BC Place was alight with wearable flashing devil horns this past Tuesday (April 22) night, as rock gods AC/DC rumbled through Vancouver on their first North American tour in nine years, supporting their 17th studio album, 2020's POWER UP.
Although their lineup has undergone foundational changes over their 52 years together — including the death of original singer Bon Scott in 1980, the retirement of founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2014, and the brief replacement of Scott's successor, Brian Johnson, by Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose due to health issues in 2016 — to say AC/DC have remained consistent is an understatement: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is their whole M.O. (The cliché use feels appropriate for the band who wrote the book on rock music clichés.)
Based on the Australian legends' return to the city where they recorded albums such as 1991's The Razors Edge, 2000's Stiff Upper Lip, 2008's Black Ice, 2014's Rock or Bust, and POWER UP, their legions of fans agree.
Fulfilling a dream come true for themselves were New York City's the Pretty Reckless. The quartet fronted by Taylor Momsen — familiar to many as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl — warmed up the audience with hard rock that sounds riotous on the surface but, unlike the frivolous fan favourites of the night's headliners, explores heavy emotions around loss and grief. (They opened Chris Cornell's final Soundgarden show on May 17, 2017, and the band lost their longtime producer Kato Khandwala in a motorcycle accident nearly a year later.)
The Pretty Reckless were technically proficient, as any opener chosen to do the honours for the likes of AC/DC needs to be. Momsen in particular stood out for her hair-raising yells on "Death by Rock and Roll" and vocal dexterity on "Follow Me Down," an ebbing and flowing set highlight that earned applause before it even ended.
As soon as AC/DC hit the stage, they proved their enduring, seemingly inhuman fortitude. The band's current live iteration of Johnson, founding lead guitarist Angus Young, drummer Matt Laug, bassist Chris Chaney and rhythm guitarist Stevie Young (Angus and Malcolm's nephew) delivered 21 songs over the course of 135 minutes. Johnson was already singing until his eyes bulged on the first song, "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)." Before AC/DC went any further, he told everyone straight up that the band was going to do the same old thing: "Party!"
And so they did. The hits rolled in, one after another: "Thunderstruck," "Stiff Upper Lip," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," "High Voltage," "You Shook Me All Night Long," "T.N.T.," etc. Though AC/DC only played two songs from POWER UP, "Demon Fire" and "Shot in the Dark," those late-career cuts held their own against the enshrined favourites.
Maybe it helped that Angus ran, riffed, ripped solos, jumped, and duckwalked across the stage and to the edge of the runways nearly nonstop. It didn't take long for him to lose his ball cap and become soaked in sweat; with his white schoolboy uniform shirt fully unbuttoned, Angus as a whole looking like laundry hung out to dry after a storm.
Johnson's iconic gravelly, screeching voice drowned in the sound mix, and naturally, at age 77, he couldn't hit all the high notes or sustain his vocals for as long as he and Scott did on the recordings. But Angus, 70, was so tireless it was almost concerning, especially during "Let there Be Rock," his greatest display of stamina, which took place 19 songs deep into the set.
This rickety, runaway riff train seemed to go on for over 15 minutes. Whatever the actual timestamp was, "Let There Be Rock" was unparalleled as the most drawn-out song of the night. Left alone onstage for the majority of it, Angus pulled out all the stops. A mechanical platform at the tip of the main runway elevated him into the air while he laid down and spun in a circle, confetti erupting around him. Later, he stood atop the Marshall amp stacks that formed the backdrop, where he continued riffing for so long that he arguably wasn't even playing the same song anymore, especially as he called back to "Thunderstruck" and noodled around with the tempo of the intro.
On-the-nose props and jumbotron graphics were all part of AC/DC's self-aware fun: a speeding train branded with the band's logo during "Rock N Roll Train"; the screens going black-and-white for "Back in Black"; and flames, flames, flames for their multitude of fire-referencing songs like "Highway to Hell." A giant bell (also branded with the band's logo) hung above the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers during "Hells Bells." Cannons, backed by spraying pyro, fired off blanks during the second and final encore, "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)."
Over the decades, AC/DC have attracted their share of critics for being one-trick ponies with vapid, juvenile lyrics that only appeal to teenage boys. But hearing their songs live — looking out into an audience of tens of thousands moving and singing in unison — feels like living in the bygone era when millions of people across the country gathered around their TV to watch the same nightly news or weekly primetime lineup; an era when, like it or loathe it, everyone was tuned into the same cultural moment.
Anyone who's ever been to a bar, grocery store, restaurant, or sporting event, or even anyone who's ever watched television or a movie, can recognize an AC/DC song. They're omnipresent, a reference point in our daily media and conversations. While AC/DC might not have much to talk about other than sex, booze and the Devil, they still keep people talking to each other — face to face, and in real life.