Rock will never die: the AC/DC concert in Reggio Emilia
Raise your hand if – in 2016, at the news of Brian Johnson's departure, with subsequent tour with Axl Rose on vocals – you would have bet a euro on AC/DC returning to the stage.
8 years later – after the forced break due to Covid and “Power Up”, the album of unreleased songs also released in 2020 – the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia welcomed 100,000 spectators who flocked to the only Italian date of the Australian band 2024: data in hand, 90,000 fans arrived from all over Italy, and 6,000 from abroad. 4000, the luckiest, are those who left home on foot, because they are local.
The day – particularly hot, despite the threat of rain hovering throughout the afternoon – is further warmed up by the Pretty Reckless, who carry out the mission assigned to them by offering the audience an hour of direct rock without frills, thanks above all to the charismatic and sensual presence by singer Taylor Momsen.
The tenor of the rest of the evening, AC/DC, immediately make it clear at 8.45 pm sharp, with “If you want blood (You've got it)”: on stage Angus Young (dressed as usual as a schoolboy in green uniform, white shirt and tie) and Brian Johnson, with the inevitable cap, position themselves one step ahead of the rest of the band, with Stevie Young on guitar and Chris Chaney on bass, and – ultimately, on drums – Matt Laug, who the Italian public knows well for having played in Vasco Rossi's band in the last few tours, and who will only follow the Australian band this summer.
The arena, which allows an excellent view from every portion of the audience, is already bedlam after a string of hits such as “Back in Black”, “Thunderstruck” and “Hells Bells”, with the inevitable bell lowered onto the stage – and no harm if the frontman greets thinking he is in Bologna, but immediately corrects himself.
While the frontman often laughs and claps, Young just does the duck walk and endless solos, like the eleven-minute one on “Whole Lotta Rose”, expanded by the instrumental to a total duration of twenty-two minutes.
The history of rock also passes through the words of “Let there be rock”, with which the never forgotten Bon Scott, way back in 1977, sang the birth of the genre, and which tonight Johnson recites like a messiah: “let there be light, the sound, the drums and the guitar”.
Angus thus takes up all the space, and stands on the platform which in the meantime has risen five meters on the stage to accentuate the guitar ride, and with his fingers raised to the sky he recalls the rock people with their illuminated horns on their heads.
The closing – and the final farewell – with “For those about to rock (We salute you)” is inevitable, with cannons on stage marking the end of the concert with fireworks: the most rock'n'roll evening of this summer that is about to end will leave an indelible memory on spectators, aware that – contrary to what has been said for years – rock will never die.
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