Artist : AC/DC
Location : Paris
Venue : Stade de France
Date : 12-06-2009
Audience : 70 000 people

Angus loves his fans !

Fourth and last French date of AC/DC’s 2009 tour. Your humble servant reporter was able to see them for the fourth time this year on the Black Ice Tour. With pretty much the same set list this fourth time too ! Only “Dog Eat Dog” from the album Let THere Be Rock was added to the Bercy dates. Merely one added song to such an extensive set list doesn’t seem that great when you consider the effort that many fans made to follow the combo on tour (as well as financial efforts no less).

In fact, it seems that the emphasis of the song choices is placed on only three of the albums from their discography. They played four tracks from Let There Be Rock : «Dog Eat Dog», «Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be», «Whole Lotta Rosie» and «Let There Be Rock». Back In Black was put forward through four tracks : «Back In Black», «Hell’s Bells», «Shoot To Thrill» and «You Shook Me All Night Long». And finally, Black Ice was also promoted as they played no less than five tracks from this latest album : «Rock N’Roll Train», «Big Jack», «Black Ice», «War Machine» and without forgetting the memorable “Anything Goes”.

Brian and his rock ‘n’ roll train !

Assessment : AC/DC play 13 tracks from only three of their albums. A completely crazy fact when you consider that the band released more than 14 studio albums ! We don’t question why they chose to put these tracks forward. We do, however, question the amount of times they’ve been put forward. Each of these 13 tracks makes up for over half of the set list every time ! Out of 20 tracks, that is a lot…

Either way, any AC/DC fan who was seeing them for the first time last friday surely witnessed one of the biggest bands in the world live. It is also an indisputable fact that they are one of the ultimately best bands at playing live. Every AC/DC gig will make the crowd shiverthrough Angus Young’s dantesque solos, witness the amazing relation between the band and their fans, as well as, enjoy the performance of a band who were playing in France for one of their last times. This was, therefore, a historical event taking place in front of 70 000 people in the Stade de France. An unforgettable moment.

This man has the Devil in the tips of his fingers!

Despite all of the positive aspects, it’s hard not to be disappointed by the Autralian combo’s lack of renewal. The band’s ultimate die-hard fans who know all of the DVDs off by heart and who have been seeing them live for the past 15-20 years are surely a little disappointed. AC/DC fans are fully aware of the fullness and profound nature of the Young brothers’ discography. A fullness that is clearly not exploited on stage.

Just imagine the set list that follows. 100 % renewed from old concerts and without any tracks from this lastest tour having been added :

It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock’ N Roll)
Go Down
Overdose
Rock N’ Roll Damnation
Riff Raff
Sin City
Touch Too Much
If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
Have A Drink On Me
Givin The Dog A Bone
Put The Finger On You
This House Is On Fire
Flick Of The Switch
Sink The Pink
Who Made You
Heatseeker
Moneytalks
Big Gun
Hard As A Rock
Ballbreaker

Sounds pretty appealing right ?!

Unfortunately, this is merely a dream…

Here is AC/DC’s actual set list at the Stade de France.

Mister Brian Johnson

Set-list :

Rock N’Roll Train
Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Shot Down In Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hell’s Bells
Shoot To Thrill
War Machine
Dog Eat Dog
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock

Encores :

Highway To Hell
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

As you can see dear Radio Metal readers, you could just as well have copied and pasted the Marseille show. Although we still salute this amazing band for their dynamic performance all the way through the French tour, it’s still a “shame” that they don’t take more risks to please their most loyal fans. Especially since this may have been one of their final tours. Guys, we salute you anyway…

Photo : Francis Zégut
http://zegut.blogspot.com/

This post is also available in: French