Happy Headbanging New Year! No, it wasn't a Browns game playing AC/DC, but Gale and I actually saw the real AC/DC tonight on their "Black Ice" tour. Major tours coming here in early January are kind of rare. I recall Bowie several years ago touring at this time of the year, but not many others. Anyhow, my ears will be ringing til Groundhog Day.

AC/DC

This is your typical hard rock show. I have never seen AC/DC before. Outside of the occasional yelling of "Thunder!" at a Browns game or doing my "Highway to Hell" imitation (Screeching First Line: "Omyeevah, oolyeabu"), they fly outside of my radar. They are not yet a parody of themselves, but they are getting close.

The Venue: Quicken Loans Arena. The home of the $8.50 beer. I drank my beer and had my Washington Apple and Hot Apple Pie shots before entering. Happy New Year!

















Angus Young: This dude is what, 93 years old? He doesn't appear to be aging well. He still does "Angus Young Stuff". You don't have to be a rocket scientist to mimic his playing. Right heel up, head down, left heel up, head up. Then he does his duckwalk. Still does his striptease, too. Might wanna rethink that. So, he's 93 and shirtless for most of the show. Plays "Highway to Hell" wearing devil horns (AC/DC Lighted Devil Horns set you back $15.00).

And you know what? The people still go crazy over it.

















The Tickets: We were in Section 113, Row 15, on the aisle. Does not sound like much, until you realize we are level with the first row of the clubs. That means no one in front of us, stage left. Booyah!

The Crowd: AC/DC is fun for all ages. Next to me I was able to use a coat chair. When I asked the guy two seats down if anyone was sitting there, he said, "Only my invisible wife." I replied, "Oh, Mrs. Claude Rains?". Even in his drunken stupor, the old guy got it and laughed. That's what we had to deal with. It was considered a sellout as 14,000 people showed up.

















The Sound: Fucking loud. Hey, it was AC/DC, I guess, but the first time in eons I think I may have suffered permanent hearing loss. Huh?

The opening act was The Answer. I am not sure what The Question was. Anyhow, we did not arrive in time to see them.

















The Stage: The setup is a somewhat normal arrangement. We have Bryan Johnson (looking like he just ended a shift delivering beer), "dancing" like Tom Jones these days, singing mainly front and center. Angus Young is mainly stage left, but moves around a lot. Two guitarists stay mainly in the back on the same level flanking the drummer, moving mid-stage only for vocals. The drummer assumes the "Bonham Position" in the middle, but not on a riser. Video screens in the back and way up on the sides. Frankly, we were almost under a screen, so I was oblivious to most of the videos.

They had a long ramp down the center of the floor section that led to a circular platform probably two-thirds of the way through the crowd. The ramp's main use was for Johnson to basically walk down there and shake or slap hands with the crowd, while growling. Angus Young went down there near the end of the evening, and the circular platform ended up being a lift that carried him well above the crowd. Where, of course, he decided to lay on the floor and then walk in a circle while playing. Sort of a Curly Howard move.

Props: The show started with an overtly suggestive video. Again, no surprise there. Two hot chicks walking through a train, then we have cartoon Angus as a devil with a tail...wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And they have to stop the train as it is charging toward it's inevitable destination...your local arena! Then onstage, a bigass locomotive rises from the back with steam coming out of it!

Later on, we had fire (maybe borrowed from the Cavs) coming out of the train during one tune. We were close enough to feel that heat.

They also had a huge bell drop down with an AC/DC logo on it for some song. Oh yeah, "Hell's Bells".

For "Whole Lotta Rosie", they had a 30-foot inflatable chick riding the train. Poor stagehands had to work hard on that one to keep the balloon moving to the rhythm.

For the finale, "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)", they had cannons. yes, cannons. Six of 'em. Constantly firing. Eardrums bombarded.


















The Music:: I'd say you get what you pay for here. Some spectacle, not much, but really loud rock music that anyone would be familiar with. No surprises and who would want them at an AC/DC show.

Setlist:

"Rock n Roll Train"
"Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
"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"
"T.N.T."
"Whole Lotta Rosie"
"Let There Be Rock"

Encore:

"Highway to Hell"
"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"

Overall, it was a good time.

Meal of Links

2008’s Most Annoying Liberals. Obama could not even crack the Top Five.

Prince is certifiable. Following Ryan Adams’ lead, he is releasing three albums in 2009.

The Greatest Jeopardy! Game Ever. Didn’t see it.

Are we in another Depression? Uh-oh.

Speaking of Mexican Coca-Cola…PepsiCo isn’t exactly taking a shine to a company that distributes Mexican Pepsi. All about the cane sugar, baby.

Can you live without these products in 2009? Hey, I don’t use Yammer, but I have a t-shirt from them.

I like Billy Mays selling just about anything, and his new ESPN 360 ads are really funny.



Exercise Yard

I had never heard of George Kokinis until yesterday. The startling thing is the line that Kokinis and Eric Mangini shared an apartment when they worked for the Browns. Great! It’s like Balki and Larry are going to be in charge of the Browns. Anyhow, here’s the background on Kokinis. Inspiring, eh?

Meanwhile, the NFL playoffs materialized pretty much how I thought they would go. I somehow got stuck on Indy’s winning streak, instead of actually looking at the games in that streak. My God, they looked terrible against the Browns. But it was difficult to pick an 8-8 team like the Chargers. The other games were easy pickings, I thought

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20 Across: Nickname for Joe DiMaggio (13 letters) Answer: Yankee Clipper