Acca Dacca Sunday, P1
A Little Bite Of Our AC/DC Journey Each Week
Just about one minute after arriving in the vast Gillette Stadium parking ocean, the AC/DC gear bootlegger begins selling his cheap-o wares to the line of cars we’re in.
Little Bean and I are setting up in the back of our SUV. Cooler full of snacks? Check! Bead craft case and wires to make necklaces? Check! Bucket of jelly sticks? Check!
The bootleg guy sells a bunch of shirts to the car next to us and then comes over to us.
He takes one look at Little Bean and says, “Here,” and hands her a AC/DC t-shirt. He smiles and walks to the next car.
My adorable rock and roll kid has struck again, this time charming a merch bootlegger by, well, doing nothing other than being there.
After getting settled, we head out into the tail-gating community. We’re about three hours until show time and a solid hour before the gates even open. There are huge tents and cookouts popping up all around. On truck has set up a TV and they are watching a concert. Another has pulled out a full on pizza oven and are happily cooking up a storm. There’s corn-hole tournaments and frisbee and music everywhere.
One guy is playing Electric Light Orchestra. Bold move! In another corner, we watch someone send up a drone. What a view he must be getting!
Suddenly, Little Bean busts out laughing. “Daddy, look at that guy!” There’s a fellow in a battle vest, jean shorts and boots, standing up high on the roof of his truck, waving an enormous AC/DC flag. He sees us and throws up some rock horns. We return the gesture.
More importantly, there are kids. Lots of them. A few even younger than Uma. The car next to us includes two teens, whom we discover are 14 and 15. That makes Uma happy and she gives them jelly sticks.
In fact, she starts handing out jelly sticks to anyone who wants one. A couple people think she’s selling them, but she say, “No! They’re just good!” We get candy and cheese and crackers in return.
The afternoon slips by. These are my people, so many dads and grand-dads with little ones. I chat with a few of them. Like me, this is generational. They went when they were little. It meant something to their lives. And now, they want to return that favor with their own little ones.
Finally, just as we’re beginning to pack up to begin the long walk to the stadium, there’s a commotion one row over. An Angus Young look-alike is posing for pictures. He sees Little Bean and comes right over. “Ok dad,” he says, “let’s get this one!”
And there we are, making friends, getting ready to roll, and the night has just begun.
Sunday Rock: We have so many great stories to tell about that day, so we figured we’d space them out. For the next few Sundays, we’ll tell you some tall tales about our rock and roll AC/DC adventure. Stay tuned!
Your preshow festivities sound way better than ours was. We walked a mile to get to the gates, and as we went up this hill on a very crowded HWY overpass, with the stadium in sight, I just kept chanting... "It's a long way to the stadium, if you wanna Rock n Roll!" 🤘⚡🤘
Man that so freaking cool