Hello Wilkes-Barre!!!

Tuesday night was the tour opening show for AC/DC's Black Ice tour (there was a secret pre-show two nights before for a small group of contest winners...but this was the first shoudl you could buy tickets for). Mindy and I made the two hour drive out there to welcome the boys back after 8 years away. Of course, we left in plenty of time, 4:30 for the 7:30 show...and it was lucky we did as the drive ended up taking 3 hours due to ridiculous amounts of traffic. I have to think there was an accident somewhere up ahead but it must have cleared by the time we got there. For a while, I was going crazy, wondering if we might be late...but as it turns out, we were OK.

Avoiding the opening band, we instead enjoyed the atmosphere outside the venue and hit the t-shirt vendors. I bought a couple of shirts, Mindy got one for herself and we bought shirts for Naomi and Fiona as well. Additionally, 3 sets of AC/DC glowing devil horns were purchased...for Mindy and the girls (as I had a set from their last tour).

Our seats were amazing. By far the closest I have ever been to a top act like this. We were in the lower section, just to the left of the floor, 6 rows back. Literally, 15m to the front of the stage and right under the speaker bank. The band's arrival was announced with a small cartoon video, launching into an explosion on the stage and the riff of Rock N Roll Train. I found this on youtube which was taken at the show we attended...but from much further back than where we were! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsBGbHpmKg

The concert was fantastic. They played 5 songs from Black Ice and I was very happy about this as I think it is one of their best albums - Rock N Roll Train; Big Jack; Black Ice; War Machine and Anything Goes. They also played a nice selection of classics, the highlights for me being Dirty Deeds; TNT; Let There Be Rock; Highway To Hell and of course For Those About To Rock, complete with cannons.

Their new stage prop was a huge train that blew smoke during Hell's Bells and spat fire during TNT...but unfortunately this melted the inflatable "Rosie" from the secret show a few days before, so Rosie was just a "beautiful" digital image during her song. I would say that the only problem was the crowd - they were not as crazy as past AC/DC crowds, I guess this is what you get for going to small town PA for a show. We both had a great time (yes, Mindy too)...and now I cannot wait until their Charlotte concert on December 18!!!!