What’s with these Australians and their Gibson SG’s?

Paul Kossoff died on an airplane.  That was bad enough, but Richard had a
whole tour booked with AC/DC as his opening act.  And now the band was in
London with no tour, nowhere to play.  Trying to earn his keep as an agent, Richard
booked Australia’s finest into a small club.  Where fewer than ten people
attended the opening set.  But that didn’t bother AC/DC.  They did their FULL ON
SHOW!  With Angus being paraded around the club, playing his SG from his perch
atop his bandmate’s shoulders.

And when the set ended, the handful of people there, they immediately
disappeared.

I don’t think the average fan knows it’s about the STORIES!  That it’s not
about meeting the band, but hanging around with the lifers, the people who’ve
seen it all, and listening to what happened, what they OBSERVED!  Just have
Donald Tarlton tell you about bailing the Who out of jail.  When he got there,
they were dead drunk, holding on to the bars, singing DON’T FENCE ME IN!

So we’re walking the streets of Manchester, it’s cold, it just stopped
raining, this depressing story is coming to an end.  How the few people who saw
AC/DC at their debut just didn’t get it.

But that’s not how the story turned out.  By time the band hit the stage for
the second set, the club was PACKED!  You see, this was before the days of
cell phones, everybody had to run out, find a phone booth and call everybody they
knew, for this new band, this performance, COULDN’T BE MISSED!

I don’t know if you’ve seen AC/DC.  They’re these diminutive guys.  The type
who would get squished standing in line for a Coke at the venue.  And, after
the lights go down, when you’re in heavy anticipation mode, you hear this SOUND!

Oh, how can I describe this sound.  Imagine a train wreck right outside your
door.  No, imagine a flying saucer is hovering over your abode.  Just there. 
With its ethereal treble-pitched sound going ON AND ON!  That’s what it’s like
when out of the darkness, out of the quiet, Angus starts to play.

AC/DC doesn’t sound like anybody else.  Never did.  They’re sui generis. 
They kick into a groove and it’s like they’re riding on rails, they’re LOCKED ON!

You’ve listened to the albums.  You know what I mean.

But live, it’s something else.  Because there’s this ENERGY!  The kind you
can only get at a live performance.  When you know this is one time only.  When
you’re not thinking about the future, or the past, you’re just living in the
moment.  And you’re standing in the audience wide-eyed, at attention, not
wanting to miss ONE FUCKING NOTE!  The band COMMANDS this attention.

Live 8 is a juggernaut.  A hydra with long tails.  Who knew that it would
bring Richard Ashcroft back from the dead.  Then again, who knew the man had this
many FANS!  Coming out of the woodwork, e-mailing me their favorite tracks.

Just when I think I’m done, I’m drawn back in.  Watching more performances.

Without a doubt, London had the best line-up.  But don’t overlook Toronto. 
Puts Philly to shame.  I mean with even Randy Bachman playing "You Ain’t Seen
Nothing Yet".

And, surfing through the titles, playing excerpts of videos, I saw that Jet
had played "Cold Hard Bitch".  I LOVED that track.

Actually, I loved it so much, I went to the English website last year. 
Watched footage of the band in some club, that appeared to be located in a
basement.  There was an energy, but there was also a roughness.  This was a new band.  They didn’t quite have it together.  And they didn’t quite LOOK the part.

Firing up the Live 8 footage, I was stunned.  The lead singer no longer
looked like a geek, rather, he looked the PART!  With his leather jacket, his
scarf, his shades, his beard.  He looked like a ROCKER!

But we all know it’s not about how you look, but how you PLAY!

Oh, I expected the band to launch right into the number.  There was only so
much time.

But that’s not what happened AT ALL!  Rather, this tiny little guy, barely
moving, just shaking his leg up and down, started picking his SG.  Not
windmilling it.  Not abusing it.  But coaxing a sound out of it that immediately
infected me.  That I could feel all the way from my heart to my genitals.

It was like the hundreds of thousands of people weren’t there.  Like he was
in his garage, with his amp turned up to 11, DREAMING of being a rock star, so
engrossed in his music, DELIVERING!

And, of course, the audience isn’t prepared for this.  Years of music
television has taught them the band plays it live just like in the video.  That the
hit is immediately recognizable.  If a band stretches out, in the way that
Cream made so legendary, they’re flummoxed, they don’t know what to do.

And a sycophant like Mariah Carey would start PLAYING TO THEM!  Looking for
applause.  Looking to DRAW THEM IN!

But this guy in Jet, HE DOESN’T SEEM TO GIVE A FUCK!  He plays for over half
a minute SOLO, like ANGUS, before the band even hits a NOTE!  And then,
slowly, they start to come in.  The bass player.  The drummer.  The dude on the
Flying V.  They’re just locked into this groove.  They’re going on and on.  And
then, just shy of two minutes, it starts to get INTENSE!  The Phil Ruddesque
drummer starts hitting those drums like he’s in an anger management course,
learning how to take his frustration out on inanimate objects.  The organist starts
sitting the keys.  Everybody’s locked on.  They’re starting to move.

And it’s not until three minutes in that they finally hit the RIFF!  Till
they finally start playing the SONG!

I’d like to tell you the vocalist kills.  He doesn’t.  He’s not Brian
Johnson, never mind Bon Scott.  Still, you’ve got to watch this.  THIS is what we
should be selling.  If you saw this band live once, you’d HAVE to see them the
next time through.  Because you just can’t get this energy ANYWHERE ELSE!

We’re not selling hits.  We’re not selling ditties.  We’re selling a complete
ENVIRONMENT!  We’re selling a TRIP, a CRUISE!

And the only people who can come along are the BELIEVERS!

Used to be EVERYBODY was a believer.  And that’s why all those concert
promoters made millions.  It wasn’t about alcohol, not even about t-shirts, it was
just about the music.  You had to get closer to the SOUND!  A sound that
couldn’t be captured on tape.  Tape is PERFECT!  Live music is not.  There are
missed notes, distortion.  It’s just like you.  It’s lumpy here, zitty there, but
it’s unmistakably ALIVE!

Watch this Jet performance.  It’s not about a backdrop.  It’s not about
dancing.  It’s purely about SOUND!  Played ferociously, from the GUT!

Live 8: Toronto