AC/DC Stade de France Paris!

Last night, the Stade de France in Paris was the scene for 80.000 crazy AC/DC fans to witness the band perform in France for the 4th time this year. ACDC Belgium had to be there after all the testimonials we heard about the energetic enthusiasm of the French crowds at previous shows. See some nice footage from around the Stade here (incredibbly hilarious - as from 1min40). The closer we got to Paris, the more AC/DC fans we could spot. Arrival at the stadium was very friendly and warm, Angus look-a-likes were shaking hands and taking pictures, drinking beers and some of them were stuffing themselves with hamburgers to secure a certain level of calory intake.

I must admit that things litterally heated up already during the course of the afternoon when a 25°C heat wave sucked the water out of our bodies while waiting for the gates to open and storm the "pelouse d'or" (fancy French name for the standing fanclub pit upfront). Technical difficulties during the sound check did not help when gates finally opened about an hour behind on schedule. Ordering beers was rather difficult, but their size (50cl) largely compensated that. It makes me laugh when I think that our neighbours in the south offer (sell with a higher margin is actually a better way to describe it: 6 € per pint) larger pints while our neighbours in the north (the Netherlands) sell much smaller ones than in Belgium. That underlines the typical Belgian compromise philosophy, I guess. Not too many spectators present yet for the first band: Café Bertrand, a typical (?) french hardrock band.

I missed most of The Answer, while I was queueing for both toilets and beer, but they started of energetic as always with lots of "merci beacoups". When halfway a sound technician messed with the volume, it became clear that their show would have been loads better at louder volume. During the break the Stade was portraying commercials for the AC/DC show, anounced by the sound of the Hell's Bell. Everytime this would make the crowd cheer.

Outside temperature in the meantime came down a bit with the sun being hid behind the Stade's walls. That drastically changed when the Rock 'n Roll train video hit the huge video screen. The band in great shape as most of the other times and particularly into pleasing the French crowd. It is true that the crowd was heavier than anywhere else. Holding tight to the mojo barrier beside us (Mal's side against cat walk) and trying to breath normally, a weird heating effect was playing: barrier right temperature was about 23°C and from barrier left an everlasting heat wave (must have been 40°C+) tried to escape from the pit. No wonder that after 6 songs a thunderstorm emerged, marked with the occasional Thunderstruck. No changes in the setlist (while everyone was silently hoping that Ride On would be added), but it was the first time that I heard Dog Eat Dog live: Brian is doing this track with impeccable brio and incredible voice!

Instead of rocking all the way during Let There Be Rock, this time I had to stay focussed on survival. Very nice show and atmosphere, thousands € worth of devil horned lighting, friendly crowd and excellent well deserved hotel afterwards! We salute you Paris!

More nice pictures: here.