Oslo NO, Valle Hovin Stadion 30 May 2010

Oslo, Norway, Valle Hovin
May, 30 2010

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

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

Only a few AC/DC fans had the privilege to attend an AC/DC show that didn't end with For Those About To Rock. After Velle Hovin 2010 we are are in this small group too. :)

We got to the venue around 7.30 and it was already packed. This small stadium (used as a Ice Rink) was full of fans. After a few minutes inside we bumped into the 3 fans who were with us outside the Telenor Arena in February 2009 for the soundcheck. Lots of nice memories, including the freezing cold. This proves Looy's theory about entropy and AC/DC fans meeting each other again at AC/DC shows.

Anyway the show didn't start as scheduled at 9pm. We understood it wasn't a "normal" delay when the blues cd they put before the RnR Train intro started over... At 9.45 we thought there could have been some problems. The Norwegian fans didn't seem to care too much as long as they had their beers and their big pink ball to play with (see below).

The show finally started. A small mistake at the beginning of Rock'n'Roll Train then everything went back to normality. Brian said that they tried to get there as fast as they could and put on an amazing rock show, with incredibly intensity. You could tell Brian is in fantastic shape in this leg of the tour. Anyway, we felt something was wrong when Shot Down In Flames was dropped. Strange feelings for us. Then we got a "fast" version of The Jack" (no catwalk intro) and for a moment we feared that Angus wasn't going to strip!!! Black Ice and War Machine were dropped too, to our big surprise. An then we got the "fast forward" version of Let There Be Rock, which was very funny. Angus was doing all his moves but at a faster pace: catwalk, guitar on the head, solo on the right, solo on the left, elevator down, left, right, elevator up, on the floor, elevator down, confetti, run to the main stage, on top platform etc etc. AHAHAAH

After the encore we got Highway to Hell. Brian wanted to rock for more but the curfew limitation forced to leave the stage as quick as possible. You could tell from our video that the fireworks started immediately.

The reason for the delay was an alert signal in the Berlin Airport that forced them to leave with some delay with their private jet. The short setlist was mandatory to avoid troubles for the promoter/agent who could have his license suspended (actually a promoter in Italy was about to be jailed for 1 month because Bruce Springsteen ended his show in San Siro, Milan by 22 minutes). And then no more shows for Oslo. So guys stop complaining and welcome to the small club of those who saw and AC/DC show ending with Highway to Hell!

Now we gotta go and get on the train to Tampere. And try to digest the half kilo of Scandinavian salmon that we had for brunch...

One of the light guys stressing out because of the setlist change

The magic Pink ball that kept the crowd calm

Norwegian fan falling asleep before the show

The man is back in town!

Brian at his best

"Fast forward" version of Let There Be Rock

DIRTY DEEDS

After the concert we were invited at a cool aftershow part at the Smuget club in the Oslo city centre organized by the local cover band Dirty Deeds. After the Australian Dirty Deeds we also get to see the Norwegian one. And it was a hell of a show. You can tell they've been playing for 13 years together. They rocked the small club, like AC/DC used to do back in the 70's with Angus going several times inside the audience. The band is more orientated towards the Brian Johnson era repertoire but when the singer decided to sing the first verses of Touch Too Much Bon Scott's style we were really impressed. Excellent version of If You Want Blood too. Keep on Rocking guys and see you soon on the road!

SETLIST CHANGE!!

Yes! The rumours are true! The setlist was changed yesterday in Oslo! In fact there a curfew problem due to the fact that the concert started 50 minutes later than scheduled. Apparently the band arrived late to the venue.

So in end, the Norwegian crowd didn't get to listen to Shot Down In Flames (2nd time they drop this song in Oslo on this tour), Black Ice, War Machine and For Those About to Rock.

Here's the exclusive video of Highway to Hell as last song. Soon the official report.

See you in Finland!


Midnight curfew: Highway to Hell in daylight but no time for cannons...

AC/DC ABRUZZO INVADES POLAND!!!!

Warsaw, Poland, Bemowo Airport,
May, 27 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

MORE PHOTOS HERE

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

Another incredible night of rock'n'roll in Europe! AC/DC rocked Warsaw and around 100 thousand crazy Polish fans! The concert took place at the Bemowo airport, pretty far from the city centre. Interestingly, the promoter decided to leave a very small Front of Stage Section and an disproportionately large GA section behind where it was possible to access for less than half the price (around 40 euros). Technically, "only" 65,000 tickets were sold, but considering that beyond the barriers there was still a lot of room for a few more dozens of thousand people we are that sure many more people were there to listen to the the concert for free, even at a couple of km from the stage...

The ocean of fans was really impressive! We couldn't see the end of the crowd from the elevated seats on the right of stage. A massive audience like in Wels or Hannover… Nonno Alan who was with us told us that it reminded him of Donington (the 1981 one!) whereas Uncle Michel said that it looked a bit like Donington 1991 but there definitely more people in England. And again, being with these 2 fans, we got a lot of exclusive "on the road stories" from the Razor's Edge and the legendary Ballbreaker tour that according to most historic fans was the best of the Brian Johnson's era. (Curiously, we noticed that most hardcore fans, including us, have the tendency to complain about the present tour as opposed to the "the good old times". Actually we do this when we compare the last two legs with the 2008-2009 indoor tour while these historic legendary fans talk about the soundchecks in the late 1970's in Scotland or Brian's voice during Black In Back tour etc. etc.…) And all the days where internet didn't exist or when fans slept in airport and train stations to save money for the following shows...

Anyway, going back to the Warsaw concert this was probably the best performance of the 2010 European tour. Especially Angus! He looked like he enjoyed so much his LTBR on the catwalk solo that he even grabbed a baseball cap thrown from the audience and wore it for a while. Definitely something pretty rare and cool!

The Polish audience was pretty calm. We noticed that no alcohol was admitted on the premises (the first time on the tour!). There was just a small "alcohol zone" and security was very strict on this. We guess that it was done to prevent any accident from alcohol abuse (the Polish are quite famous for bending the elbow quite a lot-see the pic below).

At the end of the show two local girls approached us after seeing the flag and told us they had lived in Abruzzo for a year. Of course they told us they now miss the excellent food and the golden sandy beaches of the Adriatic coast. Ciao Patrizia!

That's it from from Oslo where the Eurovision Contest, probably the most anti-rock'n'roll music event we could bump into, is taking place right now...

Nonno Alan, N'Goulash, The President and Uncle Michel (totaling approx. 500 AC/DC shows altogether)

A drunk Polish fan 3 hours before the show about 1.5 km from the stage in the second standing area

Highway to Hell

Angus on fire

WARSAW PHOTO GALLERY

Best performance of the band in the 2010 European leg tour yesterday. Impressive endless "biblical" crowd...

Here's some exclusive photos. Soon full official report and more exclusive material on the Warsaw gig by AC/DC Abruzzo.

Angus wearing a baseball cap!!!!!!!!

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