LEIPZIG, GERMANY ZENTRALSTADIUM 13 MAY 2009
SETLIST
1. Rock'n'roll Train
2. Hell ain't a bad place to be
3. Back in Black
4. Big Jack
5. Dirty Deeds
6. Shot Down in Flames
7. Thunderstruck
8. Black Ice
9. The Jack
10. Hell's Bells
11. Shoot to Thrill
12. War Machine
13. Dog Eat Dog
14. Anything Goes
15. You Shook Me All Night Long
16. TNT
17. Whole Lotta Rosie
18. Let there be Rock
19. Highway to Hell
20. For Those About to Rock
AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT
We went to Leipzig just like we did in Wilkes Barre and Oslo to be the "first to hear it". And we were the first again. Dog Eat Dog was added to the setlist. Are we happy? We have mixed feelings. We love this song but it isn't Riff Raff, Live Wire or If You Want Blood. . And unless something major happens in Munich AC/DC Abruzzo will skip many shows of the open air tour. As you know we are not very fond of Stadium shows: we believe that the shows for the real fans were the ones in the small arenas. And we were there. Stadium shows are, generally speaking, for regular "mainstream" audience. For those people who maybe only know Highway To Hell or Thnderstruck. The band (read Malcolm) is aware of that and probably this is the reason why they don't bother adding "rare" songs each night. In fact yesterday in the Zeltralstadium, 90% of people seemed not to care too much about Dog Eat Dog... As long as they hear HTH, TNT, ROSIE, YSMANL they're happy. So the band will give it to them. Fair enough. The other 10% of people will have to wait for the next show in Circus Krone or Roseland Balroom... But we might be wrong...
So different venue. Different crowd. Different atmosphere. Apart from very few changes. The stage was very similar to the 2001 one. You saw the pics. Same train. Nothing special afterall. It looked like AC/DC wanted to give those "fans" who couldn't get a ticket for the indoor tour the opportunity to see them. Or maybe they just wanted to cut costs as much as possible and maximise profit... Or maybe they're just lazy...We actually have problems in understanding this... Differences: Dog Eat Dog added, Let There Be Rock you will see some confettis flying in the air and different catwalk-end and final solo, fireworks at the end, much louder 21-gun salute.
The band performed well but you could tell that they were not mastering the bigger stage perfectly (especially the catwalk). Our impression was that until DOG EAT DOG they were going a bit slow and cumbersome. But this might be due to our fear of not having any setlist change. After Dog Eat Dog they looked more energetic... Especially Angus. Brian fucked up quite clearly on War Machine but then totally redeemed himself with Dog Eat Dog. Not his best performance of this song but pretty good.
The German crowd was not bad but not great either. The 1-liter personalised AC/DC beer pitcher made its appearance again (last time we saw it was in March in Germany). We must mention a major fuck up by the organisers/promoter who wrote "Front of Stage" on the fan club tickets but didn't allow entrance to the front of stage section to all the people with a Front of Stage ticket!! They basically applied a first come first served policy to the FOS section. So AC/DC Abruzzo also had to witness an entertaining but useless fight between German fans and security guys before the show near the barriers. The Germans are not hotblooded as the Italians or the French but this time they seemed to be quite pissed off about this fan club thing.
OK guys. See you in "rainy" Munich.
Good review, thanks guys. And thanks for the "front of stage" warning, will shop up early for Munich. Any chance of meeting you there? Right side of the stage as usual?
ReplyDeleteGuys...you heared the outcry of the fansbase, you yourself are not really happy with the way it works now. Please let the band know in a friendly way if you have a chance. It can make a difference!
Thanks for the review. Was there any other supporting show or it was simply the Answer?
ReplyDeleteCane was the name of the other act. We are not really fond of opening band though. See you in Munich.
ReplyDeletePs Soon we'll upload a better version of Dog Eat Dog on our you tube channel
I was a little disappointed too... they played Dog Eat Dog during their Ballbreaker tour. Nothing wrong with the song but they have so much good material that they could have chosen something different and not heard in a while. I wish they would play a song from their mid-eighties albums.
ReplyDeleteAgree with your comments re the Stadia gigs, as many punters as possible in as short a time as possible, unfortunately as a Scotsman with a big family and commitments to match Im gonna have to endure Hampden in Glasgow and whilst Im looking forward to seeing AC/DC again,possily for the last time?, im alredy not relishing the thought of standing in a souless football stadium getting the greatest hits gig, saw em 1st in 78 with Bon and every tour since,and boy do I miss the theatres!
ReplyDeleteGuess Im just getting old huh
Dave in Edinburgh
Great honest article guys! I agree 100%
ReplyDeleteGZ
great review-for me who saw them in oslo have at least two new songs when they come back.how did you like the oslo show?
ReplyDelete