AC/DC Spectacle

Tuesday Leah and I went downtown and saw AC/DC. The first concert of 2009 set the bar pretty damn high. Irish rockers The Answer took the stage at 7:30 and were pretty good (their lead singer sounded like Robert Plant AND was rocking long, curly blond hair).

AC/DC played for about 2 hours and were amazing. The band brought a crap-ton of "toys" with them (including a giant 50 foot train, a huge inflatable "big girl" for "Whole Lotta Rosie," six working cannons for "For Those About to Rock," and some pyrotechnics). The songs were great (even though they're old, the band sounded great) and the stage show was awesome. It was literally like a scene out of the Guitar Hero video games (it was over-the-top ridiculous). We had good seats, and even though I spent $200 on the tickets--I felt like I got my money's worth. The band played mostly old stuff (all the classics were included, if you can name it--they played it) along with a few new ones off BLACK ICE (all the good ones).

I was stoked just to see "Thunderstruck" and "Big Jack" live. Leah, however, was not as entertained as I was. Oh, she was a good sport about it--but I could tell she was not digging it as much as I was.

*Sigh*

Getting out of the show wasn't a problem, but getting IN was STUPIDLY difficult. We showed up, it was like 12 degrees outside--all we wanted to do was get inside. I had Leah park in the Scott Trade Center garage (which we NEVER do, but it was too cold to walk so I shelled out $12 to park) and things went downhill from there. The foyer of the Center was packed--it was so full, most of the doors were open. We got locked into this crowd of old-rockers/metal kids...it smelled funny. Things went from bad to worse when they started walking through the crowd SELLING 24 oz Beer cans.

Yikes. Cos that's what I want to be trapped with--smelly drunk people.

Much like the time I went to City Museum and discovered I have claustrophobia, I've recently noticed that I DO NOT LIKE crowds. So that was a fun twenty-minutes. What was the problem? Get this: I bought my tickets online (Ticketmaster) but for the first time EVER, I was told that there was no option to have my tickets mailed to me. Nor was there an option to print them off myself (which are usually two of the three options, the third being "will-call"). But there was no self-print, mail, or will-call for this show. No, instead they tried something new called a paperless "e-ticket." Guess what our tickets were? My credit card.

That's right. We got up to the gates and we had to give the lady THE credit card I used to buy the tickets and she swiped it (twice) and this little hand-held device printed off these two cheesy-looking stubs.

Not only was this lame (I like saving my stubs--these are like a Wal-Mart receipt, I won't be saving this...and if I try I'm sure they're melt if they're exposed to air). Anyway, this new-type of ticket confused everyone and slowed the line down to A CRAWL.

Dear Concert Promoters/Venues: Please do not use this ticket method--it SUCKS.

Anyway, I've rambled enough...bottom line: AC/DC rocked. Leah bored. E-tickets suck.