AC/DC rocked it all the way to the bank Thursday night (3/10) at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
They played the exact same set to the 73,000 at the home of the Minnesota Vikings last night that they performed to the 80,000 at Croke Park in Dublin last summer when they wrapped up their '24 Euro Tour.
It's reminiscent of the old AC/DC joke their lead guitarist Angus Young likes to tell.
“I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same,” Angus says with a growl and a smirk.
Two weeks ago Angus turned 70 years old. He's given the world more riffs, solos, and duckwalks than the world deserves, if he wants to play the same set in Ireland as in Indiana, he's earned that right.
While every other band plays albums in their entirety, AC/DC does not. In 50 years they've never once submitted to that gimmick, regardless if fans would love it, nevermind if it sells tickets. Did you not read that second paragraph? They can sell out the biggest football palaces in town.
They don't need a marketing campaign... even though their biggest LP, 1980's Back in Black is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year.
And even though they could put together the greatest live AC/DC record since 1979's Let There Be Rock, it's obvious they don't want to.
Here's what they want to do:
They want to dress up Angus as a schoolboy, now with flowing gray hair. They want to dress everyone else in black and keep them out of his way.
They want to play 18 songs everyone who bought a ticket knows by heart. And they want to play three more which are sorta new to prove the joke is funny because it's untrue.
God bless "Demon Fire"( one of the two tunes they played from the Power Up album) but it's not "Hells Bells" (from Back in Black, which they pulled five tunes from)
Ultimately AC/DC want to give the fans a fun show for their money.
They want them to leave the stadium with a smile on their faces and a new t-shirt on their back, and in many cases some light up devil horns on their heads.
To do that, 16 of the 21 tunes in their set are pulled from their early days of 1975 through 1981.
And trust me, no one is moaning that their favorites from Flick of the Switch or Fly on the Wall had not been dusted off.
Plus, not one person is expecting any guest collaborations, obscure cover songs, hot political takes, or an unplugged mini-set on the B Stage at the far end of the stadium.
AC/DC fans paid top dollar to hear "Highway to Hell," "Shook Me All Night Long," "Dirty Deeds," "TNT" and "Thunderstruck." Why play games when the world around them is yanking their chain at every turn?
An AC/DC show lives up to what is advertised: loud, hard, fast, comfort rock you can raise your fist to.
And at the end there's cannon fire.
May all our ends contain cannon fire.
AC/DC now goes on a schedule to help keep 77-year-old Brian Johnson's voice strong. That means three days of rest and a show on the fourth day. So Dallas, Texas on Monday, the Rose Bowl next Friday, and Vancouver on the 22nd, and Vegas on the 26th.
Full schedule and tickets are on the AC/DC website.
Their last US tour was in 2016. Don't sleep on catching these legends while you can.
