Last Friday, AC/DC kicked off its European leg for its 2024 PWR/UP world tour.
The new touring party set sail for 24 shows in 17 European cities. After Powertrip in the US desert it's now finally time to celebrate the latest opus PWR/UP, kicking it off in Gelsenkirchen Germany.
It had been 8 years since my last AC/DC show, only to witness that AC/DC keeps rising from the ashes, whatever life throws at them. Brian Johnson is back in the kitchen, after being immortalized in Belgian blue stone, harder than a rock. We're missing Phil and for the first time Cliff, enjoying retirement after his brief comeback in the Californian desert. Yet Angus recruted decent wingmen to pick up the gear and rock once more below the firmament from which his beloved brother Malcolm's approvingly smiles. Americans Chris Chaney, on bass, and Matt Laug on drums now ensure the stomping backbone with Stevie Young again on rhythm guitar. Lots of respect for these guys, just like for Chris Slade, Axl, without whom the AC/DC LIVE experience would have been simply over. Thank you, thank you!
A real pleasure to meet a reborn Brian tonight. The hearing aid seems to help him a lot, though it required real time adjustments throughout the evening, yet without derailing Brian's vocal rolling thunder train.
More than once, the crowd could measure Brian's emotions being back, from cheeky interactions with Angus to shouts and fists of pure enjoyment, or simply taking revenge on the feelings of despair he must have faced, knocking them out with a well-minted uppercut.
The real Monster of Rock tonight? Mister Angus Young, about time he gets knighted by both the Commonwealth King, the Queen of Holland and William Wallace. Visibly very concentrated, but determined to raise hell and deliver a state of the art tour start. A well studied act of mastery, meticulously delivered. When writing these impressions, and after seeing video footage from the second night, Angus was clearly more relaxed, undone from the initial stress on opening night. Really promising for the shows to come! Shake a leg!
They're back. And forever YOUNG. It's going to be a red hot summer.
