Sunday, March 29, 2009

Zurich gig tonight postponed (update)

Tonight's show in Zurich got cancelled. The show will be postponed due to "technical difficulties that are not related to the venue". The new date has been confirmed now: 6 April. Tickets remain valid. To cheer you up, here's a funny video where Brian sings a Tina Turner song:




De show van vanavond in Zurich werd afgelast door "technische moeilijkheden die niet te wijten zijn aan de zaal". De nieuwe datum is nu bekend: 6 april. Tickets blijven geldig. Om de onfortuinlijken op te vrolijken heb ik deze video gepost waarin Brian een Tina Turner song covert.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

NEW Anything Goes video clip: here!

Watch the new video clip of Anything Goes HERE!

The clip, shot in Bercy, was partially recorded in the afternoon of 27 February, just before the second show. Another part of it got recorded during the show that evening to include live audience footage. That is also the reason why they advanced the song in the setlist: Angus would still be wearing his complete outfit. The video was directed by David Mallet (known from the Live at Donnington, Thunderstruck and Who Made Who). To be shown here very soon...

De nieuwe videoclip van Anything Goes . Deze video, die werd gedraaid in Bercy, werd deels opgenomen in de namiddag van 27 februari, net voor de show. Een ander deel werd opgenomen tijdens het optreden om live publieksbeelden te kunnen toevoegen. Dat is meteen ook de reden waarom de song naar voor werd gehaald in de setlist: op die manier zou Angus -eerder nog onbezweet - zijn complete outfit nog dragen. De regisseur van de video is David Mallet (die we kennen van de Live at Donnington show, Thunderstruck en Who Made Who). Hier te bekijken binnen afzienbare tijd...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Rotterdamnation on Friday 13th! (update)

The ACDC Belgium team made a small excursion to Rotterdam yesterday to see the band perform in a packed venue, similar to the Antwerp Sportpaleis, but with a smaller capacity of around 10000 people. Dutch people are generally way ahead of us in terms of organising crowds, but this time they got all weird. Cueueing up, the masses were divided in cages (between nadars and red tape) against incidents. Once in, they would first fill Cliffs' side of stage and then only Malcolm's, when Cliff's side was complete (duh!). Of course that system didn't hold waterproof for a long time, so we could actually run up front rather quickly.

Show and setlist were comparable to what we had seen in Antwerp, with some slight changes. At least some details were different to what had escaped to our eyes in Antwerp. Brian painfully twisting and squeezing his balls to reach the higher end notes (I think at the end of Anything Goes) and the Rock 'n Roll train being pulled backwards to make room for Rosie. Usually Rosie's riding the train. Again the band was in extremely good shape with visibly Brian and Angus having great fun on stage. The mojo barriers along the catwalk were placed conservately far away from the catwalk, so shaking hands with Brian became a balancing act for both handshaking parties, or should I say fingertip shaking?

Online news reports:

- NU.nl
- Algemeen Dagblad

Monday, March 9, 2009

Brian is back in good shape!


Good news for the fans in our neighbouring countries: Brian Johnson seems to be up and running again, as we are reading the reports from past shows after Brian's flu attack. I guess we were just very unlucky in Belgium. I will choose the cash back option, I still have doubts if people will be able to receive similar tickets, as Amsterdam Arena is a real big venue compared to the Sportpaleis. If you exchanged your tickets successfully for good places, let me know! Fact: grab the opportunity to see them perform this tour! It's a must see.
So the band continues its European tour schedule and played already Leipzig, Düsseldorf and tonigh Oberhausen. Reports can be found on our Italian friend's website.

Goed nieuws voor de fans in onze buurlanden: Brian Johnson lijkt volledig genezen van de griep, dat lezen we althans in de verslagen van de voorbije optredens. We hebben echt pech gehad in Antwerpen. Ik kies trouwens voor de geld terug optie, want ik twijfel hoe men voor gelijkwaardige tickets kan wisselen in een groot stadion als de Amsterdam Arena. Als jij fantastische tickets in de plaats hebt gekregen, laat het me dan zeker weten! Feit is wel: het blijft een absolute aanrader om ze toch nog aan het werk te zien deze tour.
Ondertussen bolt de tourtrein verder en heeft hij volgende haltes reeds aangedaan: Leipzig, Düsseldorf en vanavond Oberhausen. Op de site van onze Italiaanse vrienden kan je trouwens een paar verslagjes vinden.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Update: exchange tickets Antwerp as from 15h00 to 20 March

Fans will be compensated with either a refund or tickets to the band’s June 23rd show at Amsterdam Arena (at no extra cost). More information to follow as from 3 p.m. on www.sportpaleis.be. You will have to make your final choice on this website, using all original order information and barcodes. You will have to make your choice before 20 March.

De fans die een kaartje voor het geannuleerde concert op zak hadden, kunnen ofwel hun ticket laten terugbetalen ofwel naar het concert van AC/DC in de Amsterdam Arena op dinsdag 23 juni. De ticketprijzen voor het concert in Amsterdam zijn hoger dan degene die geldend waren voor de Sportpaleis-concerten. De groep heeft echter beslist dat, wie dit wenst, het Sportpaleis-ticket van het afgelaste concert zonder enige extra kost kan omruilen voor een gelijkwaardig ticket in de Arena. Belangrijk is, zowel in het geval van terugbetaling als van omruiling van het ticket, dat de juiste procedures daartoe worden gevolgd. Via www.sportpaleis.be zal vanaf 15 uur een speciale pagina beschikbaar zijn voor de tickethouders. Na ingave van, onder andere, het unieke barcodenummer en het reservatienummer, maakt de tickethouder de keuze het ticket terug te laten betalen of om naar Amsterdam te gaan op dinsdag 23 juni. De ticketkopers dienen voor vrijdag 20 maart hun keuze door te geven aan Tele Ticket Service. Daarna zal er, na controle van alle gegevens, overgegaan worden tot terugbetaling van kaarten of verzending van de tickets voor het concert in Amsterdam. Er zal ook busvervoer naar Amsterdam worden georganiseerd. Daarover meer op de webpagina in kwestie. Let wel, enkel de originele ticketkoper kan aanvraag tot terugbetaling of omwisseling tickets indienen. Tele Ticket Service zal alle tickethouders ook persoonlijk, via mail of brief, op de hoogte brengen van de te volgen procedure.

Media coverage:
- Deredactie.be (with our friends from AC/DC Abruzzo)
- De Standaard
- Nieuwsblad
- GVA


Tuesday, March 3, 2009

2nd Antwerp show cancelled (Flu on the Wall): next steps

Last Sunday we announced that Brian had a soar throat after the Paris gigs. Unfortunately that was only the herald of what appears to be the sad reality today.
Here's the official statement from ACDC.COM: "March 3, 2009, Antwerp, Belgium -- Tonight's AC/DC Black Ice show at Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium is cancelled due to the sudden illness of singer Brian Johnson. Johnson is suffering from a serious case of the flu and will be unable to perform. Fans will be compensated with either a refund or tickets to the band's June 23rd show at Amsterdam Arena. Johnson plans to perform on the band's next scheduled concert date in Leipzig on March 5th at Messehalle 1." Get well Brian! I know you did your best to make it tonight. Take a rest and recover well!
Enkele dagen geleden meldden we al op deze blog dat Brian last had met de stem/keel na 2 zware nachten in Parijs. Dat bleek enkel de voorbode geweest te zijn van de bittere realiteit vandaag...
Eerder op de avond gaven Teleticket en LiveNation de volgende boodschap mee: "Het concert van AC/DC vanavond in het Antwerps Sportpaleis kan niet plaatsvinden. Eén van de bandleden is ziek.Op dit ogenblik hebben we niet meer informatie. Zodra we meer weten, zal u het vernemen via e-mail en onze website www.sportpaleis.be/nl.Onze excuses voor het ongemak ten gevolge van deze overmachtsituatie."
Op de officiële website van de band lezen we ondertussen een gelijkaardige boodschap en een alternatief. "De fans zullen ofwel hun geld voor de show terugkrijgen ofwel tickets kunnen ruilen voor de show in de Amsterdam Arena op 23 juni. Brian probeert wel de afspraak voor de volgende show in Leipzig (5 maart) niet te missen." We weten dat Brian zijn best heeft gedaan om het vandaag toch nog te halen - vandaar de late annulatie- en wensen hem het allerbeste.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Rock 'n Roll Train hits Antwerp! (update III)

... or how history repeats itself. In 1908, a tragic train disaster happened in Kontich, Antwerp. Now about century later, AC/DC's Rock and Roll train hits the Antwerp Sportpaleis in a head-on collision. This time fortunately without any victims.

What an amazing night! AC/DC kicked off the first Antwerp show with an energetic level of High Voltage rock and roll. The band is back (after the Stiff Upper Lip tour) and they sure want us to know. At 9 o'clock their Rock 'n Roll Train hits the grounds of the Antwerp Sportpaleis. No tough controls of the ministry for economical affairs outside, at least not for the regular fan cueueing for entrance. 35 ticket scalpers have been identified and questioned. I can only encourage these kind of actions to put an end to the abuse of the regular concert goers.


Just before the show, the band received a platinum award in recognition of the sales of 60.000 albums in Belgium. Brian didn't assist the handover since he was trying to keep quiet and let his sore throat rest for a while (what do you want... after 2 nights in Paris).


The band was in extremely good shape and, I must admit, the sound at the Sportpaleis was EXCELLENT. This made the first Antwerp show one of a kind. Brian's voice ("I see Rock and Roll out here... I can even smell it") was a rolling thunder and the whole sound powerstation was just spot on, with Malcolm, Phil and Cliff keeping the heavy rhythm section up to pace and being the ever solid backbone of AC/DC.

The crowd hardly stopped cheering and went nuts when classic songs like Whole Lotta Rosie, Thunderstruck and Highway to Hell were performed. The pounding shouts during TNT made the Sportpaleis' rooftop go up and down.
No changes on the (regular, but otherwise SOLID) setlist:

1. Rock'n'roll Train
2. Hell ain't a bad place to be
3. Back in Black
4. Big Jack
5. Dirty Deeds
6. Shot Down in Flames
7. Thunderstruck
8. Black Ice
9. The Jack
10. Hell's Bells
11. Shoot to Thrill
12. War Machine
13. Anything Goes
14. You Shook Me All Night Long
15. TNT
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. Let there be Rock
18. Highway to Hell
19. For Those About to Rock


It was cool to meet some of the international fans too. Fans with stories from Paris were largely present. We also met ACDC-Abruzzo from Italy and some real nice people from the UK. Thanks guys for being with us!

Various media covered the event:
- VTM News (coverage around 9"50. If you watch closely, you'll even be able to spot your servant.... )

- Gazet Van Antwerpen (with picture of ACDC Abruzzo and ACDC Belgium!)
- Het Nieuwsblad
- De Standaard
- ATV News
- Le Soir
- Le Soir (splendid photo site!)
- Rudy De Donker (pictures available soon, to be uploaded)

- Imparato (more pictures)

- Radio 1 (Stories on the Bedlam in Belgium story)
- Focus Knack

On Youtube, a wide variety of clips is already available. I picked some of the best:
- Highway to Hell

- The Jack (strip)

- TNT

That's it for now, I am getting ready for tomorrow's show.