tigerbeatpoet

(The video is actually the intro from AC/DC’s Madison Square Garden show… but trust me when I say this alone was worth at least 20 dollars of the high ticket price)

My ears are still ringing ever-so-slightly from last night’s AC/DC concert. I have been waiting years for this ring, though, so I am accepting it with pride and a certain badge of honor. Because I can check it off my list. And believe me, it’s been on that list for a long time. Say what you will, but AC/DC was, is, and always will be – one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

And last night’s performance is exactly what an arena rock show should be. Pyrotechnics, plenty of sparks and fists and devil horns up in the air in a show of pure, unadulterated Rock and Roll Love. And even if time has withered that facade slightly, they’ve still got it. Even if Brian Johnson can’t hit all of his notes, Angus Young can only jump a few inches off the ground and Malcolm Young starts looking more and more like Iggy Pop.

Those things simply do not matter. In these instances, what matters is that they play the songs you love with every shred of their being and they make you scream your brains out.

Mission accomplished.

Setlist:

Rock n Roll Train
Hell Ain’t A Bad Place
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock

Encore:

Highway to Hell
For Those About to Rock

Links:

Jon Bream and Chris Reimenschneider tag-team review at the Star Tribune

Ross Raihala’s verdict over at the Pioneer Press