NEW ACTION PLAN

Tonight's meeting has just ended. The troops morale is low after the cancellation of the second show in Antwerp but a draft of action plan for the next weeks on tour was prepared. More details will be revealed soon . AC/DC Abruzzo is gonna RIDE ON!!!

ANTWERP OFFICIALLY CANCELLED

Here's the sign outside the Sportpaleis. Unfortunately, the rumour proved true. AC/DC Abruzzo hopes Brian gets well soon!

AC/DC Abruzzo was also very surprised about the calm and polite way the Belgians reacted to this news. Had this happened in Paris... Or Milan... 

There will be a meeting of the AC/DC Abruzzo Stirring Committee tonight in order to prepare a suitable strategy to cope with this emergency. Considering that we missed one AC/DC show our plans will be probably changed. 

Goodnight.

PS Happy Birthday to Stefano Staff for his 30th birthday which will be celebrated with good friends and Belgian beer tonight in Antwerp!

ANTWERP SECOND NIGHT CANCELLED

PORCA MAJELLA!!!

When we were about to leave our Antwerp headquarters to go to the gig we got an sms from a belgian friend waiting at the gates saying that the gig has been cancelled due to a member of the band being sick. Yesterday we got some inside information from reliable sources telling us that Brian had the flu but we were told that the show would take place anyways. We're going to the venue now... We really hope this is not true. 

More news soon.

AC/DC ABRUZZO MEETS PHIL RUDD!!!!!

The brief but very intense encounter took place in Paris a few days ago. Phil was extremely kind and friendly. Unfortunately, there was no photo opportunity because of his tight schedule.

When we thanked him for the amazing show in Bercy he replied with a firm voice, strong but gentle, that he "fucking loved playing in front of such a great crowd!". Phil's rock'n'roll attitude really amazed us. He's a true old-school rocker!!

AC/DC ABRUZZO IN BRUSSELS

AC/DC ABRUZZO's President and part of the Staff spent a very pleasant afternoon in Brussels waiting for the second Antwerp show. We ate Belgian fries, Carbonades Flamandes and drank lots of local beers. We also had a nice stroll into the city and took some pictures for our blog...

Interesting "Amsterdam landscape" near Gare du Nord

The Belgian National Dish

Belgian Fashion

HORNED MANNEKEN PIS

BELGIAN BEER

AC/DC ABRUZZO IN "LA GRANDE PLACE"

Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis March 1, 2009

Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis,
March 01, 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. Anything Goes
14. You Shook Me All Night Long
15. TNT
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. Let there be Rock
18. Highway to Hell
19. For Those About to Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

As many of our readers already know AC/DC Abruzzo had originally decided to conclude the first leg of its tour after Paris. But after experiencing such a huge dose of pure AC/DC rock'n'roll in Bercy we decided that we could not stop and that we had to carry on with our rock'n'roll mission. We therefore ended up in
Antwerp, Belgium which definitely looks like a small province town if compared to Paris. But we don't mind as long as we get to see AC/DC!!

Outside the Sportpaleis the atmosphere was much more relaxed than in Bercy. We met Phil and his friends from AC/DC Bedlam in Belgium blog who were very kind to us! They rock! We also met lots of other fans outside the venue who recognised us through the blog and the Facebook group and thanked us for our job. We salute them all and thank you for your support!

There was just one entrance to the venue so you can imagine the chaos when they opened the gates. Also in Belgium they had this paperless tickets policy that made everything more complicated, in our opinion... Anyway, we managed to get tickets in the end and we decided to follow our first AC/DC show in Europe from seats and not in the GA standing. We deserved some rest after the Paris gigs (5 shows in a row)...Seeing AC/DC from a seat, for us, goes against the entire idea of rock'n'roll but it was Force Majeure this time. Too tired...

Anyway, the show was great. They went back to the old, solid, tight setlist with the original order. First thing we noticed in Sportpaleis was that the standing section was filled to the brim, probably even against safety regulations. Secondly the acoustics were impressively good. Maybe because we were right behind the soundboard, I don't know...Some other people got the same impression...

The highlight of the night was HIGHWAY TO HELL. Despite the fact that there was some technical problem and nothing was projected on the screens after Rosie the Audience went totally wild during this song. It was very cool when Brian grabbed a "Satanic Trident" from the audience during the song screaming "WE'RE ON A HIGHWAY TO HELL!" along with the audience. As for Angus, we're still trying to figure out how he can do what he does every night... Thank God he exists.

From our new position we also appreciated the silent leader role of Malcolm, especially when Brian made a small mistake during Dirty Deeds. His background vocals were there to put everything in order. Bottomline, it was a great show again. We, in AC/DC Abruzzo, are glad we've come to Belgium to see these 2 extra gigs. Sometimes, in life, you really have to understand when it's time to seize an opportinity. And having AC/DC playing Europe in such small venues and with such warm crowds it's an opportunity we can't miss!

Tonight, God willing, AC/DC Abruzzo will be again in the pit!! OI! OI! OI! OI!

NEWS FROM ANTWERP

AC/DC Abruzzo has just come back from the Sportpaleis of Antwerp for the first concert here in Belgium. Excellent performance of the band, once again, and great crowd, although not as wild as Paris. No changes in the setlist (same as Paris 1st night). A couple of technical hitches (no screens from Let There Be Rock on...).
This time we decided to go for seats instead of GA so we had a different perspective. Report and videos coming soon... Buonanotte from Antwerp

With our friends from AC/DC BEDLAM in BELGIUM blog

PARIS, FR FEB 27, 2009

Paris, FR Bercy, 
February 27, 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. Anything Goes 

7. Shot Down in Flames

8. Thunderstruck

9. Black Ice

10. The Jack

11. Hell's Bells

12. Shoot to Thrill

13. War Machine

14. You Shook Me All Night Long

15. TNT

16. Whole Lotta Rosie

17. Let there be Rock

18. Highway to Hell

19. For Those About to Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO Official Review

AC/DC Abruzzo has just arrived in Antwerp after a long journey on a very expensive and very delayed Thalys train. We feel exhausted, tired, our back hurts and we even have some bruises (last time we had bruises because of AC/DC was in Milton Keynes in 2001, we think) …  But we feel very happy. Yesterday’s show really rocked! 

We spent the last 5 days in Paris eating good local food (we’ll post some photos soon), meeting new and old friends and trying to recover our energies from the exhausting previous week spent on the road (and I'll tell you folks it's harder than it looks!).

Before the show outside the Arena we bumped into a fan from Italy, Lorenzo who was desperately looking for a standing ticket while riding his bike (he goes to concerts with his car and bike!!).  You might not believe this but he was the one who gave Matteo of AC/DC Abruzzo his extra ticket for the Hammersmith show in 2003!! And no news from him since that day in October 2003!!! It’s such a small world, isn’t it? We know that he finally managed to find a ticket for the Paris show and we’ll meet him again in Antwerp.

Once inside the Arena we immediately noticed the extra camera over the audience. We had heard about those rumours about Dave Mallet being in Paris and we knew about the band being in Bercy to film something in the afternoon, so we did the math and we came to the conclusion that the French audience and AC/DC Abruzzo will probably be included in the next videoclip!!! The crowd was probably even more excited because of the filming (or maybe because it was Friday night… We don't know. )Anyway the beginning of show was amazing again! The crowd went wild since the very first guitar lick! And we, in our usual spots on the right, in front of Angus, we just had a real good time jumping and screaming as the previous night... Brian pointed at our flag several times during the show (normally he waves at us just during RnR Train or Hell Aint aBad Place to Be). We must admit that we were very "hyperactive” during the show…

As for the setlist, there was just a minor change in the order of the songs. Actually, we were almost dying when Brian at a certain point said "We’ve got a special song for Paris”. But he was just introducing Dirty Deeds...

For AC/DC Abruzzo the best song of the night was TNT. It was just pure bliss for a AC/DC fan to hear such a nasty OI OI OI from the audience singing along with Angus. During that song in the area where we were standing some people starting some pretty violent  “Pimball Pogo" along with some crowd surfing. Everybody looked like they were having the time of their life. Including us. From TNT on, there was a real CRESCENDO… After an incredibly powerful version of Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock started. At that point we really felt rock’n’roll taking over our body and mind! In this Rock’n’Roll trance we just felt it was the right moment to improvise a Bon Fire feat: Stefano jumped on Matteo's shoulders showing the flag to the entire French audience for several minutes of pure rock’n’roll ecstasy. What a great feeling... We had several cameras pointed at us so you might see us on TV soon.... AH AH AH

To conclude, we want to underline the professional job done by the security guys that never interfered with the audience, they let us have a good time and were always helpful giving us water during and after the show. We salute them!

Bottom line, I think Paris 2009 will be a milestone for AC/DC fans. We’re sure they really enjoyed playing there as much as we did!

And tomorrow it will be BEDLAM IN BELGIUM!!

AC/DC ABRUZZO salutes you!

PHOTO GALLERY

The President while inspecting a bottle of local Belgian beer

AC/DC Abruzzo headquarters in Antwerp