UPDATE from Warsaw + WORLD CHAMPIONS

AC/DC Abruzzo is in Warsaw and in a couple of hours we will head to the Bemovo airport for the gig... The weather seems to be ok at the moment. But later on it will probably another "Stormy May day" like in Wels...

BRIAN AND THE ITALIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM SHIRT

AC/DC Abruzzo and AC/DC Italia offered a set of official football shirts of the Italian team (2006 World Champions) to the band in occasion of their Italian concert in Udine. As you already know Brian wore the shirt on stage during Highway to Hell and For Those About to Rock.

Here's a couple of exclusive pictures of this succesful initiative promoted by AC/DC Italia and AC/DC Abruzzo.

BRIAN BACKSTAGE IN UDINE

BEHIND THE SCENES: DRESS REHEARSALS WITH AC/DC ITALIA

Marco of AC/DC Italia

Matteo testing Brian's shirt

AC/DC Italia and AC/DC Abruzzo looking forward

FORZA ITALIA!!

Unfortunately AC/DC Abruzzo had to skip the Hannover show. But we'll be tomorrow on a plane to Warsaw. So stay tuned! In the meantime some more photos AC/DC Abruzzo in Udine...

The AC/DC Abruzzo Bat-Mobile

The Vice President and Secretary General

ThundersTruck

KOSP ITALIAN SEDUCTION SCHOOL

Techniques that proved very effective in Australia unfortunately don't seem to work in Europe as we expected. We had a brief meeting with the Kosp himself in Udine and a phone call with K.K. to discuss the problem. They explained the new work environment and guaranteed that things will improve dramatically in Poland and Scandinavia... So we just have to wait a few more days...

With Giorgia

Wels, Austria Air Field (Flugplatz Wels), May 22, 2010

Wels, Austria, Air Field,
May, 22 2010

Setlist:
Rock'n'Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds
Shot Down In Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack (incl Angus strip)
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
High Voltage
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell
For Those About To Rock

AC/DC Abruzzo Secretary General at work

From the Secretary General Private Journal

The President and VicePresident had to go back to Abruzzo to honour work commitments so I had to reach Udine from Brescia by train on my own. In Udine I had a meeting with Orangus. Without caring too much about unexploded World War 2 bombs or endangered species of anti-rock'n'roll birds we left Udine for Wels, Austria late in the morning by car...
After a 5-hour drive from Udine during which Orangus made me listen to all sort of music, from vocalist Lisa Gerrard to Sabaton's epic heavy metal (with almost unbearable high volume-but Orangus is almost deaf after so many concerts) we finally arrived in Wels at around 6 pm. The city was empty. A ghost city. Nobody around. It looked like everybody was at the show.
We followed the signs to the venue which we knew it was a huge airfield. Most of the people were already inside. They told us they had sold 95,000 tickets (sold out). However they were still selling tickets at the box office so it was a "technical sellout" as we call it in AC/DC Abruzzo's jargon (the sellout is officially announced but you'll find tickets at the venue on the day of the show).
We met with Roberto that we had last seen in Madrid last year for the indoor tour (he was ticket hunting like us-in retrospect the 2009 indoor tour we did without tickets was pretty hardcore stuff).
Inside the venue, the ocean of fans was impressive. A biblical sight. Probably the largest crowd of the tour. And it was pretty hard to move almost anywhere, even at hundreds of metres from the stage. It was packed. The 1-liter AC/DC personalised beer jug was back in action for the delight of the Austrian and German fans. Once again, after Brisbane, we got heavy rain. And a lot of mud everywhere.
The band on stage seemed to be in much better shape than the previous 3 euroshows. And the crescendo was evident during the concert, especially after High Voltage. The first three songs were played under heavy rain, and we even had some thunders during Thunderstruck, which was pretty cool. Brian's voice at the beginning sounded a bit low but then he warmed up and delivered a kick ass performance like in Sofia. Angus looked like he enjoyed rain (but we've known that since Munich 2009). This time, no mistakes like in Udine or Bucharest. The band seemed to be back full throttle. Great audience, at least according to my impression and my area. Just consider that the front of stage area (with barriers that were as high as prison gates) was as large as the entire standing section in Udine. During the show the boobs parade was back on the big screens. Last time was in Perth... Long time ago...
Of course, during the show we lost Orangus. He just disappeared, Orangus' style. But we found him again later on. He had no girls with him and didn't provide any reasonable excuse for his absence. I guess this is part of his irrational rock'n'roll attitude...
After this unexpected AC/DC Mudstock and another show under our belt we hit the road again to go back to Italy. I saw Orangus pretty tired so I offered to drive. But I fell asleep before even starting. We made a couple of stops to sleep a little bit... Early in the morning I took a train from Udine to Abruzzo.

TEXT MESSAGE FROM ORANGUS TO THE PRESIDENT
"Stormy night. Pandemonium. Technical audio problems.
Cold weather. Wind. Rain. Mud. Quicksands.
I got lost. Can't find my shoes.
Too bad: the 5 dwarfs were in killer shape tonight..."

Orangus in Wels

UDINE, STADIO FRIULI, May 19, 2010

Udine, Italy, Stadio Friuli,
May, 19 2010

Setlist:
Rock'n'Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds
Shot Down In Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack (incl Angus strip)
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
High Voltage
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell
For Those About To Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

"When I saw so many young people at the AC/DC concerts in Milan last year, I said to myself:
Thank God! Even in Italy sometimes things go the way they should."

Pino Scotto
Italian old school Rocker and Philosopher

We arrived in Udine after a couple of days of absolute relax in Brescia and Milan as guests of Marcom of AC/DC Italia. Of course we had the time for some Italian food debauchery. We chose the Forum of Assago in Milan as meeting point for a briefing with Orangus and other friends the day before the Udine concert… Kiss happened to play the same night there so we also had a look inside...

The landscape outside the Friuli stadium was similar to the other locations we had seen before around the globe. But in a NON-rock'n'roll country like Italy it really looked quite unusual. The 47,000 tickets had been sold out since February and scalpers had been selling for double the price for weeks...

Before the concert several Italian fans stopped us to say hello and to thank us for our blog. That was quite a surprise considering that we've been writing in English since the beginning of the tour. We also met legendary fan Looy who came to Italy for the show. Nonno Alan and Zio Michel were also in Udine for the show but unfortunately we didn't meet them. Next time, maybe Scandinavia...

The Stadium was filled with fans with their flashing (unofficial) horns sold by bootleggers from Naples. Quite a spectacular view anyway. On the other hand, the opening band, Le Vibrazioni, as expected, received a pretty cold welcome from the audience (to use a euphemism) together with all sorts of heavy objects thrown on stage. According to some, it was the Italian rocker Pino Scotto, aka the Italian Socrates of Rock'n'Roll, who saved them, by getting on stage with the excuse to pay tribute to Ronnie James Dio who passed away a few days ago.

Then we got the same "old/classic" Europe 2010 performance from the boys. We are sure that those fans who couldn't find a ticket for the Milan shows in February last year (which still rank in AC/DC Abruzzo's top 3 best shows of this tour) or saw them for the first or second time had a total blast and will never forget this day. As for us, after so many show, we realized we have been spoiled. Especially with the 2009 European indoor tour, with the intimate arenas, the low catwalk, Brian constantly shaking hands and Angus' sweat reaching the first 2-3 rows of fans… Not to mention the novelty of the Black Ice setlist during the first legs of the tour... Things have changed...

Some people argued that the venue and the audience were not adequate for such a historic rocn'n'roll event. A bigger venue like San Siro in Milan would have been probably more appropriate but unfortunately the 70,000 people stadium wasn't available to AC/DC due to the low decibel limit established a couple of years ago by the local authorities… What a shame for rock'n'roll... Italy is a complicated country indeed...

Last but not least, we want to salute Brian who wore the official Italia football team shirt on For Those About to Rock!

Guess who gave it to him... ;) FORZA ITALIAAAAAA!!!

MORE PHOTOS HERE

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOGALLERY FROM UDINE

Yesterday, AC/DC played in front of 50,000 crazy Italian fans at the Stadio Friuli in Udine. And this night will be remembered for ever as a historic night for rock'n'roll in Italy.

Here's a few exclusive pics from yesterday's night. More photos and full report by AC/DC Abruzzo HERE.

SEE YOU IN UDINE!!!

The day of the most awaited show of the tour has finally arrived! AC/DC Abruzzo's steering committee is now on the highway to Udine with AC/DC Italia's Marcom and friend Francesca. Yesterday, we have made a stopover to meet some old friends ad the Filaforum of Milan for the Kiss show. Orangus was also there too so we had a preliminary meeting with him and the other boys of AC/DC Italia... SEE YOU IN UDINE!!!

The boys outside the Forum

Bucharest, RO May, 16 2010

Bucharest, RO, Piata Constitutei,
May, 16 2010

Setlist:
Rock'n'Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds
Shot Down In Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack (incl Angus strip)
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
High Voltage
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell
For Those About To Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

When we came to Bucharest we didn't expect to see AC/DC playing in a big square in the middle of the city in front of a massive Governmental palace (the second biggest building in the world after the Pentagon). The atmosphere was quite unique as you can see in our photos and videos and we loved every second of it but maybe the venue was not suitable for a rock concert.

But nobody really seemed to care. Especially the three generations of fans gathered to see the greatest rock'n'roll band on the planet. The Romanians were pretty cool and laid back (we were offered a beer for the second show in a row by some random fan before the concert). Not many girls at the show (or at least less that we expected). On the other hand there were a few street dogs in the crowd (they rule the streets of Bucharest). Dog eat dog would have been appropriate for the situation.

The show: Same fantastic intro with Angus coming back from the catwalk end after pyros. The boys were in good shape but it looked like they were a bit more tired than Sofia. We got to hear even a few rare mistakes of Malcolm and Angus (our theory is that there should have been some echo/sound problem maybe due to the venue). Anyway, it was quite cold and windy comparing to Sofia and Angus didn't sweat as he normally does (maybe he was not even too happy about stripping during The Jack either). The Let There Be Rock piece in the middle of the square was really cool. Rosie was the best song of the set.

Now it's time to get ready for Udine which will be one of the milestones of this tour with one of the best rock'n'roll crowd in the world. We're just about the opening band (Le Vibrazioni) which is in real danger in front of this crowd....

Dog Eat Dog in Bucharest

The Rock'n'Roll train arrives in Bucharest

From PIATA CONSTITUTIEI

Amazing view from the catwalk

We're just back from a dinner with Uncle Michel, Goulash (one of the biggest fans and friend of the band since the early days) after the gig in the beautiful Bucharest square. The food was surprisingly good and again we had our share of stories from the previous tour (especially Razor's Edge and Ballbreaker). Michel was still very happy about the train adventure of yesterday night from Sofia. He had this fixation about taking a train in Eastern Europe for the tour since the Stockholm Globen gig in 2009. For us it was a nightmare... But still a rock'n'roll experience. On the other hand, Goulash was a bit worried about the volcano ash crisis that apparently caused the closing of the UK airports. But he was also happy about the show and he agreed with us that the two major mistakes that Malcolm and Angus made tonight (Shoot to Thrill and For Those About to Rock) were actually gold for real fans like us who follow the band everywhere and would kill to hear some changes. Yes, we are not ashamed to admit that we did enjoy hearing those mistakes.
Full report tomorrow!