Acca Dacca Sunday, P2
A Little Bite Of Our AC/DC Journey Each Week
It takes us about a half an hour to walk from the parking lot to the middle deck of Gillette Stadium. To borrow a dad joke from our friend Greg, “For those about to walk, we feel sorry for your feet!”
Once we finally made it in, however, she steps to the railing, opposite the enormous stage, and says, “Oh my Gosh.”
“The biggest show we ever went to so far was about 1,400 people last year when we saw Holy Wars and The Warning,” I tell her.
“How many people will be here today?”
“60,000!” Her eyes grow wide. I’m guessing that’s a hard number for her to digest.
I bend down next to her and direct her attention all the way to the right of the stage. “See that little section there, the one right in front of the floor passageway?”
She nods. I hold my finger out in front of her so she can see where I’m pointing.
“That… out of ALL these people, is where we’re sitting!”
It takes us another 20 minutes to actually get to our seats. Along the way, we use the bathroom, check out the merch tables, buy a pair of blinking AC/DC devil horns, and scoop up a box of popcorn and a Gatorade. As I do for all concerts, but especially for this one, I give her strict instructions. Don’t move too fast. Be aware of all the people around us. Stay in front of me at all times. Make sure that I’m always within sight.
We get to our seats with 15 minutes to spare before the opening band, The Pretty Reckless, hits the stage, time enough to toss on our ponchos as the drizzle has begun, and also to get to know our seat mates a bit.
I made sure that she got a aisle seat, that way she wasn’t actually sitting next to anyone but me. Plus, it gave her better site lines to the stage. Since we were only three rows up from the field, our seats are nearly level with the high stage.
“What are those,” she asking and pointing to the massive bank of speakers hanging down nearly directly above our heads.
“That is why we brought ear plugs!” I tell her.
Taylor Momsen and her band The Pretty Reckless, blast out of the gate nearly exactly on time and give us a nine-song set of all the hits. I’m surprised at how empty the stadium is for her set. There was a lot of chatter in some fan pages about whether concert goers bother with the opening bands or not, but I can’t imagine missing it. We paid for it after all. Why not give the band a try, even if you’ve never heard of them. That’s how we found Holy Wars, Plush, One Time Weekend and Sorrowfuse.
“Jeez daddy, she swears a lot!”
Indeed, the band’s music isn’t particularly racy but when Taylor talks to the crowd, every other word is… well.
Uma and I create a game of it. When Taylor is speaking, one of us will shout “Swear!” and if the next word out of her mouth is a swear word, you’d get a point. We got a lot of points!
Uma wanted to get some cotton candy for AC/DC so on the last song of Taylor’s set I suggested we high-tail it up to the concession but Uma really likes The Pretty Reckless and doesn’t want to go before the end. It takes us a little longer to get back to our seats but we manage - cotton candy in hand - to get reseated five minute before AC/DC comes on. This is a moment I had waited ten year for, to take her to see.
Rain jackets on. Devil horns flickering. Stadium at capacity and loud. Sugary snacks at the ready. It’s perfect.
The stage goes dark, and on the half dozen giant monitors, the animated film of a AC/DC hot rod driving into Gillette comes on. The crowd goes nuts.
“Here we go!” I shout. Nearly 40 years after I saw them for the first time, there I was with my daughter, coming full circle.
The opening chords of “If You Want Blood” ring in the dark, Uma screams, Angus Young trots out to center stage and the perfect night begins.
Acca Dacca Sunday: Thanks for joining us for our little weekly story about our incredible concert day. We’ll do this every Sunday for a couple more weeks. You can read Part One here: Acca Dacca Sunday Part One. And as always, please feel free to share with any music or culture fans! Onward!
Nice times Dan enjoy the moment with uma and I like TPR myself my second favorite behind plush
Memories are made of this...