ONE YEAR ON THE ROCK'N'ROLL TRAIN!!!

The most hard core fans around the world will surely remember what happened exactly one year ago in London...

Only a few hundred fans were granted the privilege to attend the shoot of the first AC/DC video since 2001. The long journey around the world of the ROCK'N'ROLL TRAIN had started... 

Although there was no official announcement by Sony or the band on the album release that was a clear sign that AC/DC were finally back after 5 long years!

THE STAGE

Contract

AC/DC ABRUZZO Secretary General (Old School Rebel) in the video 

THE ADVENTURES OF ORANGUS IN AMERICA III

Albany August 2, 2009 Times Union Center

Hi guys, I’m really sad you missed this. I now you’re not jealous people so I’ll tell you that probably this was the best AC/DC concert of my life (as you know I saw more than 40 shows. Maybe the Circus Crowne's 2003 setlist was slightly better).

Late in the afternoon I bought a ground floor ticket at the box office. I specifically asked that the seat was near the aisle (sector 5, row a, seat 14). When I entered the venue, by my surprise, I found out that it was a very small section, almost half of the forum of Assago in Milan. My spot was just one seat away from the catwalk. Once the concert started Brian came straight to me and shook my hand! (I'm sure he remembers me from our meeting in Paris when we tried to convince him to play Ride On again). The sound was just perfect. Really, I couldn’t get a better seat than this.

The audience was great this time (even if they didn't sing Rosie at all). After the show everybody was cheering and screaming like crazy. I actually thought there was some special event or aftershow party outside. In fact people were just amazingly happy because of the show.

I also managed to meet and talk to some guys who attended the legendary Roseland Ballroom show in 2003 in NYC. Great stories. Although they really loved tonight's show obviously that concert was just in another league…

THE ADVENTURES OF ORANGUS IN AMERICA II

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ Giants Stadium July 31, 2009

Ciao guys,

Yesterday I arrived in my the hotel at 4am and didn’t have the time to write anything, so sorry about that. I almost met Francesca (one of AC/DC Abruzzo's groupie LOL) but there was a last minute problem. By the way, I saw and talked to a Mariah Carey lookalike in the NYC metro today.

I arrived to the Giants Stadium at the very last minute, just like I did for most of the 30 shows I did in Europe. No Ground floor tickets were available so I had to buy a seated ticket for 11$ from a nice guy who actually wanted to give it to me for free. I tried to get to the floor area by using my Italian charm and other AC/DC Abruzzo fieldtested techniques but they didn't work.

Basically, I ended up on the most central spot of the first level of seats. I really felt like Nero the Emperor in the Coliseum. Really a nice feeling although there was no Gladiators show or Hail Caesar added to the setlist. The audience was much colder than the one in Boston but the concert was just great. Excellent acoustics in the stadium, I would say that the sound was one of the best of the entire open air tour. The boys were on fire. I'm sorry you guys were not there. I’m sure some of you might have had something to say about the audience, maybe a bit cold. Before Thunderstruck Brian said something like “Here’s a song from the last album” and then “oops, a little mistake”.

For the record, I heard rumours saying that Rudolf Giuliani and Arnold Schwartznegger are working on a bill in building an AC/DC Memorial in Washington, DC and replace Statue of Liberty with the Angus Statue.

Today I went to eat in Little Italy. There, I met Phil who told me that Italy didn't deserve to win the World Cup in 2006, So a fight broke out. Thanks to the help of some local “wiseguys” and “friends of ours” and we beat him up for good. Just kidding...

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

AC/DC Abruzzo experienced undefined-not to be revealed technical problems in the last few days, (similarly to AC/DC in Zurich last March). For this reason the blog updates were temporarily discontinued. We apologize for the inconvenient.. We will be back very soon with the next chapters of the Orangus' journal.

THE ADVENTURES OF ORANGUS IN AMERICA

From Orangus' Journal - My first trip in the USA

AC/DC Abruzzo declines all responsabilities for any politically incorrect statement, comment or action made by Orangus. 

FIRST SHOW - Gillette Stadium July 28, 2009

Boston July 29, 2009

(...)

So I solved the ticket problem very easily and found a floor ticket at the box office of the Gillette Stadium. The crowd was not too bad and I easily adapted myself to the reserved seating policy they have here in the States... Yes, they really have chairs in the front of stage section!! Incredible! I managed to move and stand in the corridor anyways... 

Great show and great performance. Especially the Let There Be Rock solo... The funniest thing of the show was Brian hanging from the Hell's Bell with the bell oscillating without making any noise... So he kept hanging waiting for something to happen but after a few extra seconds of silence he came down and waited for the beginning of the song. As far as the setlist is concerned, as you already know, the boys played all the classic hits we love such as Touch too Much, If you want Blood, RnR Dannation, Ride on, Down payment Blues etc... 

Unfortunately, I  didn't manage to meet the band but I talked to a guy who told me that the previous day Phil had said a nice "vafangool" to a fan asking for an autograph... We love Phil! 

The public transportation to and from the Stadium seemed to be of a third world country. There was no shuttle bus, special train from Boston so I went by train to a small village not far from the Stadium. There was no taxi there so I, an Irish guy and 3 Americans paid another American guy for a ride (10$ each). There were 6 people in the car. A nightmare. And the parking lot cost 40$!! I even saw a person getting arrested by the Police for jumping over a barrier. 

After the show nobody, neither the Police nor the security personnel, could give me any accurate information about public transportation to go back to Boston. No taxis at all. So after waiting enough time to miss all the trains and busses I decided to hitchhike. After 30 seconds a woman stops:

-Where do you have to go?
-Boston
-Are you crazy?
- Yes
-Ok I get you, where are you from?
-Italian

At this point she started to hug me and kiss me. She wasn't that bad... Maybe a bit mature but she actually looked like Rosie... Her friend, on the contrary, was really ugly. But who cares? Then she told me she helped because she liked my legs (I love jogging and cycling!)... She was hitting on me so intensely that we actually got lost in the parking lot...

TO BE CONTINUED.

BOUGHT MYSELF A CADILLAC...

So here's Brian speaking about his real passion: race cars. And, as you can see, he can actually drive pretty fast!

The story about him pissing on the Sputnik in Russia was told to us in Stockholm by Brian in person. Hilarious. He also told us a couple of other cool stories about rock'n'roll and race cars. One, very interesting, was about Cliff and Brian driving on a circuit and having some unexpected problems... You'll find the details on Brian's forthcoming book.

AC/DC Abruzzo's correspondant Orangus touched base with us a few hours ago. Despite a few problems at the US customs office he managed to get to America safe and sound. If he doesn't get lost or kidnapped again he will be attending the Massachussets show tomorrow...

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Even if the meeting took place not too far from Hollywood last year it's not a casting for a remake of one of the best movies by Sergio Leone (although these faces would be perfect for a Spaghetti Western! AH AH AH). Thanks to Kosp for sending this cool picture.

For the record, we just learned that AC/DC Abruzzo's correspondant Orangus, aka Belfagor, is currently on an ALITALIA flight heading to New York JFK...  Good luck for this new adventure!

AC/DC ABRUZZO TUTORIALS: HOW TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH PHIL "TERMINATOR" RUDD

"VENI, VIDI, VICI"

("I came, I saw, I conquered")

Julius Caesar

Taking a look at our friends' profiles on Facebook and at the pictures with the band members posted on the Internet by other fans around the world we noticed a pattern. Most hard core fans only managed to take photos with Angus, Brian, Cliff and Malcolm during the last tour. But why is Phil "Terminator" Rudd so rarely found next to a fan in a picture? There are many theories circulating but we will not focus on them this time. Nevertheless, it is a fact that only a very small group of fans can boast a photo with one of the meanest and coolest drummers of the history of rock'n'roll.

AC/DC Abruzzo Stirring Committee is gladly part of this small group of privileged fans. But how was this possible? Here's our secret techniques revealed exclusively for AC/DC Abruzzo blog readers!

AC/DC ABRUZZO TUTORIALS: HOW TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH PHIL "TERMINATOR" RUDD

First of all, you have to embrace AC/DC Abruzzo's philosophy and believe in our core principle (i.e."Impossible is nothing"). Then, you have to prepare yourself to work pretty hard.

To start, there are a few books that must be read attentively to obtain the necessary theoretical background and understand the psychology of the target. These preparatory readings are:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Maximum Rock 'n' Roll by Arnaud Durieux, Murray Engleheart

The Game by Neil Strauss

Playboy: 50 Years: The Photographs by James R. Petersen

While understanding and learning warfare techniques, AC/DC history, pickup strategies and the inspirational qualities of big breasts it is also essential to train actively in the gym. Several sessions are required to improve your physical strength, responsiveness and stamina.

AC/DC Abruzzo working out before the Milan shows in March

Then, you will have to focus on your target. Gather personal information and anecdotes about Phil from reliable sources. Watch as many interviews as possible, such as this one:



Once the preparation and the training are complete you MUST go in the field. At least a dozen AC/DC shows must be attended and Phil must be observed carefully. Especially, pay particular attention to the final "horns gesture" he does to greet the fans after the end of FTATR. If he raises his hand high waiving at the audience it means he enjoyed playing there (this happened in only in Paris Bercy, Milan Forum, Dublin 02 and a few others). This is a sign showing that Phil will have a more "flexible attitude" with fans the following day. Prepare to attack.

AC/DC Abruzzo decided to make the decisive move in Dublin, in April after a few months of observation and training (and two failed attempts in Paris and Milan which resulted only in autographs).

Once we spotted the target, we immediately identified the weak points linked to location, presence of bodyguards, possible escape lines etc. After assessing quickly all these factors we decided to implement the classical PINCER MOVEMENT technique.


The President approached the target from the front and said "Hello Phil, we are two fans from Italy, would it be possible to take a quick photo with you?". In the meantime the Secretary General had taken position in the rear closing all paths to escape. The potential obstacles had been all disarmed previously. The target looked around for a few seconds then understood he had to surrender. "Sure, my dear!", he replied. Victory was ours. We took our trophy photos. "Thank you very much, Phil. Great show yesterday by the way!".

The first student to reap the fruits of AC/DC Abruzzo's tutorial was Mathieu from Marseille, an apprentice and good friend of ours, who managed to take this picture with Phil on Les Champs Elysées in Paris last June thanks to our assistance and guidelines.

THE BOSS SALUTES ABRUZZO

After the declaration of love made by Madonna during her show in Milan a few days ago thanking God her father was from Abruzzo (the town is called Pacentro) and the donation of 500,000$ for the reconstruction of the cities destroyed by the earthquake, Bruce Springsteen also paid homage to the strong and gentle people of this region. Yesterday night, in Rome he dedicated an entire song to Abruzzo (My City of Ruins, originally written for the 9/11 events). According to the press, guitarist "under boss" Steve Van Zandt, also known as Silvio Dante, met with some fans from Abruzzo outside a radio station... They listened to their stories and later on persuaded the Boss to play something special... It's a real shame AC/DC didn't play this summer in Italy...

AMARCORD: PARIS-ANTWERP

AMARCORD meas "I remember" in several Italian dialects, including the Abruzzese! We will use the title of this Fellini's movie for a new series of entries regarding the cities we've visited, the people we've met and the things that we've seen during our AC/DC European tour! We hope you enjoy this retrospective rock'n'roll journey through Europe with AC/DC and AC/DC Abruzzo!

Tough days for AC/DC Abruzzo's staff.  Life without AC/DC on tour is not the same. While waiting for the next North American leg here's another episode of the Amarcord series: PARIS-ANTWERP

We already talked in detail about the Paris, Bercy shows. In our opinion they were the best of the indoor tour.  There was unique atmosphere, the energy levels were probably among the highest of the whole tour and we felt also the spirit of Bon, who loved the city just like the other boys in the band. You can feel that. We keep lots of unforgettable memories in Paris... It was also nice to meet the German fans and Orangus, whom we had seen the last time in front of the Hammersmith theatre in London in 2003. Seeing AC/DC in Paris was definetely one of our dreams. It came true.

With the Germans

With Orangus

R'n'R croissants

French Food

Bercy Devils

AC/DC Abruzzo's Stirring Committee made the last minute decision to go to Antwerp after the amazing experience in Paris. We couldn't just stop at that time and we felt it was appropriate to add two extra shows. We missed the train we were supposed to take on the 28th because the President's watch was found set 15 minutes ahead of the exact time (for some unknown and mysterious reason...) and we arrived too late. Then the following train was delayed by 2 hours... But we finally arrived in Antwerp at night in the central train station (pretty nice)... 

Obviously we didn't have tickets for the show so we had to use our magical powers to find them without dealing with scalpers. We made it again! The show was great. We loved the venue and the audience... Great acoustics. 

The Belgium stay was also unique because in our day off we managed to meet the band in Bruxelles. It was definetely calm and relaxed comparing to the other occasions we had and it was pretty cool to have time to talk even to busy Malcolm... Obviously all the details can be found in the entries we posted in early March. During our stay we met some other cool fans such as Fabien and Phil and many others... Unfortunately, as you know, the second night in Antwerp was cancelled due to Brian having the flu. So we had to celebrate Stefano's birthday somewhere else ... And rest a little bit before going back home...

ANTWERP - TOURIST INFORMATION

Antwerp is really a small city in Belgium. Very windy. You can see lots of immigrants in the streets and lots of diamond brokers shops. Great french fries and excellent beer. The old town is not too far from the Train Station and there are several buldings of architectural interest. On the contrary the nightlife seems to be considerably slow apart from a couple of striptease clubs and the entire red light quarter which is worth a quick visit. Brussels is a couple of hours away and it's definetely bigger as a city, but still to small for our taste. The Grand Place is very nice. The Charleroi airport (Ryanair) can be reached with a direct train.

Mannekin pis

Grand Place

666

Satanic Forecast

R'n'R Train Station

WE MISS THE ROCK'N'ROLL TRAIN

For those who miss the Rock'n'Roll train, just like us, here's the complete official intro video. It brings back a lot of nice memories... A lot...

Thanks to Capri and Marco290991

WE SALUTE YOU EUROPE!

Almost two weeks passed from the last "We salute you" pronounced by Brian at the Hampden Park. We must confess we do feel some emptiness after Glasgow...

AC/DC Abruzzo offers you an exclusive video of the last song played in Europe by AC/DC plus the final fireworks (and blaspheming in Italian because of the lack of second encores!). Unfortunately, according to the rumours that circulated in the last few days of June, from sources close to the band, this might be the last song played live in Europe in AC/DC's career... We do hope these rumours are false.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU) + GAY FIREWORKS Live in Glasgow 2009

A secret meeting took place with our correspondant Orangus in Milan last week in order to finalize a project involving the next North American leg. The secret location chosen for the meeting was the Opera Theatre LA SCALA during the second interval of AIDA by Giuseppe Verdi (fantastic!). We cannot reveal all the details of the project but there might be a surprise for AC/DC Abruzzo's readers very soon! 

ORANGUS (aka "The Phantom of the Opera") and The President

TEATRO ALLA SCALA

ABRUZZO - CENTRE OF THE WORLD

As you probably already heard from the news the most important and powerful world leaders gathered in Abruzzo for the G8 summit. It was an idea of the Italian Government aimed to bring attention to the aftermath of the earthquake that hit L'Aquila last April. Apparently everything was kept quite informal in line with the Abruzzo spirit and culture... It was quite curious to see that even President Obama has an Abruzzese attitude, especially when he played basketball and took pictures with the local people. Not to mention the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (above), a true rockstar of politics, with hundreds of million of euros, dozens of beautiful girls around him (a couple of sex scandals too, which is good publicity in Italy!) and deep love for music (see video below). The icing on the cake was the presence of George Clooney and Bill Murray who came for a cup of coffee, some standing comedy (Bill Murray simulated sexual intercourses with the President of the L'Aquila Province) and the promise to shoot a movie in Abruzzo. So when in Abruzzo do as the Abruzzeses do! Ah ah ah ah.

Obviously, the next step would be to bring a big rock band such as AC/DC to play in Abruzzo... If we managed to bring the most powerful leaders to a table yesterday in L'Aquila to make them eat tradition Abruzzese food such as Guitar Spaghetti e Arrosticini skewers that proves that nothing is really impossible in this world!


Abruzzese working dinner

Obama and Sarko focus on important political issues

Obama with local authorities in L'Aquila

Murray loves Italian women



Rock'n'Roll President Berlusconi singing Let There Be Rock while Obama "abball" (thanks to Kapriboy)

GRAZIE ANGUS!!!

As you know AC/DC Abruzzo met Angus on several occasions during the European tour. Each encounter was unique and memorable for us.

Beside being a rock'n'roll icon and a living legend Angus is probably one of the kindest people of this planet. He's surprisingly humble and even shy at times. But always extremely respectful and caring for the fans.

We have plenty of stories from this European tour about Angus. Some of which we can tell and some of which we'll keep for ourselves. But one of the moments that we will never forget was in Budapest, Hungary, just after the show, when Angus decided to come out of the hotel at night, under the rain, to meet every single fan outside, taking pictures and signing autographs. Unbelievable.

AC/DC Abruzzo, together with AC/DC Italia, met Angus in Dublin for the last time before the final show in Glasgow, we talked a bit and we thanked him for this memorable 4-month European tour. Angus gave us the thumbs up again and said CIAO, with the right dose of irony, to all AC/DC Abruzzo blog readers and AC/DC Italia website users!

GRAZIE ANGUS! ARRIVEDERCI A PRESTO!

GLASGOW 2009 – Mission accomplished!

GLASGOW, HAMPDEN PARK STADIUM June 30, 2009

"Ariemmecen a la cas'"

(English: "The time has come to go home")

ROCCO SIFFREDI

Abruzzese actor and Cultural Revolution Leader

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. Bonny/Highway to Hell
20. For Those About to Rock

AC/DC Abruzzo made it to Glasgow and our flag was raised in the Hampden Park stadium as promised. "From Wilkes Barre to Glasgow…"

It was a great night for rock’n’roll. One of those night you can't forget. The atmosphere was really special. The audience proved to be one of the best of the tour, very warm and ready to have fun altogether, especially in the pit. Great venue. We got feelings similar to the indoor show in Dublin. During the show we jumped and screamed like crazy, a lot of sweat and some crowd surfing and some “friendly moshing”. We really wanted to have great fun at the last show of the European tour. And we got it.

As for the performance the band put on a hell of a show as usual. Maybe some attentive people might say that they looked a bit tired, especially Angus, but we’re sure that most people didn't noticed. The highlight of the show was Bonny. Ok, they didn’t play It’s a long way to the top, and maybe they will never play it, but it was cool to hear Angus play something different, even if only for a few seconds.

Before the show, in front of the stadium, just by the bagpipe guy, we had met some of our companions in this rock’n’roll journey from Wilkes Barre to Glasgow. Other crazy guys who went to around 30-40 shows only for this tour.... Miscello, Carlone, Orangus, Dirty Shoes, Jeanpippo etc. It really seemed like it all came full circle in Glasgow… It was a nice feeling, especially with the bagpipes in the background…

"Forkone imbrizzicone" in Glasgow

Honestly, it's been pretty difficult to write this entry. The European tour is now officially over. We needed a couple of days of reflection... It was a glorious time for AC/DC Abruzzo. We spent 4 months on the road, on and off, with one of the greatest rock band in the history of music. We attended more than 30 concerts in 12 different countries (maybe more) meeting hundreds of people, making all kinds of rock’n’roll experiences, hanging out with rockstars. It was a dream we had for years after the Hammersmith gig and we will treasure this for the rest of our lives.

But Project AC/DC Abruzzo hasn’t been only a way to share our stories with other hardcore fans around the world. It has been also a way to prove that nothing is impossible and that, if you really want it, you can achieve anything. It wasn't an easy task but we proved that it is possible to create a rewarding lifestyle tailored to your priorities.

The first part of the AC/DC Abruzzo project, now closed, proved undoubtedly successful.

The President looks forward

In the next entry we'll post something special from Angus to our fans!

FLING THING / BONNY in Glasgow!!!

BONNY / FLING THING is the only song added to the setlist. Winning bets will be paid instantly.

Here's an exclusive gift from AC/DC Abruzzo's staff to our fans! 

Enjoy!

Now we go for some quick pasta and try to get to the aftershow party asap... More to come soon!

Last European show for the Stirring Committee and the Vice President...

AC/DC Abruzzo, AC/DC Italia and LittleJack with the Emperor of RnR ANGUS YOUNG!!!