What’s with these Australians and their Gibson SG’s?<\/p>\n
Paul Kossoff died on an airplane.\u00c2\u00a0 That was bad enough, but Richard had a
whole tour booked with AC\/DC as his opening act.\u00c2\u00a0 And now the band was in
London with no tour, nowhere to play.\u00c2\u00a0 Trying to earn his keep as an agent, Richard
booked Australia’s finest into a small club.\u00c2\u00a0 Where fewer than ten people
attended the opening set.\u00c2\u00a0 But that didn’t bother AC\/DC.\u00c2\u00a0 They did their FULL ON
SHOW!\u00c2\u00a0 With Angus being paraded around the club, playing his SG from his perch
atop his bandmate’s shoulders.<\/p>\n
And when the set ended, the handful of people there, they immediately
disappeared.<\/p>\n
I don’t think the average fan knows it’s about the STORIES!\u00c2\u00a0 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!\u00c2\u00a0 Just have
Donald Tarlton tell you about bailing the Who out of jail.\u00c2\u00a0 When he got there,
they were dead drunk, holding on to the bars, singing DON’T FENCE ME IN!<\/p>\n
So we’re walking the streets of Manchester, it’s cold, it just stopped
raining, this depressing story is coming to an end.\u00c2\u00a0 How the few people who saw
AC\/DC at their debut just didn’t get it.<\/p>\n
But that’s not how the story turned out.\u00c2\u00a0 By time the band hit the stage for
the second set, the club was PACKED!\u00c2\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n
I don’t know if you’ve seen AC\/DC.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re these diminutive guys.\u00c2\u00a0 The type
who would get squished standing in line for a Coke at the venue.\u00c2\u00a0 And, after
the lights go down, when you’re in heavy anticipation mode, you hear this SOUND!<\/p>\n
Oh, how can I describe this sound.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine a train wreck right outside your
door.\u00c2\u00a0 No, imagine a flying saucer is hovering over your abode.\u00c2\u00a0 Just there.\u00c2\u00a0
With its ethereal treble-pitched sound going ON AND ON!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what it’s like
when out of the darkness, out of the quiet, Angus starts to play.<\/p>\n
AC\/DC doesn’t sound like anybody else.\u00c2\u00a0 Never did.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re sui generis.\u00c2\u00a0
They kick into a groove and it’s like they’re riding on rails, they’re LOCKED ON!<\/p>\n
You’ve listened to the albums.\u00c2\u00a0 You know what I mean.<\/p>\n
But live, it’s something else.\u00c2\u00a0 Because there’s this ENERGY!\u00c2\u00a0 The kind you
can only get at a live performance.\u00c2\u00a0 When you know this is one time only.\u00c2\u00a0 When
you’re not thinking about the future, or the past, you’re just living in the
moment.\u00c2\u00a0 And you’re standing in the audience wide-eyed, at attention, not
wanting to miss ONE FUCKING NOTE!\u00c2\u00a0 The band COMMANDS this attention.<\/p>\n
Live 8 is a juggernaut.\u00c2\u00a0 A hydra with long tails.\u00c2\u00a0 Who knew that it would
bring Richard Ashcroft back from the dead.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, who knew the man had this
many FANS!\u00c2\u00a0 Coming out of the woodwork, e-mailing me their favorite tracks.<\/p>\n
Just when I think I’m done, I’m drawn back in.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching more performances.<\/p>\n
Without a doubt, London had the best line-up.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t overlook Toronto.\u00c2\u00a0
Puts Philly to shame.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean with even Randy Bachman playing "You Ain’t Seen
Nothing Yet".<\/p>\n
And, surfing through the titles, playing excerpts of videos, I saw that Jet
had played "Cold Hard Bitch".\u00c2\u00a0 I LOVED that track.<\/p>\n
Actually, I loved it so much, I went to the English website last year.\u00c2\u00a0
Watched footage of the band in some club, that appeared to be located in a
basement.\u00c2\u00a0 There was an energy, but there was also a roughness.\u00c2\u00a0 This was a new band.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t quite have it together.\u00c2\u00a0 And they didn’t quite LOOK the part.<\/p>\n
Firing up the Live 8 footage, I was stunned.\u00c2\u00a0 The lead singer no longer
looked like a geek, rather, he looked the PART!\u00c2\u00a0 With his leather jacket, his
scarf, his shades, his beard.\u00c2\u00a0 He looked like a ROCKER!<\/p>\n
But we all know it’s not about how you look, but how you PLAY!<\/p>\n
Oh, I expected the band to launch right into the number.\u00c2\u00a0 There was only so
much time.<\/p>\n
But that’s not what happened AT ALL!\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, this tiny little guy, barely
moving, just shaking his leg up and down, started picking his SG.\u00c2\u00a0 Not
windmilling it.\u00c2\u00a0 Not abusing it.\u00c2\u00a0 But coaxing a sound out of it that immediately
infected me.\u00c2\u00a0 That I could feel all the way from my heart to my genitals.<\/p>\n
It was like the hundreds of thousands of people weren’t there.\u00c2\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n
And, of course, the audience isn’t prepared for this.\u00c2\u00a0 Years of music
television has taught them the band plays it live just like in the video.\u00c2\u00a0 That the
hit is immediately recognizable.\u00c2\u00a0 If a band stretches out, in the way that
Cream made so legendary, they’re flummoxed, they don’t know what to do.<\/p>\n
And a sycophant like Mariah Carey would start PLAYING TO THEM!\u00c2\u00a0 Looking for
applause.\u00c2\u00a0 Looking to DRAW THEM IN!<\/p>\n
But this guy in Jet, HE DOESN’T SEEM TO GIVE A FUCK!\u00c2\u00a0 He plays for over half
a minute SOLO, like ANGUS, before the band even hits a NOTE!\u00c2\u00a0 And then,
slowly, they start to come in.\u00c2\u00a0 The bass player.\u00c2\u00a0 The drummer.\u00c2\u00a0 The dude on the
Flying V.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re just locked into this groove.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re going on and on.\u00c2\u00a0 And
then, just shy of two minutes, it starts to get INTENSE!\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The organist starts
sitting the keys.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s locked on.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re starting to move.<\/p>\n
And it’s not until three minutes in that they finally hit the RIFF!\u00c2\u00a0 Till
they finally start playing the SONG!<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you the vocalist kills.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not Brian
Johnson, never mind Bon Scott.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, you’ve got to watch this.\u00c2\u00a0 THIS is what we
should be selling.\u00c2\u00a0 If you saw this band live once, you’d HAVE to see them the
next time through.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you just can’t get this energy ANYWHERE ELSE!<\/p>\n
We’re not selling hits.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re not selling ditties.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re selling a complete
ENVIRONMENT!\u00c2\u00a0 We’re selling a TRIP, a CRUISE!<\/p>\n
And the only people who can come along are the BELIEVERS!<\/p>\n
Used to be EVERYBODY was a believer.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s why all those concert
promoters made millions.\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn’t about alcohol, not even about t-shirts, it was
just about the music.\u00c2\u00a0 You had to get closer to the SOUND!\u00c2\u00a0 A sound that
couldn’t be captured on tape.\u00c2\u00a0 Tape is PERFECT!\u00c2\u00a0 Live music is not.\u00c2\u00a0 There are
missed notes, distortion.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just like you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s lumpy here, zitty there, but
it’s unmistakably ALIVE!<\/p>\n
Watch this Jet performance.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about a backdrop.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about
dancing.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s purely about SOUND!\u00c2\u00a0 Played ferociously, from the GUT!<\/p>\n