T. Black Ice Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock/ Angus Young solo --- Highway To Hell For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
I took a bunch of pictures, I will upload soon! Thanks- Chris
Video footage from the show has already made it to YouTube though this clip has no audio.
Evidently, however, bootlegger's were in attendance to mark the special occasion as this audio has also surfaced of Rock N Roll Train. (Brian sounds a bit nervous to me, by the way.)
There's more video footage from the show available here though it's not the greatest quality.
The best footage I've seen from the show is this clip of Back In Black. Hopefully, more video from the show will be uploaded soon by the same fan!
A picture of the setlist did appear on Blabbermouth, but it's a bit hard to read in this format.
Bravewords also posted a short review of the special show which you can read in full here. Furthermore, they have an excellent photo from the concert in which you can finally see the Rock N Roll Train!
There are also several very good shots from last night available here and here, as well. More news and info on the show and other AC/DC happenings as we get it in. Keep checking back!
"AC/DC live the great Australian psyche of battling. They work hard and play hard."
Simon Hammond, a brand expert (whatever that is...) has declared that AC/DC are Australia's most trusted music brand in a new study which was summarized neatly on News.com.au earlier today.
In other AC/DC News, The Daily Star has a report on the Black Ice Tour ticket mess happening in England right now. Minutes after AC/DC's shows sold out in the UK, tickets appeared for sale on Ebay and other resale outlets for upwards of 5 times their original price.
Ebay has, apparently, started taking down ticket scalper listings, but that was only after fans complained en masse. For the rest of the story, click here. (But watchout for a popup unless you've got Firefox!)
AC/DC's Rock N Roll Caravan has their own website which you'll definitely want to check out as soon as possible because they may be traveling near where you live. Apparently, the caravan is out to find people who want to go to AC/DC's secret show on October 26th so make sure you don't miss out on what they're up to...
Billboard has finally posted their review of Black Ice. There's really not much to it, unfortunately, but you can judge for yourself if it's any good by clicking here.
A Swedish merchant is offering a limited edition Black Ice Box (pictured above) which you can also view here. There's also an Black Ice review here in Swedish on AC/DC which you could always translate at Google if you so desire.
Additionally, there's three different articles on the Dutch music site BT about AC/DC which you can view here, here, and here which would probably be well worth your time reading after Google translates them for you.
The Sun, one of Britain's top tabloids, actually had a pretty decent article on AC/DC yesterday concerning the band's lack of celebrity trappings (despite their enormous popularity) and their upcoming album release, Black Ice. Highly worth your time and reading effort as they discuss their recent talks with Angus Young and Brian Johnson.
As an added bonus, the Sun, is also sponsoring a ticket and trip giveaway to that "secret" dress rehearsal show that AC/DC will play on October 26th. You must, of course, be 18 years or older and be a resident of the UK or ROI. Click here for all the details.
Since I'm on the subject of contests to win tickets and a trip to see AC/DC, you might also want to take note of thiscontest from MSN for UK residents and this announcement from the Daily Telegraph about their upcoming contest for Australian residents. Certainly sounds like the "secret" show is going to be one hell of a worldwide party, eh?
Well, if you're throwing a party, you might as well have a big salute to the guests of honor, right?
In this case, the big salute will come courtesy of VH1 Classic who are having a total AC/DC 24-hour marathon on Sunday, October 19 to celebrate the release of Black Ice. Not only that, but they'll be honoring the band all week starting October 13 with plenty of AC/DC specials on their channel. Feel free to check out all the details on those programs here if you're interested.
Of course, I'd gather some (including AC/DC's record company and Wal-Mart) might be feeling that the big party's been spoiled a bit by the release of AC/DC's Black Ice album on the internet the other day. In fact, apparently, Sony Records has been attempting frustrate free downloaders by spiking the torrent sites with tons of fake AC/DC files according to Undercover News.
If that's what they've done, they may be too late because there's already been scores of blog sites across the net that are offering the album for free download, too. Once an album has been leaked, there's not much even the biggest companies can do to slowdown it's spread, in my opinion. Interestingly enough, one fan from Amsterdam says he's already purchased the Black Ice album if you can believe this forum post.
In happier news for AC/DC and their fans, it appears European Black Ice tour dates are starting to trickle in though none have been confirmed as of yet officially. One site has posted a very official looking tour poster for the Oslo show on February 18th, though. It also appears the boys will play Stockholm on February 20 according to this website.
We'll post more dates as they firm up but, in any event, it appears AC/DC will waste no time in jetting to Europe and the UK once their N. American tour stint is over on January 31.
By the way, don't forget that many of the newly added AC/DC shows will go on sale this weekend if they haven't already done so. Check your local papers and Ticketmaster for the details on concerts in your area.
In, perhaps, the best story of the day, you should definitely check out Brian Boyd's latest post for the Irish Times called "AC/DC stopped growing musically when we were 17." In it, Angus Young discusses AC/DC's philosophy on their music and how they're approaching record sales in today's market. Angus also notes with great satisfaction that AC/DC will soon have it's very first cover on America's Rolling Stone Magazine. (They're only about 30 years late, if you ask me!)
There's also an excellent little article on AC/DC's bassist, Cliff Williams, from the Fort Meyers Press that you should not miss wherein Cliff explains exactly how he injured his left hand three years ago and what's he had to go through to get back in playing shape.
Lastly, for today, if you happen to live near Lousiana State University there's an interesting exhibit on display in one of their museum galleries called “Thirty Years of Rock & Roll: The Photography of Larry Hulst." Hulst's website is here if you'd care to check out some of his excellent work. The photo of Bon Scott and Angus Young above was taken in Oakland, CA in 1979.
The question: Who will open for AC/DC on the the North American leg of the Black Ice Tour?
The answer: The Answer
That's right, folks, an Irish rock band called The Answer has won the coveted slot to open for AC/DC according to this press release and their reps at The End Records.
So just who is The Answer and how did they get this amazingly lucky break you might ask? Well, for starters, The Answer hail from Northern Ireland and their music recalls the glory days of Led Zeppelin, Free and Deep Purple.
In fact, lead singer Cormac Neeson's voice has often been compared to such blues rock greats as Robert Plant and a young Paul Rodgers. Their first album, Rise, won them a lot of praise from hard rock critics in Europe and they were also named the best new UK band of 2005 by the editors of Classic Rock Magazine.
Neeson had this to say about opening for AC/DC.
"It is an honour and a privilege for The Answer to be offered the opportunity to support probably the greatest rock 'n' roll act on the planet. We are incredibly humbled."
However, what may have most helped The Answer get opening billing for AC/DC is the fact they are signed to the UK division of Alberts Records. Of course, as most longtime AccaDacca fans know, Alberts Records is home to AC/DC, their first and only record label in Australia.
If you'd like to check the band out, you can always have a listen at their MySpace or directly on their site where they occasionally release live recordings of the band as well as studio demos, too.
Incidentally, Angus and Malcolm's brother-in-law, Sam Horsburgh, directed The Answer's 2007 version of their Keep Believin' video below.
Melbourne's Triple M Radio have scored another big hit with their recent interviews of AC/DC's Angus Young and Brian Johnson.
Both of the brief chat sessions took place last month in New York City and while the one with Brian Johnson is, unfortunately, only on audio, you can watch high quality video of Angus talking with M's popular radio personality, Myf (pronounced like MILF but without the "L" sound) directly on their website.
I guarantee you'll end up wishing both interviews could have gone on longer because these two guys have more great stories to tell than most trees have leaves.
Another item which should be of tremendous interest to longtime AC/DC fans is the Bon Scott Blog's piece on the amazing story that famous Aussie photojournalist Rennie Ellis wrote after his encounter with Bon Scott in Atlanta, GA during the band's 1978 Powerage tour. I must stress that this is a "do not miss" kind of article...
Lastly, just for fun, I thought I'd post my favorite entry so far in AC/DC's "Give It All You Got" video contest to win signed guitars from Angus and Malcolm Young. Though this video's very amateur looking, it's filled with a great sense of humor that I think most AC/DC fans will really enjoy.
Fallout from Angus Young's recent comments about the band's stance against iTunes is still hot and heavy around the world wide web. In the last few days, I must have read posts from a hundred different forums discussing the issue with most of the posters siding with Apple against AC/DC's revolt. That's okay, though, most people said the United States would never win the Revolutionary War against the English, either.
What with AC/DC's exclusive deal with Wal-Mart and now their very vocal iTunes snub, the band is, in many ways, more controversial than ever. By the way, before I continue, I must give credit for the title of this post to a recent article from the Scotsman.
Speaking of Wal-Mart, it has come to light that the same management team who helped set up AC/DC's deal with that corporate devil is also responsible for Guns N Roses upcoming exclusive "Chinese Democracy" deal with Best Buy. Their name is Azoff Management and you can read more about what they've been up to with Axl Rose and AccaDacca here.
If this trend of major acts releasing their albums exclusively continues in the USA, I guess you can expect to be doing a lot of driving around to different stores to buy all the CD's you want in the near future. Unless, of course, you just download the music you want from the net for free like a lot of folks do these days.
In more exciting news for AC/DC, Billboard has just revealed that Rock N Roll Train is "AC/DC's highest-charting song since "Stiff Upper Lip" spent four weeks at No. 1 in March-April 2000."
The Back In Black album is doing pretty great, as well. It's at "No. 1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart for the second consecutive week and the third week overall." For the entire story continue reading here.
Of course, Black Ice Tour tickets have probably been on the minds of most AC/DC fans in the last couple of weeks so AC/DC News ought to have a story about that too, right? Well, we do and you'll find it at the Vancouver Sun. I must warn you, though, if you really hate ticket scalpers you might not want to read it right now.
In other AC/DC tidbits, you might want to take a gander at Confession of a Fanboy's recent discovery of the Highway to Hell album. Kind of reminds me of my bud, Lucas, and the education in great music he received as he wrote the Bon Scott Blog.
Lastly, if you're interested in learning a bit more about Australian rock music history and it's connections to AC/DC, you might want to check out Some Magic From Oz by the Star Online. There's also this story from The Australian about the history of The Easybeats which is well worth your time. Incidentally, Stevie Wright, their lead singer, was once rumored to be the man who would replace Bon Scott in AC/DC after Bon's tragic passing.
Before I go, keep an eye on this space as I will soon be posting a never before publicly seen photo of Bon Scott carrying a frenzied Angus Young through a crowd at a Canadian concert back in the 70's.
In today's AC/DC News we begin with a brief article from New Zealand about the positive reviews that Rock N Roll Train has been receiving lately from the music press. If you feel so inclined, you can also leave your review of AC/DC's first single from Black Ice on Stuff's site or, at least, read what other fans are saying about the record.
But not all of the music press is so enamored of AC/DC. Just ask Neil McCormick of the Daily Telegraph, for example.
In writing his review of a recent Columbia Records listening party, intended to preview their album releases for the Fall and beyond, this village idiot didn't have much good to say about the AC/DC portion of the show:
"Rock and roll will never die and all that.
A fact which was emphasised by a preview of AC/DC's 200th album, which sounded exactly like every other AC/DC album, and is expected to sell sqaudrillions of copies. Apparently AC/DC are the biggest back catalogue artists in the world ... including the Beatles. Who'd have thought? Angus is still wearing a schoolboys outfit and (ever more decrepit with age) is really starting to look sinister. Bon Scott looks like he just staggered out of a retired working men's drinking club in the north of England in time to deliver his vocals. It is, of course, loud, leery, immensely effective and utterly ridiculous. I am beginning to worry that they are never going to get around to that experimental album."
Don't you love it when some fool who's trying to be so hip and so cool makes such a boneheaded mistake as to refer to Brian Johnson as Bon Scott? If you ask me, McCormick's slip shows just how out of touch with reality a supposed professional music critic can be.
In other news, AC/DC's snub of iTunes has, apparently, pissed the pants off of Apple fanboys far and wide. I first picked up their indignation from this piece in Macworld but the real shining star among AC/DC's recent critics is Bob Lefsetz.
You might remember Bob Lefsetz as the music writer who basically said Black Ice will be next best thing since sliced bread in his August review of the album. Now, on the other hand, Lefseftz has gone out of his way to tear AC/DC a new asshole in his latest diatribe.
Here's a few excerpts for you to get the picture...
"They’re (AC/DC) the second biggest catalog seller. Behind the Beatles. WHY? Because kids have traded their songs and found out how great their classics are. But now they want to fuck these same kids in the ass and make them buy their new album at Wal-Mart. So they can make fuckloads of money. The whole world is listening to files, shuffling their tracks, but these ignorant musicians from Down Under don’t seem to have gotten the message. Why don’t they tell everybody to give up their computers and use typewriters while they’re at it.The joke is illegal acquisition will dwarf CD sales. Whatever is sold legitimately will be distributed online INSTANTLY! Which is great for the band ultimately. Breeding new fans. But, like the rest of the industry, the band wants to ignore this. Even though without the aforementioned trading of the past decade their tour would not instantly sell out.
At least throw kids a bone. Let them buy tracks legitimately. But just like the inane industry they’re part of, AC/DC doesn’t want fans to have it their way. They must have never been to a Burger King…"
The rest of his rant is much rougher on the boys but I certainly can't fault Bob for not liking AC/DC's deal with the devil, er um, Wal-Mart.
Anyway, whatever your personal opinion, Lefsetz's latest AC/DC column is well worth the read. Click here for the article in its entirety.
Lastly, in nicer news, it appears Angus Young will grace the next cover of Q Magazine, Europe's biggest music monthly. From this article in the business section of The Times Online, it appears that magazine is going through an extreme makeover and will start off their revised publication with the man who's putting his famous schoolsuit back on after many long years away from his army of fans.
According to Q's editors, "AC/DC legend Angus Young is the first cover star of the new look Q. In a global exclusive for Q, Angus Young has agreed for the first time in decades to be studio photographed in his iconic schoolboy uniform. It is the first major interview the band has given in eight years. Subscribers receive their own ‘collector’s edition’ of the issue, which will feature a cover designed exclusively for them."
Sounds like this will definitely be a keeper for all those fans who love to collect magazines with AC/DC interviews and pictures in them. By the way, if you never been before, you should check out my friend Fanch's site called AC/DC Archives. He has one of the largest collections of scanned AC/DC articles around and they're all indexed by country of origin.
Well, lots of stories to get to today so let's get it on, as Mills Lane would say...
For starters, Bon Scott fans will definitely want to check out the latest post by Lucas over at the Bon Scott Blog. It's all about Rennie Ellis's photographic work with the AC/DC in the 70's. You'll find some amazing shots there, including the one posted above.
Fans of Brian Johnson will not want to miss this article from the Herald Tribune about where the elite meet in Sarasota, FL. We don't get to hear much about Brian very often, unfortunately, so this is a real treat if you ask me.
Next on the agenda is Blog Critic Magazine's latest review of the No Bull Director's Cut DVD. If you haven't bought the reissued package yet, you may want to read their opinion on it before you plunk down your hard earned cash.
Of course, with all the excitement about AC/DC's upcoming tour, there have been several stories published lately about how ticket sales have been going so far. Two of the best pieces were by Ticket News.
In their first article, it's revealed that AC/DC was the top selling event in the United States for the week ending 9/21/08. That's a pretty big achievement for the boys considering all the other entertainers on the road this fall, not to mention all the regularly huge sellers like NFL Football games and the other seasonal sports here in the U.S.
Their other piece worth a read is a rehash of all the latest concert dates that have been added for the Black Ice tour plus the details on which arenas were sold out through the AC/DC Fan Club.
By the way, if you were lucky enough to get tickets to see the band this Fall, you might want to celebrate by wearing your favorite AC/DC T-shirts for the next month like the guy at Our Quirky Life has pledged to do. Now that's a dedicated fan!
Are you into collecting AC/DC on vinyl? If so, check out Brave Word's latest post on What Record's offering of a limited edition Black Ice album on heavyweight vinyl.
Lastly, for fun, you might want to check out this humorous satire on AC/DC's Wal-Mart deal over at Swinging For The Downs. Good for a few chuckles anyway...
Oh, and if you still want to read even more today, you can always have a glance at the Irish Times take on AC/DC's opposition to ITunes and/or look over In The Mix's short story on how the band Soulwax somehow made AC/DC cool again. One hundred bonus points for you if you know who in the hell Soulwax is, by the way.
Fans hoping to see AC/DC on the Fall leg of the Black Ice tour have grown increasingly frustrated over the problem of securing tickets to the shows they want to see.
Officially, each show is sold out. However, if you want to pay the extortionists who operate ticket reselling sites such as Ticketmaster's own Tickets Now, there are actually plenty of seats still available for each date on the upcoming tour.
In fact, even before Ticketmaster officially opened the sales windows on Friday morning of this past week there were already several scalpers/brokers offering AC/DC tickets online. As reported here earlier, seats to any Black Ice show could easily be had if you didn't mind paying a minimum of double their face value.
The Vancouver Sun had the most in-depth story concerning these issues in their article about angry AC/DC fans. Ticketmaster, as usual, claims they're not to blame for the problems of obtaining tickets at face value, yet they happily point you to their own scalping service so I'd bet something doesn't seem quite right if you were to ask the thousands of ticket-less AC/DC fanatics, some of whom are complaining across forums and blogs all over the web.
Well, if you can't afford AC/DC tickets, perhaps you can win them. In fact, AC/DC is offering at least two different ways to win tickets to their upcoming secret show in NYC on October 26th.
If you pre-order Black Ice through the band's website, you'll automatically be entered in a drawing for tickets to the band's special rehearsal show. The AC/DC store has 500 tickets that they will give away in pairs to winners chosen at random.
Or, you could enter the "Rock Out Your Car" contest as explained here on Sony Record's AC/DC site. The winner of that competition will score 4 tickets to the "secret" AC/DC show that isn't so secret anymore. I'd suggest you ask Mom or Dad first before you repaint their car, though.
Well, if all else fails ticket-wise, maybe someday soon you'll be lucky enough to see the guy who does the one-man-band version of AC/DC in concert. Here he is performing Back In Black as seen here on Live Leak:
His voice reminds me a lot of Jack White's actually. I wonder if he plays the guitar, too?
So AC/DC finally announced their Black Ice Tour dates but your city was left out, huh? Well, take heart because you are not alone. They haven't announced any dates in Florida yet, either, and Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams live here!
Also, we all need to remember that this Fall schedule of shows is only the first leg of AC/DC's 18-month long world tour. So let's be patient and see what the boys have in store for the rest of the best fans in the world, eh?
Australian fans can take some comfort, though, as almost unnoticed in the recent news was a small item written by Paul Cashmere about AC/DC's plans for a trip back home to Australia:
"AC/DC will perform in Australia in 2009 at Telstra Dome in Melbourne and ANZ Stadium in Sydney."
No doubt AccaDacca will hit several more cities down under as well as visit all their great fans in New Zealand in the coming year, too.
Of course, some longtime fans have never seen the band perform live in person. Such is the case of Mike Grant, who writes about his AC/DC story in "That's The Way I Want My Rock N Roll!"
If you still want to read more about fans and AC/DC today, I suggest you check out "She's Got Balls" at The Soundtrack Of My Life. It's a brief, but poignant story about how one guy got introduced to AC/DC music.
Speaking of AC/DC's music, it would be remiss of me not to mention Rolling Stone's Fall preview of the Black Ice album. Though there's not that much to it, there is some good background information about how the new music was made from producer, Brendan O'Brien.
Of course, Black Ice has been compared to Back In Black a thousand times already and it hasn't even been released yet so, one has to wonder if it will really be that good? I guess time will tell...
By the way, what's your take on War Machine versus Rock N Roll Train? Do you favor one track over the other now that you've heard them both more than a few times? I hope you'll leave your opinions in the comments section below. I'd also be interested to know what other fans think the song War Machine is all about. Does it have anything to do with the war in Iraq? Has AC/DC made another political track like Burnin' Alive from the Ballbreaker album?
George Young and Harry Vanda
Lastly, for today, Easy Fever provides another history lesson for AC/DC fans who want to know more about the roots of our favorite band. For those that don't know already, The Easybeats were Australia's answer to The Beatles and two of their leading members were George Young and Harry Vanda, who later went on to produce most of the classic AC/DC albums of the 70's.
AC/DC concert tickets are red hot right now. In fact, every show on the upcoming Black Ice Tour is already sold out, as far as I can tell. Tickets for Vancouver date sold out in 4 minutes while Columbus and Boston's lasted a mere fifteen. Toronto sold out in a half-hour, as well.
Vancouver sold out so fast a group of nearly 20 fans who had hoped to charter a private jet to the show from the remote town of Prince George, BC had to cancel their flight plans. They were not happy campers, as you might suspect.
But don't fret, AC/DC fans, because the band has already added extra dates to the Fall tour and are expected to announce even more stops sometime this week. Not only that, but it's a good idea to keep checking back with Ticketmaster to see if any seats have become available due to returns or canceled orders. If all else fails, of course, there's always ticket scalpers and auctions on Ebay.
One has to wonder, however, how even before Black Ice tour tickets were officially being sold that they were up for grabs on Ticketmaster's own site, TicketsNow?
Not at face value, either! In fact, AC/DC tickets somewhere on the floor were listed at as much as $700 at some of the upcoming venues. As it stands at this moment, Tickets Now is offering "949 tickets available from $124 to $2140 each" for the October 30th show in Chicago! Other venue offerings are much the same so something is really rotten here and it isn't AC/DC's fault.
The problem is that large blocks of great seats are routinely held back from the public sale by Ticketmaster in order to "re-sell" them at much greater profit on their own network of sites. It's a scam as old as the sun in the ticket broker business and, unfortunately, AC/DC fans are being victimized all over the country right now.
Ironically, the only band to ever try to fight back against Ticketmaster was Pearl Jam in the nineties who charged that the retailer was taking advantage of their monopoly to sell tickets at more than 30% over face value. I say ironically because Pearl Jam's longtime producer, Brendan O'Brien, has just produced Black Ice for AC/DC.
VH1 classic is giving away two tickets to see AC/DC live at their special Black Ice Tour rehearsal show at a secret location in New York City on October 26th.
One Grand Prize Winner will receive a pair of tickets to the show, free round trip airfare for two, and a two night hotel stay in NYC. (Probably somewhere pretty swank, I'd imagine!)
Of course, there's always that bit you have to read called the "official rules", but I can tell you that the contest is only open to persons 21 years or older who live somewhere in the contiguous 48 states. (You're shit out luck, Alaska and Hawaii.)
Tickets for the Fall 2008 leg of the Black Ice World Tour go on sale this Saturday morning at Ticketmaster and ACDC.com at 10AM.
For fans not familiar with Ticketmaster's paperless ticket technology, I strongly suggest you read this article at Ticket News because all of the AC/DC Fan Club seats will be sold that way and many of the other seats available for each venue will be paperless, also.
AC/DC, of course, are busy making preparations for their first live show since the group's appearance at SarsFest in July of 2003.
In fact, on October 26, two days before the Black Ice tour officially kicks off in Wilkes Barre, PA, the band will perform a special dress rehearsal show at a mystery location in New York City. There's no word on how to get a ticket for that private show, but you can possibly win one for you and a friend by entering this contest sponsored by Telus, the mobile phone service provider.
Speaking of Black Ice, there's been another review of the album posted online calling it "back in blacker." I've no idea what that's supposed to mean except, I guess, it's a good thing. Anyway, you can read the whole thing for yourself at Music Radar but you may come away from it a bit unsatisfied.
After all, what good is it to repeat what's previously been said about the album when what fans really want is to hear some sound clips? By the way, how is this review a "world exclusive" if the album has already been reviewed on several other sites?
A much more interesting option for AC/DC fans would be to listen to Matt Pinfield's interview of Brian Johnson the other day on NY's 101.9 FM radio station. As usual, Brian's got plenty of great stories to tell, heavily dosed with his salty brand of humor.
In other newsworthy items, it appears that Rock Band 2 will soon offer an "AC/DC Live at Donington Expansion Pack for Rock Band 2" if you believe this rumor from Destructoid. If true, this would be a pretty cool addition to the game.
According to a posting from Paul Cashmere at Undercover News, AC/DC just received a special plaque from Columbia Records commemorating their sales of "shitloads of DVD's" over the last several years. Live At Donington went 6x platinum, Family Jewels (10x), and Plug Me In (5x). For more about that story click here.
Furthermore, the new Director's Cut of No Bull as scored big in it's first week of release debuting as the #1 top selling DVD in no less than eleven countries including the United States! Full details are at Blabbermouth.
Last, but certainly not least, I invite you to step back in time a moment by checking out a couple of items posted online recently. First, head on over to our good friend at the Bon Scott Blog and watch a cool video about Phillip Morris, a photographer who hung out with AC/DC in the 1970s. Morris recently had an exhibition of his work in Sydney, Australia and this video highlights some of his best work with the band.
Second, if you're into collecting everything related to AC/DC, you might want to visit the Psychedelic Rock Blog and download a collection of tunes by an obscure sixties band called Grapefruit. How is that band related to AC/DC you might ask? Well, it seems an older brother of Malcolm and Angus named George Alexander (Young) who did not emigrate to Australia with the Young family played the bass and sang vocals for that group.
Beatles fan might be interested to know that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were co-producers on a Grapefruit song called "Lullabye for a Lazy Day," a tune that was initially called "Circus Sgt. Pepper."
AC/DC fans everywhere are more excited than a cheerleader on speed right now as the band has just revealed the opening leg of the Black Ice World Tour. As previously posted, the boys have decided to start out in North America and are saying they'll return to the U.S. next year for stadium dates in the summer. That should be pretty exciting, eh?
First reports indicate that concert tickets will run at least $90, not counting, of course, added handling (bullsh*t) charges but scalpers are already offering lower arena seats for upwards of $500 at many venues. I haven't checked Ebay yet but I'm sure there'll be loads of high price tickets offered for "auction" there, too.
A couple of different newspapers marked the occasion of the big tour announcement by looking back at AC/DC's last concert appearances in their city. Well worth the read is this preview of the band's 2001 stop in Denver and, also, this review of AC/DC's show in Raleigh, NC. If reading about AC/DC's last concert circuit doesn't get you excited, I'd suggest you put on your Stiff Upper Lip Live DVD and rock out the rest of this weekend.
Speaking of reviews, there's a pretty funny one posted at Coke Machine Glow about AC/DC's new single, Rock N Roll Train, calling it the best track since Thunderstruck. I don't know if I'd go that far but, after listening to it a thousand times now (at least), I'd say RNRT's a definite winner in my book. It certainly grows more on me everyday, I have to say. There's also a briefer piece on the song here if you feel like you need more convincing it's an excellent song, worthy of NFL stadiums everywhere.
Angus Young, Eddie Trunk and Brian Johnson
In other news, Angus and Brian have started hitting the radio station circuit to hype the new album and say hello to the their fans again. Very recently, they guested on both the Howard Stern and Eddie Trunk shows. Unfortunately, I don't have audio clips of either show but, if you look around on the net a bit, I'm certain they're available somewhere. Angus and Brian certainly look rested, fit and ready to rock, if you ask me. Incidentally, I found a revealing bit about Brian Johnson on Euro Like Me the other day that's worth checking out.
Finally, Triple M Radio out of Sydney, Australia sent one of their people all the way to New York City to talk with Brian and Angus about Black Ice recently. You'll definitely want to check out Myf Finally Meets AC/DC for some of the details on her 20 minutes with the boys. She promises there's more to come soon, by the way, including pictures.
While you're on Triple M's site, I urge you to also check out their mini-preview of Black Ice and their Look Back At AC/DC In Pictures. You will be glad you clicked the links, I promise.
Concert reviews from last night's AC/DC show are in already from Metromix and Indy's 1070 AM and, though they're not the most detailed pieces I've read lately, it sounds like everybody had a good time last night.
has won the DVD of the Year at the Classic Rock Awards. There's more on the complete awards ceremony 
album. Kind of reminds me of my bud, Lucas, and the education in great music he received as he wrote the 
DVD and rock out the rest of this weekend.
