AC/DC
Flugplatz - Wels, Austria
May 22, 2010

This was the first time I was seeing AC/DC abroad. I couldn’t be attending their next concert in Paris, and the Wels date fit perfectly on a Saturday.

The concert was held at the Flugplatz Wels, or Wels Airfield. But I didn’t see any control tower around; instead there were a few big stores like Ikea.

he surroundings of the concert resembled to a festival: only one price for the ticket, food stalls everywhere, beer stands even more common, a big central stage, and lots of mud that left after the rain. There was just no camping ground.

As everyone had the same ticket, I tried to go as close to the stage as possible. But I found a bad surprise: the police was there, dividing the pit with heavy barriers! This happened when Volbeat was playing. Can you imagine, dividing the pit in the middle of the show? The explanation given by security is that there were too many people, so they had to divide. Well, all this people was expected! I saw a newspaper in the afternoon which said that with 82 000 people, this was the biggest concert in Austria for 2010. So don’t tell me that the organizers didn’t know!
There are two ways to do a so big concert: either every ticket is at the same price so people go where they want, or there are different price categories according to the distance from the stage

To be honest, I had a free ticket, but if I had paid the normal price (which was an abnormal 80.20 Euros), I would have become very angry about this pit division.

So, I was at the barrier, but the second barrier, which was way too far from the stage. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to get any closer and that everything I’ll see would be the giant screens. So I decided that was just going to enjoy the party, sing, dance, headbang and get drunk.
That one was easy, as glasses are recyclable and you were given 2 euros or each one, so it was easy to get a free beer.

As soon as AC/DC started the first notes of Rock’n’Roll Train, it started to rain! The whole place got covered with mud but still the ambiance was very festive… until the rain damaged the loudspeakers at the rear! There were 3 songs that we couldn’t hear well, but the sound engineers did a great work to repair the equipment quick.

AC/DC played great, Brian sang very good, Angus was mad on stage. There were fireworks, big screens, and inflatable Rosie, a Rock n’Roll Train, Angus’ strip, canons on For Those About To Rock… yeah, every AC/DC gimmick was tonight… and didn’t make the effort to change a single song! Hey, even Iron Maiden change their setlist when they tour for two years! It was like “yeah, this was AC/DC in 2009, this is AC/DC in 2010, and this is the DVD you’re gonna watch, no matter where it’s filmed, it will be the same”. They even played one fewer song: they skipped Problem Child!
Even the few speeches between the songs were the same: “She was so dirty, she even made Big Jack cry” to introduce The Jack; or “We got something for you. We got some Dirty Deeds, that’s what we got!”. No room left for improvisation, nothing changed… is this still Rock’n’roll??
I’m only making this AC/DC show for 2010, so I was happy to see it and they met all my expectations. But I can understand that a fan seeing several shows in a row can be frustrated to hear exactly the same songs and speeches every night, for more than a year.

So, I had to rate the different aspects of the concert, they would be:
AC/DC’s show and musical performance: 10/10
AC/DC’s predictable setlist: 6/10
General atmosphere: 9/10
Organization: 5/10

Setlist AC/DC – The Flugplatz, Wels, Austria – May 22, 2010

01. Rock 'N Roll Train
02. Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be
03. Back In Black
04. Big Jack
05. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
06. Shot Down In Flames
07. Thunderstruck
08. Black Ice
09. The Jack
10. Hells Bells
11. Shoot To Thrill
12. War Machine
13. Anything Goes
14. You Shook Me All Night
15. TNT
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. Let There Be Rock
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18. Highway To Hell
19. For Those About To Rock

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