AC/DC
April 11, 2010 at the Sprint Center
Kansas City, MO

By Chris Murphy

Set List:
Rock N' Roll Train | Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be | Back In Black | Big Jack| Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap |Shot Down In Flames | Thunderstruck | Black Ice | The Jack | Hell's Bells | Shoot To Thrill | War Machine | High Voltage  | You Shook Me All Night Long | TNT | Whole Lotta Rosie | Let There Be Rock

Encore:
Highway To Hell | For Those About To Rock

AC/DC stormed into the Sprint Center in Kansas City on their current Black Ice tour, leaving around 12,000 screaming fans happy again for the second time in just 15 months.  On their first extended tour since 2003 and supporting their first album since 2000, the band is swinging back through many markets to make up for the lost years.  The band is still playing to packed houses night after night.  Several generations of fans watched the band play a set that consisted of four new songs spread out between their classic hits, with all but one, “Thunderstruck,” released in 1981 or before.  They have decided to play it safe on this tour and are largely ignoring the albums after 1981’s For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). 

After an amusing animated video of scantily clad girls trying to stop a train, the video screen split down the middle as a steam engine came barreling through and the band took the stage to the new song “Rock and Roll Train,” my favorite song from the new album.  This is the one song from Black Ice that I think is strong enough to be played for years to come.  After the song, singer Brian Johnson, announced “It is time to start the party!” and the band ripped into the album cut “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be” from 1977’s Let There Be Rock, the first of three songs from that album.

It was apparent early on that visually this was mostly going to be a two man show as Johnson and lead guitarist Angus Young worked both sides of the stage and the long catwalk that extended into the center of the arena while rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young and bassist Cliff Williams would spend most of the night within 10 feet of drummer Phil Rudd.  The only time the pair moved was to sing backup up, when they would walk to their mikes to sing and then return to their original places in unison.  There could not be a bigger contrast between brothers Angus and Malcolm, with Angus’ manic behavior and Malcolm’s calm demeanor.

The band went right into “Back in Black” next, a song that easily could have been played in the encore but made an early set appearance.  As the song that got me into AC/DC back in junior high, this was one of the highlights of the night for me and the crowd as well.  It was back to their latest release with “Big Jack,” a solid but unspectacular offering.    It was back to anthems next, with one of the best known songs in the AC/DC catalog “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.”  Another deep cut, “Shot Down in Flames” from Highway to Hell, kept the diehard fans happy before the familiar chants leading into “Thunderstruck” brought the crowd to one of it loudest cheers of the night.  The only misstep of the night was next, as the band played the title song from Black Ice.  This was the first and only time I saw people take a seat while many others headed to concessions.  While a good title for an album, the song itself is rather boring and in my opinion should be cut out in favor of different song from their extensive catalog of classics. 

Concert staple “The Jack” was next, complete with the requisite Angus strip tease that started with him in his school uniform shirt and tie and finished with him revealing AC/DC boxers.  He has done this routine countless times but it still drew cheers from the crowd as he pulled his shorts back up and finished with a solo.  The lights went down next as a bell descended from above the stage.  Johnson timed a run perfectly and jumped on the bell rope just as the intro bells to “Hells Bells” rang out.  This was the first of two Back in Black songs in a row as the band led into “Shoot to Thrill” next.  This got me thinking, with the number of bands playing full albums on tour, how great would it be to see Back in Black played start to finish?

Another animated video was played for the final new song of the night, “War Machine.”  The video featured an Angus-piloted airplane that dropped guitars and women with parachutes rather than bombs, Johnson driving a tanker, and the rest of the band in a ship that eventually gets bombed by an AC/DC bell.  The video definitely helped the song work and gave Angus and Johnson a short break from running around the stage.  That break was needed, as the two never slowed down the rest of the night.  

The remainder of the set was classic AC/DC, starting with “High Voltage.”  This led into the best two-song combination of the night with “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and “TNT.”  The former had the best crowd participation of the night while during the latter the stage show picked up with fire shooting out of the stage train every time the band sang the words “T.N.T.”  The crowd briefly caught its breath while Johnson announced they had brought a girl along tonight.  A giant inflatable “Rosie” mounted the train as the band lit into “Whole Lotta Rosie.”  The inflatable “Rosie” was even able to tap her foot to the beat thanks to a roadie whose job was to constantly jump to the beat while holding her foot backstage.  The stage train disappeared, replaced by a full video screen that showed images of the band throughout their history as the band finished the main set with the title song from Let There Be Rock.  As Johnson sang “Let there be light!” the house lights lit the arena for the first time of the night.  This song also featured the only extended Angus solo of the night.  His solo found him working all parts of the stage, including rising 25 feet in the air on a lift in the center of the arena.  Four sprays of confetti spread through the entire arena floor and covered Angus, with many sticking to his body and face.  Rather than brush them off, he just kept playing.  He eventually made it back to the catwalk and the stage and disappeared while still playing, only to return above the stage via another lift.  While many bands take a break during solos, the entire band stayed onstage during the whole song and Johnson thanked the crowd as the band exited. 

After a couple minutes with a dark stage, red light and smoke engulfed center stage as Angus rose out of the smoke playing the beginning of “Highway to Hell.”  The band joined in for a stellar rendition of the song before finishing the night with “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).”  There were six canons rolled out for the finale that went off multiple times during the song, somehow louder than the music itself.  After the final canon shots, the band left, once again to thunderous applause.  With talk among fans about the unknown future of the band, the crowd enjoyed every minute of it, knowing this may be the last time AC/DC goes on a major tour.  With a successful album release and a high energy show by the band, especially Angus and Johnson, I hope they decide to keep this train rolling for another generation of fans.