Concerts: AC/DC @ Wembley Stadium, London, England 07/04/2015 - Sea of Tranquility - The Web Destination for Progressive Music!

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AC/DC @ Wembley Stadium, London, England 07/04/2015

Posted on Sunday, July 12 2015 @ 04:29:57 CDT by Dean Pedley

Malcolm has gone, Phil Rudd is banged up and Beano and Angus may be creaking a little bit more with each passing year but the rules remain the same. Every five years or so AC/DC put out a new album, tour the globe with a slightly different set list and dust off the bell, the cannons, the duck walk and the inflatable Rosie. Their solitary English date of 2015 on the fourth of July proved no exception as the biggest tour of the year rolled into London and laid waste to all in its path.

Rock or Bust may not have had quite the same impact as its predecessor but the title track provides an explosive start. Beer flies through the early evening sky as Wembley erupts. Sporting his shockingly red schoolboy uniform Angus remains the focal point for the 80,000 strong crowd; every riff, every solo and every shake of the head is met with pure adulation. We are soon into familiar territory and the well-trodden path of 'Shoot to Thrill', 'Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be' and 'Back in Black' succeed in raising the temperature inside the stadium even higher.

Brian Johnson shrieks, screams and squawks his way through 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', Stevie Young slips into his illustrious Uncles role unnoticed, Cliff Williams does exactly what he has been doing since the late 70's and the returning Chris Slade is precisely the kind of powerhouse drummer this band deserves. A few months ago Slade was plying his trade in pubs and clubs to audiences a few dozen strong and now he is back behind the kit for the biggest rock band on the planet. His monstrous playing on 'Thunderstruck' offers further proof that Slade should never have lost the job in the first place.

The raucous 'Rock n Roll Train' has survived to tour again, something of a rarity in a set list that usually dispenses with the previous albums material. 'Sin City' and 'Have a Drink on Me' are greeted like long lost friends and the only misstep of the two hour show is a plodding 'Baptism by Fire' where the intensity levels notably drop for a brief few minutes only to recover when Angus peels off the intro to 'You Shook Me All Night Long'. All too soon they are launching into 'Whole Lotta Rosie', the first of the holy trinity from the Bon Scott era that also takes in a lengthy Angus solo atop an extended hydraulic platform during 'Let There Be Rock' and a fiery 'Highway to Hell'. It all ends of course just the same as always; the cannons roar into the night at Johnson's defiant throat-wrenching command and Wembley salutes AC/DC one last time.

As loud and powerful as they ever were, AC/DC remain an unstoppable force of nature. If this show proves to be their London swansong then it was truly a fitting farewell.

Set List:-
Rock or Bust
Shoot to Thrill
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Play Ball
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
High Voltage
Rock 'n' Roll Train
Hells Bells
Baptism by Fire
You Shook Me All Night Long
Sin City
Shot Down in Flames
Have a Drink on Me
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Encore:
Highway to Hell
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Review by Dean Pedley
Images by Rich Ward