AC/DC "Black Ice Tour" ....Concert Review 11-19-08

It's amazing how rock n roll can be sometimes be timeless. Last night AC/DC proved that again, as we were all Back In Black! The arena glistened with blinking red lights from the Light up Devil Horns that were being sold, mostly worn by the chicks & kids. Angus Young wore his during the encore. They shook the Meadowlands "all night long" as if it were twenty five years ago but still showing us that these too are our hey days. The highlights of the night could have been when the whole place was jumping to You Shook Me All Night Long, or maybe for Dirty Deeds or Back In Black. The sing along to the old classic The Jack with Angus's strip tease may have been another.

They were loud & had great clear sound system. The backdrop of the stage was a huge locomotive car spewing smoke with an AC/DC logo on it's front. Two huge video screens hung on each side of the locomotive car, displaying the band, mostly focusing on everyones hero of the night Angus Young.

Angus Young was fantastic playing outrageous guitar leads & leading the crowd all night. He is like a machine that never stops. Donning his English schoolboy outfit as usual, then stripping down to his shorts, in a comic burlesque act during "The Jack". The crowd went crazy. Angus wailed away a great guitar solo during the last song before the encores "Let There Be Rock". He took over the arena, wailing on his guitar. Running up & down the long runway in the middle of the arena, spinning & twirling on the floor in a circle, then being lifted up on a platform high above the crowd, right to the left of where our seats were on the floor in Section 9. Again, the crowd went crazy. Angus is truly an incredible musician that can only really be appreciated on a concert stage.

Brian Johnson, never looking like the rock star, just a great guy you'd want to hang out with in a pub, did his usual job of shrieking through all his classics & covering the AC/DC classics of the Bon Scott era. Nevertheless a great front man leading the Australian rockers through a great show,wearing his usual cap ( a symbol of his native Tyneside, England). He too seems ageless. Especially when he jumps on the rope and swings during the ringing of "Hells Bells".

Angus's brother Malcolm Young carried the band as usual on the rhythm guitar riffs, while singing back ups along with bassist Cliff Williams & the crowd. Drummer Phil Rudd sported short hair & glasses making him look more like an accountant than a rock drummer, but he pounded away and along with Williams created the classic thunderous AC/DC beat.

The crowd was more upbeat than usual at a Jersey show, and featured many older folks with their kids! Yes even some younger teens rocked to the AC/DC classics as well as us rock concert veterans. The age gap has become limitless, after all they have been rocking since 1974, although they didn't get big in America until 1979. The boys mixed up some great new tracks off their "Black Ice"CD with the old classics from both the Bon Scott years & Brian Johnson's post Back In Black era. A great show, worth every bit the price of admission. Besides the great light show, huge locomotive car, huge Bells for Hells Bells, and the runway platform down the center aisle, another prop of note was the massive blow up doll of an over weight woman during Whole Lotta Rosie!

Set List:

Rock 'N' Roll Train

Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be

Back in Black

Big Jack

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Thunderstruck

Black Ice

The Jack

Hells Bells

Shoot to Thrill

War Machine
Anything Goes

You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT

Whole Lotta Rosie

Let There Be Rock

Encores: Highway To Hell

For Those About to Rock