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All aboard the rock n’ roll train

Lucy Rice, Fri 24 Apr 2009, 12:53 pm BST

AC/DC, LG Arena, Birmingham, 23 April 2009


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“The party starts right here, right now!” Brian Johnson is on one. Moments after bursting onstage in a flash of pyros and strobe lights, rock ’n’ roll’s most lascivious frontman is leering at the thousands of fans gathered to salute those about to rock, AC/DC.


For many here tonight, this is their first time witnessing the furore of DC live. And, if industry rumours are to be believed, it might be their last too. Regardless, TG is smack bang in the middle of the LG Arena, sandwiched between Acca fans old and new, and barely unable to control our bodily functions. The site of a small schoolboy clutching a Gibson SG stage-right might even be enough to make us do a small wee…


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As we all know, that ‘schoolboy’ is 54-year-old guitar legend Angus Young. AC/DC is unquestionably ‘his band’. It’s not chants of ‘DC’ that are booming around this arena, but “Angus! Angus!” Johnson may be the conductor of this rock ’n’ roll train, but Angus is most definitely the controller.


As Malcolm Young, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams rev the engine on ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Train’, TG and the thousands of revellers here tonight know we’re in for one hell of a ride.


“Give it all, give it. Give it what you got!” Brian and Angus are certainly holding true to the sentiment of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Train’s’ lyrics; Angus rips his first solo of the night and the crowd are already feverish.


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On new album title track ‘Black Ice’, Brian stalks the stage like a demented Cab Calloway, taunting the crowd and pumping out massive amounts of rock bravado. He looks incredible for a man of his age, every ounce a performer with decades of touring under his belt. The riff sounds way sleazier live than on record – a driving track underpinned by Rudd’s solid beat and Malcolm and Cliff’s skin-tight rhythm.


We were hoping ‘Back In Black’ would be high up in the setlist, but we didn’t expect it so soon. The telling hi-hat ‘chick’ opening of DC’s biggest song emits a soundwave of hysteria throughout the arena, and Angus laps it up from the get go. His playing may be sloppy at times, and he’s turned up way too loud for us to hear much of Johnson’s cajones-ripping chorus notes, but TG doesn’t care one jot.

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