Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Paris Strikes Gold: 50 Years of Unbroken Victory


For one day, The Hippodrome Longchamp was field of play for the extensions of the Olympic games in Paris, with a new Olympic discipline: 1000m duckwalking!  Olympic champion of the day was Australian lad Mr Angus Young, closely followed by 80.000 disciples.  Young has maintained a winning streak of gold medals for duckwalking every year since 1973.

For me the last show of this PWR UP tour leg.  The lively Parisian audience enjoyed yet another powerful rock 'n roll performance, including a minor set list change, with the re-entry of Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be, which we haven't heard since Gelsenkirchen.

 

 Focus, Concentration and Power.  3 ingredients to be on top of your game! 

  A A duck walk in the park. 

 

 



The Dessel report is coming up.  Simply had no time to pull it together - yet.  Stay tuned!
























 


Bedlam in Dessel! Tour report


According to the offical tour T-shirts on presale, this only Belgian show was set to happen at the Werchter festival grounds.  Not a single Belgian got side tracked by this mishap and queued up to Dessel, home of the holy Graspop fields.  Cycling to the show seemed to be a safe bet.  And it looked as even the band came in with alternative transport, with a helicopter landing close to the stage 10 minutes before show.

 

Like on other dates this tour, the start of the show is conditioned to the sunset - Angus, unlike Lemmy, doesn't wear sunglasses when on duty. 

Brian welcomes everyone hinting on the traffic jams.  He could as well have handed out Olympic medals to the folks who ran 400m to secure their spot in the first rows.  This is 2024, a point where most of us physically felt a little older.  Both the entry and the exit for this show was a pain.  A flaw in the otherwise perfect organization.  Angus, in red uniform, wears a 2015 merch tie, clearly knotted far too long today.  His Tie Solo will sound extra juicy later on.


  

 

 

 

After the race to the front, having made it to the mojo barriers left of stage, we decided to step our and appreciate the show for the first time this tour far out in the field.  Concerts have become really too big,  I often wonder what people get to see behind the front of the house.  I heard from someone way in the back that the sound was terrific everywhere on the field! 

We admired the sober stage design, yet wonderful light and video show.  Camera work highlights Stevie and Matt in the back and gets morphed with real time electric overlays like during Thunderstruck and flames during Highway To Hell.  The overall stage design pops with the millimetered light show and effects.