So when I bought tickets for Lisbon I didn’t envisage what was gonna happen between December & May….

It was really tough trying to get my head round the whole thing: deciding how I felt about a guest singer? Should they call it quits? Has Brian been sacked? Do I still wanna go?

In the end I wanted to support the band through these final few shows and it was a chance for a final proper farewell!

Me & the wifey arrived at Alges station on a wet Saturday evening – so much for the hot, sunny beach party with AC⚡️DC I’d imagined in the build up: the weather is better in Ireland ffs! Anyways – we are certainly used to the rain & sure once we had a few beers we wouldn’t care!



Walking round the venue I felt a real sense of what could’ve been – sun & sand on the sea front, plenty of beer stands and loads of places to sit and soak it all in… Aw well maybe next time!

Hung back whilst Tyler & the Shakedown did their thing – not bad I guess but obviously we were all here for the main event… And then – a rock n roll miracle: the clouds were replaced with blue skies and the sun came out!



Made our way as far forward as we could without having to shove – found a nice central spot: all the haters who talked off thousands of refunds and empty arenas take note: the place was feckin jammed & the atmosphere absolutely electric…,

At just after 9pm the now familiar intro video started rolling and a couple minutes later the band hit the stage to Rock or Bust and we were off and running!

All it took for me was the opening “Hey ya!” And I was pretty much sold…. Rock or Bust into Shoot to Thrill into HAABPTB into Back in Black is a pretty good way to start a show and Axl was bang on for every one of them and the place was buzzing only for it to be killed by the damp squib that is Got Some RnR Thunder: nice to hear a track I haven’t heard live before but it’s got to go – Jaysus I’d rather have Play Ball back in the set in its place!



Dirty Deeds got us back on track – another great performance by Axl: he adds a bit of real menace and bite to Bon’s songs that, no disrespect to Brian, had been missing from them for a while now although I missed the ‘you ain’t got the guts…’ that Angus used to sing for Brian!



And then the first surprise of the night – A brief anecdote from Axl about how Angus told him that this track was their first US radio hit and the record company wanted them to play it live but they wouldn’t and the band slammed into RnR Damnation – pure joy: by this stage I’d sang myself hoarse: apologies to all the people standing around me btw!

It was at this point I started to miss Brian – Thunderstruck, RnR Train & Hells Bells are uniquely Brian’s songs that I feel they really ought to drop them but some how I doubt it’ll happen! That’s not to say Axl didn’t perform them just fine…



The rest of the show passed in a blur and always it was over too soon but there was still time for one more surprise – the usual final three song combo of LTBR, Highway to Hell into FTATR was updated to include Riff Raff – a song that strangely Guns N Roses have played live more often the AC⚡️DC and god it was good: I thought just for one second that maybe they weren’t gonna play For Those… as the ultimate tribute to Brian but obv that would be madness – the end of an AC⚡️DC show without the cannons? Never gonna happen!!



So there you have it – I was really impressed – Axl nailed it and the band was on fire, can’t wait to get Axl out of that chair & to see how he interacted with Angus, the band and the crowd! Roll on Manchester & London – see yous in June!

Observations:

Angus gave his all – obviously aware that Axl was seated he really pushed himself and I can’t remember seeing him rock out, duck walk and move around as much for a while now.

Sound was great although blew around a little bit.

I enjoyed Axl’s chat between songs – introduced RnR Train with “all aboard” & Shot Down in Flames as “the story of my life”.

Ramp was up from the start of the show – although not used much.

Axl’s chair does look a bit like a mobility scooter / hopefully he’ll be up and around soon!?

Great seeing the two screens showing different video during Angus’s solo – one zoomed in on his guitar and the other showing him: more of this please.

First time I’ve ever seen an AC⚡️DC singer wearing sunglasses onstage.

Spend ages trying to work out what songs were dropped for Riff Raff & RnR Damnation – turns out none were: 2 extra songs… Woo hoo!!

Really wish Brian (and Bon & Mal for that matter) were acknowledged in some small way – in the Let There be Rock visuals maybe?

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