The Phil Rudd Mystery Part 3 - The End

Phil Rudd in court

Well, it has now became evident that Phil Rudd will not be on tour with AC/DC next year. Being charged with attempt to procure murder and possession of drugs (again) he appeared before a New Zealand court. Of course he will not be able to travel abroad very easily after this...

The reason to leave Phil out of the video shoot and of the first official band picture for the Rock Or Bust album now seems to have been a calculated choice by the band. Probably because of Phil's recent unstable and umpredicatable behavior...

Who will be the next AC/DC drummer? Most probably Bob Richards, who took part in the Rock or Bust video shoot in London. Other come backs such as Chris Slade seem to be unlikely to happen.

We are going to miss Phil during this tour...

NEW AC/DC VIDEO TO BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK

According to rumors the new AC/DC promotional video will be released next week. In the meantime here's a clip of the making of...

AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!! AC/DC!!

THE PHILL RUDD MYSTERY - Part 2

First Rock or Bust Promotional Photo - Fans Edited Version, the way it SHOULD be!

As you all know Phil Rudd didn't show up in London for the AC/DC Rock or Bust video shoot. Officially he had to go back to New Zealand due to some undisclosed family matters... Well, apparently, Phil was not in London for the first day of the video shoot either.

Is Phil really out of the band and some historic/hard core fans think? We don't know. A source inside Sony says he will be back for the tour but, unfortunately, for obvious reasons, Sony cannot be trusted on this.

These are the facts:

1- Phil was in Vancouver for the recording of the "Rock or Bust" album. (He was seen in the hotel)
2- Phil was not in London for the video shoot.
3- Bob Richards, his "substitute", didn't use a SONOR drum kit which proves that in the video editing process they will not try to include him "digitally", most probably.
4-The first official new AC/DC promotional photo does not include any drummer

After Malcolm's retirement, losing another pillar such as Phil Rudd will not make fans happy, especially those who have been following the band for decades. But we must be realistic. There majority of the fans will go to concerts to see Angus and Brian and listen to Highway to Hell or Thunderstruck. And let's not forget there is a new generation of fans ready to buy concert tickets anyway... Lots of concert tickets...

THE CRAZIEST AC/DC FANS IN LONDON - TOUR WARM UP

AC/DC Pre Tour Warm up Party in London 4 October 2014 (courtesy of Christian Rnafg Spurk and Atze Datze

If you've been following the AC/DC Abruzzo blog in the last few years you had a taste of the excesses that AC/DC fans can reach.

During our 20 month trip around the world following AC/DC we've told you lots of stories about fans,  each one with a different story and each one with his/her own peculiar way to show their love for AC/DC. Some of these hard core fans of course were in London for the Rock or Bust video shoot on the 4 October 2014.

Now, you know the AC/DC Abruzzo philosophy and attitude and you know that we've travelled the world sleeping in airports, train stations, cheap hostels, cars, most of the times without a ticket to the concert (because the shows were sold out) etc. But we were not the only ones! Also in London... And we have decided to create a top 5 list of the "Craziest AC/DC fans" of the London 2014 video shoot and pre-tour warm up party.

So with this post we don't intend to say that crazy fans are better fans than "normal". They are just "crazier" and, generally speaking, it's a lot fun to hang around them. ;)

So here we go.

#5 The German Fans

The German fans show up everywhere there is an AC/DC show/event. You will recognize them immediately thanks to their blue jeans jackets covered with AC/DC patches, autographs and "live memorabilia"...

They bring their AC/DC passion around the world and combine it with their love for beer and stadiums chanting. Great company and great fun! A large group of German fans corageously came to the London shoot without ticket and their faith was rewarded as they all managed to get in. Hat's off.

Some of the ticketless German fans

#4 Carole from Canada

Carole was spotted at many AC/DC shows during the Black Ice Tour: from Dublin 2009 to Sydney 2010 and all around Europe. Originally from Canada AC/DC is her number one priority. And she's got lots of AC/DC stories to tell... Apparently, she also came to London without a ticket but managed to find one.

Carole

#3 Jean Philippe and Vincent "Dirty Shoes"

These two characters from France have proven their loyalty to AC/DC in the most hard core way during the Black Ice Tour and they rank, with only a few others, in the +50 Black Ice concerts league. From waiting outside the Stockholm hotel of the band at - 10 °C in February 2009 to coming to London in 2014 for the video shoot 3 days before, just to have chance to meet again the band. From what we witnessed during the Black Ice World Tour, taking a photo with Jean Philippe outside the band's hotel was one of Angus' daily routines... No joke. Of course they were in London, apparently without Sony invitation either (but this was not officially confirmed)...

Dirty Shoes in London with Cliff

Angus super-happy to meet Jean Philippe again after 3 years

#2 Matthew Nagra (representing the Nagra clan from Vancouver)

We met Matthew and his dad Mark for the first time in Wilkes Barres for the Dress Rehearsals private show in 2008. Since then we have been meeting them all around the globe, from Glasgow, Scotland to Perth, Australia. Matthew bought his flight from Vancouver to London 48 hours before the video shoot and, of course, he came to London ticketless.

Matthew Nagra, Brian Johnson and Mark Nagra in Vancouver

#1 Christian from Buenos Aires, Argentina

The first time we met Christian was in Sofia, Bulgaria the day before the show. He told us that he had gotten a loan from his bank in order to follow the band in Europe. He came with us to Bucharest, Romania (by night train) and then we helped him with tickets in Udine, Italy. Hard core stuff. He also ended up in the official AC/DC DVD Live at River Plate.

For the video shoot in London he came directly from Buenos Aires, Argentina, booking a very expensive flight, of course without any ticket/invitation for the shoot (but he managed to get in anyway). A real lesson of Rock'n'Roll attitude and unconditional love for AC/DC!

Christian and Matthew in London just after receiving the confirmation there were extra tickets for the video shoot

Pre-order 'Rock or Bust'

ROCK OR BUST - 1ST DECEMBER

AC/DC fans - Rock or Bust, the highly anticipated new studio album hits shops 1st December, featuring 11 brand new songs.

1. Rock or Bust
2. Play Ball
3. Rock The Blues Away
4. Miss Adventure
5. Dogs of War
6. Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
7. Hard Times
8. Baptism By Fire
9. Rock the House
10. Sweet Candy
11. Emission Control

CD and LP versions of Rock or Bust are packaged in a limited 3D animated cover. All digital pre-orders of Rock or Bust come with an instant download of Play Ball.

Pre-order:

CD LP Digital

Listen to AC/DC NEW SONGS: "ROCK OR BUST" and "PLAY BALL"

The two new AC/DC songs were released today. "Play Ball" was released officially while "Rock or Bust" was posted on AC/DC Vevo Youtube channel, apparently by mistake.

Anyway, you can listen to them on YouTube and elsewhere. Enjoy "Rock or Bust" before it is taken down... ;)

PLAY BALL

ROCK OR BUST

AC/DC - ROCK OR BUST - NEW ALBUM ARTWORK Revealed today

Here's the official artwork for the AC/DC Rock or Bust album. The cover will be in 3D and it will have this explosion effect just like you can see in the gif below.

ROCK OR BUST ARTWORK - ANIMATED GIF

AC/DC Rock or Bust Video Shoot - London 4 October 2014 REPORT Part 2 - THE SONG and PHIL RUDD

AC/DC Abruzzo wine tasting

Great AC/DC Abruzzo aftershow party at the Little Social by Jason Atherton, with Gourmet food and some of the best wines on the menu, thanks to Secretary General Stefano.


The Song: "Rock or Bust"

As we said there were six takes so we managed to get an overall impression of the song. It's about 3 minutes long and it has two choruses and two short Angus' solos (Angus was duckwalking close to the edge of the short circular stage with the cameras following him during the solos). The chorus is "In Rock we Trust, it's Rock or Bust". It sound a bit "heavier" than Black Ice/Rock'n'Roll Train with some influence from older albums such as Ballbreaker. Brian's voice seemed very similar to Black Ice. At least this was the impression.

Italian fans

The Phil Rudd Mystery

According to some rumours Phil was not in London the day before the shoot. Now, we can't say if this rumor is true or not. The official version of the story is that Phil flew back home the day of the shoot for some family problem, nothing serious. In any case everything is possible with Phil, considering his rock'n'roll attitude and character but we sincerely hope he's back soon. We got to say that Bob Richards was quite cool. Very approachable and extremely kind to all fans. He took pictures with most of the fans and gave away the drumsticks he used during the shoot.

With Bob Richards

Happy Nonno Alan

Angus signing autographs to all the fans, TRUE ROCKSTAR