Last weekend I ventured to Commonwealth Stadium along with 60,000 others to see AC/DC, this was an outdoor show, so of course it started raining just as the show was about to start. I wasn't going to bother seeing this show, but a week before the show I managed to get myself a ticket. Mind you it wasn't the best seat in the house, but hey, how many more chances is a person going to get to see the mighty AC/DC in concert.
The show started at 7:30 with opening act Vintage Trouble a rocking blues soul band from Hollywood, California. And as the band hit the stage, the rain started coming down, go figure. Vintage Trouble is a band I had never heard of before, but after a little research they seemed like a band I might enjoy. I was right on that account, the band played a great forty-five minute set. I was surprised by how many people were actually already in there seats for the opening act. Ty Taylor the lead singer for Vintage Trouble had a James Brown vibe to him, a great front man with a great voice. The band backing him up were damn good too. The band has four albums out with their newest release 1 Hopeful Rd. having just come out this year. This is a band I will definitely be looking into more. They would be a great band to see in a small venue or at festival like Interstellar or the Blues Fest, they would go over great at something like that. During intermission everyone I heard talking about the band seemed to enjoy them. Opening for AC/DC isn't an easy thing to do, but it sounded like they won over some new fans, good on them.
Vintage Trouble at Commonwealth Stadium.
After a half hour break between bands, it was time for AC/DC. During the break I went to have a smoke outside and get a beer, what fucking gong show it was to get around the stadium. The main concourse was stupidly packed it was tough getting around, what should have been a two minute walk took a good twenty minutes if you were lucky. If you wanted to pick up a t-shirt or something you were looking at an hour line up, forget it. Line ups for beer weren't quite as bad, but still a line up. I was lucky and found a line up that took only about ten minutes, yay, lucky me.
I got back to my shitty seat just in time to catch AC/DC come on. And of course, the rain was still coming down. What was really cool, was just before the band hit the stage the stadium was dark and all you could see was about 30,000 people with blinking red devil horns on their heads, it was quite a sight to see actually. So blinking red lights and yellow rain coats and ponchos was the colours for this night. Just like six years ago when AC/DC last played here at the same venue, the rain continued on.
This was my fourth time seeing AC/DC in concert and first time in twenty-four years, having last seen them on the Razors Edge tour, back when they used to play small intimate venues like Coliseums. Having not seen them in that many years I was looking forward to this show. You know what your going to get at an AC/DC concert, a meat and potatoes rock n' roll show. and that is exactly what I and 60,000 others got.
This time around the band was missing a couple of members, that being guitarist Malcolm Young who is out because of health issues and drummer Phil Rudd because of legal problems. So the line-up was Brian Johnson, Angus Young, Chris Slade on drums, Steve Young on guitar and Cliff Williams on bass. This is the second time I have seen this version of AC/DC as this was the same line-up I saw when they played Edmonton in 1988 on the Blow Up Your Video tour.
AC/DC opened the show playing the title song from their latest album Rock Or Bust. And off we go, from there it was one great classic song after another. They did three songs from the new album, that being the title song, Play Ball and Baptism By Fire. The new songs went over well except for Baptism, which is when I and many others headed to the can and to buy merch. Which by the way, there was still a big line up at the merch tables. Other then that the band rocked the stadium like few bands can. Brian and Angus still rocked the hell out of the stage like they were way younger then they actually are. Even with the rain coming down it sure didn't stop Angus from bopping around like he always does, and Brian's vocals sounded great as well, none of them have lost a step that's for sure. because of where I was seated, I never did get to see drummer Chris Slade other then on the big screens they had on each side of the stage. The only breaks the band took was when the roadies had to come out and squeegee the puddles of water from the stage. The crowd were on there feet and singing along right from the first note to the bitter end in a cold and wet night.
Angus and the band put on a great two hour show, and thankfully this time around we didn't get the mooning from Angus, thank god. I guess he is getting too old show his ass any more. Even through all the rain the band put on a great show and I didn't see a person leave because of it. The rain did finally stop, yup, for the two song encore, go figure. All and all this was a fun show, AC/DC can still bring it and it was awesome to see a big rock n' roll show at Commonwealth Stadium again. Good times!!!
Setlist for Edmonton show.
AC/DC live at Commonwealth Stadium.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
