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They Like Consistency
I've noticed through seeing them live and looking at various set lists from past tours and this one, I've realized one big thing that will knock the hell out of everyone complaining about AC/DC's average set for Black Ice: They do this all the time. In the past, especially ever since Brian joined the band, AC/DC do keep consistent sets over the course of a tour except for the occasional minor change between legs where they might add or remove a song or two. Here are the average consistent songs played by tour, not entire sets because sometimes songs did change. Back in Black ---------------- Hells Bells Shot Down in Flames Sin City Back in Black Bad Boy Boogie Highway to Hell What Do You Do For Money Honey High Voltage Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock The Jack (Later in the Tour) Rocker (Later on Tour) For Those About to Rock ---------------------------- Hells Bells Shot Down in Flames Sin City Shoot to Thrill Back in Black Sin City The Jack Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution Highway to Hell Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock For Those About to Rock T.N.T. You Shook Me All Night Long Let's Get it Up Flick of the Switch -------------------- Guns For Hire Shoot to Thrill Sin City Back in Black Bad Boy Boogie Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution Flick of the Switch Hells Bells The Jack Highway to Hell Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock T.N.T. You Shook Me All Night Long For Those About to Rock Fly on the Wall ------------------ Fly on the Wall Back in Black Shake Your Foundations You Shook Me All Night Long Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Sin City Jailbreak The Jack Shoot to Thrill Highway to Hell Sink the Pink Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock Hells Bells T.N.T. For Those About to Rock Who Made Who ------------------- Who Made Who Shot Down in Flames Back in Black Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Fly on the Wall She's Got Balls Jailbreak The Jack Shoot to Thrill You Shook Me All Night Long Highway to Hell Let There Be Rock T.N.T. Hells Bells For Those About to Rock Blow Up Your Video ---------------------- Heatseeker Shoot to Thrill Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Back in Black Who Made Who Jailbreak Hells Bells Nick of Time That's the Way I Wanna Rock N Roll The Jack You Shook Me All Night Long High Voltage Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock T.N.T. Highway to Hell For Those About to Rock The Razors Edge -------------------- Thunderstruck Shoot to Thrill Back in Black Fire Your Guns Heatseeker Who Made Who Jailbreak The Jack The Razors Edge - Are You Ready That's the Way I Wanna Rock N Roll Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be Moneytalks Hells Bells High Voltage You Shook Me All Night Long Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Highway to Hell T.N.T. For Those About to Rock Let There Be Rock Ballbreaker --------------- Back in Black Shot Down in Flames Girls Got Rhythm Thunderstruck Dog Eat Dog Cover You in Oil Shoot to Thrill Boogie Man Ballbreaker Hard as a Rock Hells Bells Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap You Shook Me All Night Long The Jack Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock T.N.T. Hail Caesar For Those About to Rock Highway to Hell Stiff Upper Lip ------------------ You Shook Me All Night Stiff Upper Lip Shot Down in Flames Thunderstruck Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be Hard as a Rock Shoot to Thrill Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution Safe in New York City Get it Hot Bad Boy Boogie Hells Bells The Jack Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Back in Black Highway to Hell Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock T.N.T. For Those About to Rock What Do You Do For Money Honey (Europe) Up to My Neck in You (Europe) Problem Child (Europe)
First of all, we all already know they don't change their setlists much. Second, I would take any of those sets over the Black Ice set.
I think it's more a matter of they shit their pants when Bon died, because Bon really gave the rest of the band that bit of chaos, anarchy and swagger they needed to play whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. If you listen watch the Let There Be Rock VHS of AC/DC in Paris and then listen to them a year later with Brian, you can see that they're scared shitless and aren't sure what to do with their setlists and the momentum they built up during the Bon years. It really isn't until around 1985, when they suddenly introduced Jailbreak into the setlist and then felt comfortable enough with that (awesomely incredible, signature AC/DC) tune to expand it and take it into a jam, that they begin to gain confidence again as a band, although the 1983 concerts are a pretty awesome listen, too (let's hope they release the full Detroit 1983 show, start to finish, on DVD one day). 1996 is another major step for them, starting the shows with Back in Black rather than whatever their current boring leadoff single is (a la Black Ice's rifftastic, but lame nonetheless Runaway Train) and working in Down Payment Blues and Dog Eat Dog. They made major steps towards having balls again in 2001 and 2003 with the introduction in 2001 of more obscurities (for which the fans went nuts) and a much more improvised, play-songs-we-wanna-play set in 2003. You can almost say that the band is being ballsy with the Black Ice setlist and you can hear the difference in how the songs are played and the reactions they have been getting throughout the tour. While War Machine and Anything Goes sound so-so on the first few shows and thus receive a so-so response from the audience, about 10-12 shows in, they really get a feel for how the songs sound live and the audience responds in kind. If only they had had the balls to do that with the Flick of the Switch and Fly on the Wall songs back in the day, because there's a lot of really great songs on those albums which deserve much more audience time (Danger and Nervous Shakedown to name a few). We can only hope that AC/DC sticks around long enough to keep their confidence up and continue to stray out of strictly conservative territory. If they begin using revolving, evolving setlists like they sort of did back in 2003, that awesome, anarchic, cutting-edge band we listen to in the 1970s boots just might make an appearance again.
I just want to say that the reaction of the back ice songs (minus Rnr Train) was very low.I also was surprised to see a lame reaction on Dog Eat Dog that i haven't listen live and i was headbanging the shit out of me. I don't know, maybe the majority of the fans don't know these songs. So to add to notangus suggestion, i personally would love to listen to fly or flick songs but i think all the other people will just look at each other.
If I hear anything off of Flick, Fly, Video or even obscure tracks from Back in Black or For Those About to Rock, I would die happy. But still if they did, most of the so called ''fans'' would look at each other and would scratch their heads wondering what it was. Most AC/DC fans now a days have only heard the more popular stuff (ie. Back in Black, Highway to Hell, Dirty Deeds) and won't even have heard of the songs or albums.
I just want to say (and if i'm wrong someone from the oldest metalheads can correct me), that newer metal-rock fans are not so "true" to the bands they hear. What i'm saying is that in the earlier years the fans would know all the songs an even "kill" for their favorite band .Nowadays this phenomenon exist in a much lower scale. I guess it has to do with the quantity of bands-songs people get from the internet and the number of times someone can see a band. P.E. In 1990 i wouldn't even dream to find a ticket for AC/DC outside my country,unless i had friends abroad. So to comply with this i guess huge a band can choose the easy way and play the popular songs for the millions of fans and not the unpopular for the thousands. ;)
I thought AC/DC was the kind of band that would say fuck you to the "hits fans" and play whatever they wanted. I guess not. And I agree with most fo what NotAngus said, except that "you could almost say that the band is being ballsy with the Black Ice setlist." No way man.
They aren't being ballsy with the new set. They're just playing the hits plus 5 songs off the new album. The only songs that would be remotely obscure are Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be and Dog Eat Dog. I wish they played whatever they wanted, that means the set might be switched every night.
HAABP isn't rare. DED is the only one and that's only a little rare. I just saw an interview from '90 where Angus said if they played the whole new album at a show, it would rip off the fans.