AC/DC
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte NC
Thursday, Dec 18, 2008
Going to so many Events there are quite a few that just don’t live up to any reason to be there except to just be somewhere so it is very exciting when you can hit a show that lives up to every conceived expectation.
You would have thought Raleigh was full of electricians as much as everyone was talking about “AC/DC” and little did it matter that the Rock and Roll Mecca was being held three hours away, when these tickets went on-sale gas was at the 4buck a gallon price but everyone was ready for a road trip down the Highway To Hell.
The concert sold out on day one and aftermarket tickets were more scarce than Stars on American Idol since most lower-level seating was processed on “electronic tickets” which meant that a major portion of the venue didn’t get tickets until the day of the show so there was no way to re-sell them.
There is no such thing as a cheap hotel in downtown Charlotte so I hit the cheap motel and called the Box Office to ask is there was an opening act.
“Yes there is.”
“Who?”
“Uhhh, we don’t know” was the official answer and it didn’t really matter did it? No.
I left the room to head for the venue and dozens of people were walking through the motel parking lot and every one of them had their cases of beer at their side like party briefcases, going left, right, down, and up the stairs all moving with party pre-planned determination.
I walked to the TWC Arena box office past the wide lines of people queued up waiting for the 6:30pm doors to open, the line circled, hugging the curve of the arena so with each step I expected to finally spy the end.
I walked, walked, and walked, finally after going past half the arena reached the end, stopped, turned around and hundreds continued to line up behind me, each one having a shocked look of dread on their face as they realized the enormity of the torturous wait that laid before them.
Once the doors were opened the arena did a fine job of adding entrances and moved things along quickly but the single line turned to massive confusion once you realized further ahead it broke into four entrances: People with hard tickets, those with paper print-out tickets, will call windows and those of us unlucky enough to have Electronic Tickets. The ET’s were the slowest moving of all the lines since everyone had to have their ID checked and credit card scanned.
Once you were inside there were more line choices to decide on: food line, beer line, bathroom line or merchandise line. Frustration had me in and out of the t-shirt line three different times before I finally made it to the counter to be told that they were out of the shirt I wanted so I randomly stuck my finger in the air and said “Give me that one.”
A trick taught to me to find out who the opening acts are is to look at the merchandise to see what their t-shirt says and it was: “The Answer”. I have to ask better questions because that was not the answer I was hoping for.
There were more than a few people walking around dressed as Angus in school boy attire ranging in the age of 8 to 58 and it is nice to see the really young people taking up the Rock and Roll banners.
I hit my rented seating location which is off to the side but this band knows how to keep the sight lines clear not putting meaningless junk in the way.
The lights go black and out comes AC/DC for the first frenzied feeding of the evening with “Rock ‘N Roll Train” and just to hammer home the theme a four story tall steam belching, flame throwing, spark flying locomotive rolls out on-stage behind the drummer with two walls of diamond-vision screens, one on each side.
No production crew members back was spared for this show, there were racks of remote controlled search lights lining the stage top, stage edges, dozens running the length of the front of the stage, the overhead staging was hanging vertical down the left and right sides like fingers from above that held more equipment. As all this went on in a flash the lights in Charlotte surely must have dimmed and workers at the power plant had to be scrambling to pump out more wattage.
Lead Singer Brian Johnson welcomed all those in attendance adding how jacked-up they were to be back in town and the building crescendo continued with “Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be” and kept the throttle pushed to wide-open with “Back In Black”.
The complete width of the stage has an inlay of clear sections in the floor which Angus lines up with on the left side and does his atomic powered duck walk over from left to right and beneath the stage is a moving camera that follows him from underneath and all this upside-down wildness is being broadcasted on the overhead screens.
During “The Jack” Angus stripped off his shirt, tie, turning his back to the audience he pulled down his school boy pants to reveal his “AC/DC” shorts and the biggest shocker was that these shorts weren’t available for cash at the merchandise stand.
To appreciate the highs you must live through the lows and the most underachieving moment of the night was that the venue cut off beer at 9:20pm. Are we in the Central Time Zone?
If anyone can get the ride going back in the right direction it’s Rosie and she came out as a blow up woman in all her inflated glory riding on the top of the train on stage. She had on a red top barely covering her massive cleavage, red panties and red boots that moved to the racing Rock and Roll rhythm of “Whole Lotta Rosie”.
Rosie deflated, the train receded backstage, the two massive diamond screens moved inward to form one large overhead spectacle of images as Angus ran down the runway stage for the first time for “Let There Be Rock”. Whenever the spotlights were on Angus no other band members left the stage but they moved backwards to blend in the darkness as they stood waiting against the wall of amps.
The crowd is screaming volumes but it’s not enough, Angus cups his hand to his ear and the arena responds by carrying hell-raising to another level.
One hour and twenty-five minutes after it began Brian Johnson thanked Charlotte and the stage cleared. This did bring the chants of the crowd to supersonic levels and moments later it was time for re-entry and we were on the “Highway To Hell”.
For the splashdown out rolled 8 huge cannons, four on each side of the drum kit and the closing number of this engagement was “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” and the cannons exploded with massive smoke, flame and concussions to the resounding approval of the roar of the crowd which you could no longer hear due to the war scene being played out in front of us.
Tens of thousands spilled out on the streets of downtown Charlotte filling up all the local venues and at every opportunity DJ’s were spinning AC/DC tunes and the feeding frenzy continued well into the next morning.
Rock and Roll Mission accomplished.
…Funky Neighbor LEEhttp://www.96rockonline.com/Article.asp?id=615031http://www.myspace.com/funkyneighborlee
