So I’m back in the ring for one final swing…. Manchester was supposed to be my final Rock or Bust gig but then Dusseldorf was announced – had a look at flight/ hotel prices and realised I could do it pretty cheaply but more importantly got the thumbs up from my awesome wife so booked it and I was all set!!

One of the downsides of travelling as cheap as possible is it normally means very early starts – check my other blogs and you’ll see that most of them begin with “arrived in xxxxx very early – bleary eyed. Etc etc. ” but this was so early it was still late!! I left my house at 1:30AM for a 3hour drive to Dublin airport, then a 90min flight getting into Central Dusseldorf mid morning…



With a couple of hours to kill I went for a wander to get my bearings but ended up sitting in a coffee shop for over an hour using their wifi and charging my phone.

Another outcome of doing it on the cheap is you end up in some strange places – Hotel Komet was €30 and less than 5mins walk from the train station but although the the room had a modern state of the art shower there was no loo… There was a sink at least (and I definitely did not have a pee in it at any point 😐).

Tried unsuccessfully to have a quick siesta before heading out – too much coffee, showered and was ready to rock 🤘🏻 It was gonna be my last Rock or Bust show and poss my last AC⚡️DC show and I was gonna have a blast no matter how tired I was..

Just as I was about to leave there was a crash of thunder and the heavens opened: looks like I was going nowhere…Thank god I’d picked up a couple of cans of beer so was able to sit at my window, have a drink, watch the storm & pray it cleared soon: at least it wasn’t gonna be another Lisbon as the Esprit Arena has a roof which can be closed.

It stopped raining long enough to allow me to dash to the station – queued for a train ticket until a very kind German man pointed out I didn’t need a ticket since I was going to the gig: Good work that man!

Got to the arena just as the doors were opening so able to head straight in, check to confirm the roof was closed, grab a wristband for the front section, buy a couple of beers then hang around outside with plenty of time for tshirt & patch spotting: my favourite pastime at AC⚡️DC gigs: one thing I noticed was there was a lot more Guns n Roses tshirts than normal! Also bumped into Cosmo Wilson who does the band’s lights: told him I loved the lighting rig this tour and was looking forward to seeing it in full dark…

Gave the local band a miss, caught some of Tyler Bryant & the Shaekdown and then finally chose my spot for the show; not as far forward as Manchester but with a better view of the podium and on Stevies side this time. The crew must only have 1 CD so got to hear the Rolling Stones greatest hits again but before long the lights went out – the intro video rolled and we were off and running!

There’s nothing left to say about how awesome the opening salvo of RoB, STT, HAABPTB & BiB are, Axl enjoyed a bit of trolling by introducing the next song with “we got some thunder for ya…” Crowd goes wild expecting Thunderstruck, the band start Got Some RnR Thunder… Crowd goes mild!

Speaking of the crowd – I would estimate 35,000 tonight: the floor was definitely full, lower tier seemed about 80-90% full and upper tier maybe only 10-20%, I certainly wouldn’t describe it as half empty!



The band were in great form – yeah there was the odd missed or fluffed note but seriously: who wants perfection anyway – it’s a rock show FFS!? Axl was working as hard as Angus – constantly on the move, and dancing/ rocking out any chance he got & it’s clear to see there’s a connection between him and the rest of the band: they look like a unit now!

I was having a blast: the lack of sleep was making me a bit delirious (plus all the beers I’d drank) and every so often I’d think “I’m at an AC⚡️DC show in Germany!” and laugh like a maniac: got a few funny looks from the locals…. As a wiseman once said – this is where it ends: RTFO down the front in a laughing sweaty mess!

The place was as hot as hell so many thanks to the mystery German who handed me a nice, cold pint – God speed: I hope you eventually found yer mates!

I’ve been to four shows this year: got to hear RnR Damnation & Riff Raff in Lisbon for the first time, If You Want Blood was added for London & Manchester and now, finally…. I got to hear Touch Too Much in Düsseldorf!! Yeah it’s sounds different to the LP version but Jaysus it was feckin EPIC live!!!

Song highlights: If You Want Blood, RnR damnation, High Voltage, Touch Too Much, Sin City, Back in Black…. I could keep going to be honest they were as awesome as always!!

Before I knew it Let There Be Rock was finishing and we were heading towards the end of the line…. Canons, fireworks, explosions…. “We Salute You Europe!!”

All in all very glad I’d made the trip and had a final chance to see these guys knock it out of the park…. Way back when this all started I kinda thought: “finish the tour then call it quits = grand”….

Now I’m not so sure….Maybe I just don’t want it to end!?!

There’s still some shows in North America to go…. Now… Where’s my credit card??