Friday, July 2, 2010

BILBAO 2010 - Is this the end?? (part 3)


THEY SAID: LET THERE BE ROCK...

... AND THERE WAS ROCK!!


Angus's last epic solo in Bilbao...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

AC/DC Live 28 June Bilbao, ES San Mames Stadium - THE END (part 2)


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

This is it. The Black Ice Tour is officially over. After 2 days from the final show in Bilbao it's still hard to accept it for AC/DC Abruzzo. The Secretary General realised it was the end when he woke up alone in his hotel room in Bilbao the day after the show. The President as soon as his plane touched ground in Rome. The Vice President when he put the Black Ice Album in his cd player after coming back to Abruzzo yesterday. Orangus... well, Orangus disappeared again...

The last concert in Spain acquired a symbolical meaning for the hard core fans maybe even more than Glasgow 2009, Perth 2010 or Wilkes Barres 2008. And most of them were at the show... In the end, although it might have looked like the same AC/DC show it wasn't. You could tell the band put some extra energy on stage for this final gig. And it was probably one of the best performance of the 2010 tour. Just take a look at the video below...

The San Mames stadium is a small and very old soccer stadium, around 40k people of capacity. And it was totally sold out for the show. It was hard even to see people selling tickets outside. It is in the city centre of Bilbao, so just imagine all the streets totally jammed with crazy Spanish fans drinking beer and doing botellon (less than in Seville though). And a lot of noise and pre-AC/DC concert chaos... (which we'll miss...) It reached the peak one hour before the show, since the Spanish fans prefer to go last minute... Total confusion outside...

But we got in and managed to make our way through the standing section. We ended up on Cliff's side, the classic AC/DC Abruzzo's spot, together with Marco of AC/DC Italia. And we watched the whole show jumping and shouting with the other fans. It was a very good crowd, not as hyperactive as for the best indoor venues in 2009 (i.e. Bercy, O2 Dublin or Milan forum) or Donington but it was pretty good anyway! Jumping, pushing and some crowd surfing too... As said before the performance of the band was one of their best.

It was a great night of rock'n'roll... Stay tuned because tomorrow we'll post more stories and two exclusive videos from the final show of the Black Ice tour in Bilbao...


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

BILBAO 2010 - Is this the end??


Many of the hardcore fans that we've met around the world gathered yesterday in Bilbao to attend the last show of the Black Ice Tour. For most of them, and for most of our readers, the big question is: is this AC/DC's last tour? Is this really the end? The truth is nobody knows the answer. Maybe not even the band. The only certain thing is that Bilbao 2010 will be remembered as another milestone in AC/DC live career. AC/DC Abruzzo was there and with the next posts we will tell you more about it.


PHOTOGALLERY






Monday, June 28, 2010

AC/DC Live 26 Jun Seville, ES Olympic Stadium

Spaghetti alla chitarra

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

From the Secretary General's Private Journal

I arrived to Seville from Germany the day before the show. The President has been travelling by himself for the last few shows. Basically he's been flying in and flying out just like AC/DC, except he doesn't have a private jet... Not yet, at least...
Seville, in certain areas, really looks like Naples. I loved it! Maybe a more laid back version of the Italian city, but it definitely looks like the south of Italy. Naples had been ruled for a long time by the Spanish, so the similarity is historically understandable... So everything is more dysfunctional than the rest of Europe, from Taxis to bars... And you get the feeling that legality is not a prerequisite... Speaking English here is counterproductive so I used Italian and dialect. Body language was also very useful to communicate with locals.
The President arrived from Pisa, Italy a few hours before the show with Uncle Michel. I heard they had organised a stopover in Italy to have a good Italian meal (seafood). Bastards... I only had two lousy sandwiches for lunch...
After hiring an illegal taxi (impossible to find taxis were before the show) we arrived to the Stadium. Outside the sight was quite peculiar. Lots of people cooking and selling barbecue meat and "home made" cocktails (the infamous "Botellón"). Fans were wearing all sort of bootleg t-shirts but it was too late to buy them because they had been already confiscated by AC/DC security (It has been pretty hard on this tour to get "non repetitive/monotonous" t-shirts like the BACK IN... series...). The show was great. The crowd was extremely loud but it wasn't moving a lot. Still they were jumping a lot, even between the songs and very far from the stage. Ironically, there were more people in the back of the standing section than in front. The performance of the band was impeccable as usual. It's hard to believe that the end is getting near....
Ciao from Bilbao...

Linguine ai calamaretti

Uncle Michel at work

Cacciucco

Cannolo Siciliano

Ingredients for the botellon

R'n'R train

Let There Be Rock in Seville

Sunday, June 27, 2010

PHOTOGALLERY from Seville!

Hottest show of the 2010 tour. Around 40 °C. It felt like Australia again... Great energy from the boys and from the Spanish crowd... Here's a few pics. Report soon!

The fourth generation of AC/DC fans is ready to rock!

Spanish sausages before the show

Black Ice in Seville

Braianno

Angusso

Saturday, June 26, 2010

AC/DC Live 22 Jun Berlin DE Olympic Stadium



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


Berlin Olympiastadion. Another majestic footbal Stadium filled to the brim with AC/DC fans. Together with the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, The Wembley Stadium in London or the Stade de France in Paris it is one of our favourite rock'n'roll outdoor venues. Fantastic audience!
Maybe the germans didn't move too much during the show but they definitely sang pretty loud. 2 more show and then everything will be over!
See you in Spain!

PHOTOS HERE




WARM UP PARTY in PANKOW

A big fan gathering took place the night before the show organised by the German fan clubs. Due to the tour commitments we had the time just to stop by late at night and say a quick hello to some friends. Shame we missed the cover band who apparently played very well! But we had fun anyway...





Thursday, June 24, 2010

AC/DC Live 20 Jun Dresden DE Ostrahege


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

From the Secretary General's Private Journal

We had our flight booked for Berlin on June the 20th, early in the morning. So why not adding another show?? Dresden was just a 2-hour drive away.... So the matter was discussed with the President and the motion was immediately passed. Orangus was informed and immediately accepted to join the expedition.
Once in Berlin the President said he had some unexpected business to take care of and decided to stay in his hotel room instead of going to the show. I tried to question his decision but he replied that the show in Paris was his 50th and could not afford another show due to work commitments. Honestly, I don't know what's behind this decision. The President's business is still a mystery to me...
So I rented a car with Orangus and hit the road. We decided to use Orangus' GPS device (which he uses also when he doesn't have a car). The device was probably less useful than a drunk copilot under LSD so we got lost after 30 minutes in the forest near the Schonefeld airport and we had to go back to the car rental office to pick up a new GPS navigator. Honestly I don't know how Orangus managed to drive from city to city during the 2009 indoor tour with that drunk GPS...
Anyway we got to Dresden at 4.15pm, just in time to watch the penalty kick of the Italian soccer team in a bar by the river. We celebrated despite the hostile looks of the Germans. The final score was not what we hoped for but we didn't care too much. We're still the world champions, aren't we? AHAHAH
Orangus kept telling me he wanted to go and visit the Dresden art gallery but I didn't give him the permission. Too late. We had to go to the show. I love that guy but sometimes he just doesn't know how to handle priorities properly. Sex, food and rock'n'roll. Culture comes after.
The venue was a huge plain. Curiously there were more people near the entrance than by the stage. Strange crowd. Just a few devil's horns. And most of the people looked like they were going to a Volkswagen factory instead than a rock show.
I bought myself a good German sausage for lunch. Orangus said he never eats before a show.
The band was in great shape. Probably better performance than Paris. Great show of Brian and Angus. Brian pointed at our flag during Dirty Deeds for about 10 seconds... Orangus was holding the flag behind me so I could point back. Last time we met Brian we had talked about the Barolo wine. He's got great taste for wine and food. No doubt about it. He must have some ancestors from Abruzzo... AHAHAH
On our way back to Berlin I got a good history lesson from Orangus about World War II and the role of Dresden. Then he told me some stories about his coworkers and collaborators such as "Sardina" and "Acciuga". I then taught him something about Italian wines. In return he taught me something about international money laundering techniques... Just kiddin'.... Or maybe not...


Emidio Pepe, probably one of the best Italian producers

German sausage sellers

No time for washing the car, unfortunately

Brian on fire

Jumping Angus

Let There Be Rock 1

Let There Be Rock 2

Orangus' office in Germany

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

PHOTOGALLERY from BERLIN