Recently
I had the immense good fortune to experience what will possibly be the second
to last AC/DC concert, and the last in my area, at the Verizon Center in
DC. Many thanks to my brother Matt, who
took me to the show. Amen!
The
concert was originally scheduled for March 17, but had to be postponed when
singer Brian Johnson was advised by his doctor to quit touring or lose his
hearing. After much confusion, the band
agreed to have the infamous, erratic, and heretofore unreliable Guns N’Roses
singer W. Axl Rose take over. This was
even more remarkable as he had also reconciled with his former GNR bandmates
Slash and Duff McKagan, and was touring with the revamped GNR at about the same
time. So there was ample speculation as
to whether this would work. Now we know.
The
band went on around 9 p.m. and played for a solid two hours, not counting the
encore. Now that the tour is over I can
disclose the setlist without ruining it for anyone: Rock Or Bust, Shoot To Thrill, Hell Ain’t A
Bad Place To Be, Back in Black, Got Some Rock’n’Roll Thunder, Dirty Deeds Done
Dirt Cheap, Rock’n’Roll Damnation, Thunderstruck, High Voltage, Rock’n’Roll
Train, Hell’s Bells, Given The Dog A Bone, If You Want Blood (You Got It), Live
Wire, Sin City, You Shook Me All Night Long, Shot Down in Flames, Have a Drink
On Me, T.N.T., Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, and (encore) Highway to
Hell, Riff Raff, and For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). The last show in Philadelphia added “Problem
Child” to the encore.
As
the setlist indicates, the band dipped deep into its Bon Scott repertoire to
our immense surprise and satisfaction; as Matt noted, in Johnson’s absence the
band was free to play more of Bon Scott’s material. I found Axl’s inter-song banter somewhat
unintelligible and obtuse – similar to Ian Gillan – but his vocals and delivery
were spot on, both for the Johnson material, but also for the Scott material,
though with regard to the latter he appeared to be doing his own impression of
Johnson singing Scott’s material. Well,
I can’t and won’t complain.
Brian
vs. Axl. Let me start by saying that I
have always been somewhat ambivalent about Axl Rose. With regard to his singing ability, Rose has
a refreshing variety of singing styles, not just one. Appetite For Destruction, Use Your
Illusion (I & II), and GNR Lies, (and, for that matter, Chinese
Democracy) show his impressive range – leave aside his myriad attitude
problems and other eccentricities, as a singer he is VERY good.
Contrast
this with Brian Johnson, who from Back In Black to Rock Or Bust
has a grand total of ONE singing style, a raspy shriek which has not improved
over the years. He could not sing “Ride
On”, much less “Patience”, “Used to Love Her”, “Sweet Child O’Mine”, or
“Estranged”, and his delivery of Bon’s songs is barely adequate and NO
improvement. So as singers, Axl is
clearly superior to Johnson.
As
musicians? By that I mean, showing up on
time, getting along with your bandmates, cooperating in the studio and on tour,
and overall doing what you have to so the band puts out albums and tours
effectively. By that standard Johnson
was clearly superior. Axl, for all his
talent, seemed to degenerate into a spoiled child for many years. Chinese Democracy took far too long to
come out and was at best mediocre when it did, although Use Your Illusion
should really be condensed down to one superlative, classic album instead of
two albums with some excellent songs and lots of inane filler. It took Axl all this time to surgically
remove his head from his ass and get back with Slash and Duff, each of whom
were capable of putting out material and touring with other bands while Axl was
…doing what?
Meanwhile,
Brian Johnson sang on Back in Black, For Those About To Rock, Flick
of the Switch, Fly on the Wall, Blow Up Your Video, The
Razor’s Edge, Ballbreaker, Stiff Upper Lip, Black Ice,
and Rock Or Bust, and until his doctor pulled the plug on him, reliably
toured all those albums without any fuss or bother. I suppose his blue collar upbringing in
Newcastle instilled a strong work ethic which I have to admire. As a musician, Johnson clearly beat Axl.
As
persons? I read Johnson’s book, Rockers and Rollers. This was written BY him (with some
assistance), not an expose by someone else intended to make him look bad. Yet it makes him look bad. He prattles about Geordie (like we care), his
rare mentions of AC/DC are put-downs of Angus and Malcolm, and he brags about
racing cars as a hobby – without mentioning Nick Mason. Overall somewhat of a jerk, but even so, not
nearly as petulant and spoiled as Axl.
In that regard I’d call him a bit better than Axl.
When the AXL decision was announced, a substantial outcry went up. Axl? In AC/DC? I suspect 90% of that opposition was because it appeared that Johnson - who up to this point was 100% reliable, as noted above, for 36 years - was being summarily dismissed due to factors beyond his control and the heretofore ne'er-do-well, spoiled child Axl was given the job in his place. Certainly, viewed in that context it looks unfair to Johnson and an equally inequitable windfall to Axl. "The show must go on" sounds awfully harsh, but recall that Johnson replaced Bon in mere months, so he was also the beneficiary of his predecessor's bad luck. But I believe that, notwithstanding his prior track record, Axl delivered the goods and got the job done.
Brian
vs. Bon. Maybe a bit unfair, but I’ll do
it anyway. Bon’s voice was much better
than Brian’s, by far. No contest. In terms of material, look at the Bon
albums. High Voltage (US/Europe
and Australian), TNT (Australian), Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
(US/Europe and Australian) Let There Be Rock, Powerage, and Highway
to Hell. All decent albums, with the
last three being superb classics. Six
albums from 1975 to 1979 – just four years.
Brian Johnson’s era has 10 albums from 1980 to
2014, 34 years. Of these, one classic,
two are very good, and the rest are highly mediocre, including two stinkers, Fly
on the Wall and Blow Up Your Video.
Fortunately for us fans, the band mostly tended to ignore the crap in
concert, giving up sets which were 40% Back In Black, 40% Bon Scott, and
only 20% new stuff no one wanted to hear.
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