AC/DC Brings a Father and Daughter Full Circle
Big Show Announcement!
The date is December 1, 1983 and I’m standing at my seat, tenth row floor, in Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, NY. This is my first arena concert and the crowd is beginning to get rowdy.
I’m nervous, excited… it feels strange and exhilarating to be a teenager in this place.
A couple minutes before AC/DC comes on, I feel someone tap me on the shoulder. I turn and have to look up at a enormous bald guy with tattoos all over his neck and head, wearing a leather vest. I notice he has wrist band studs. He outweighs me by maybe 100 pounds.
He says, "Excuse me, but I just wanted you to know that when the band comes on, I plan on jumping over all these seats and charging the stage and I just didn't want you to be afraid when I was coming through."
"No problem," I say.
"Hey thanks man," he says, giving me a good bump on my arm, "I really appreciate you understanding."
Sure enough, the lights go down, the crowd goes nuts and I slide to my right to give the fellow plenty of room to get by. As he passes, he gives me a thumbs up.
This was a watershed moment and concert in my youth, a core memory. I'm fairly certain, I lost about ten percent of my hearing that day, but it was worth it.
That evening for me came before I understood jazz, before girlfriends, before I wrote, before travel and sushi and mountains.
Looking back at a band like AC/DC through the jaded eyes of an adult, after symphonies and poetry and all those trappings of refinement, it's easy to dismiss. But I won't. That time was critical, remains so today, and even now when AC/DC comes on the radio, I never change the channel.
And 40 years later, the feeling is the same when I attend any rock show. I feel the boom of those power chords in my chest, and remember how it felt to leap to my feet and raise my hands to the rafters of that old building that no longer exists and let the euphoria of youth wash over me, exalting in simple verses that made me feel free.
But today… today, I’m with my daughter as she sets out on that same journey, and in the same way as I did. Small clubs. Personal. Bands that are hers to claim. Meet and greets. Hanging with musicians after the show. The same path as I took.
That all changes in three months. Finally, decades after - and with that same band - I’ll return to that promised land, only this time with her.
In May, my rock and roll life will come full circle and I will take Little Bean to Gillette to see AC/DC.
Good seats too, stage right, just up off the ground. Just us and 60,000 others out there in the open watching Angus and Brian senior citizen their way through “Back in Black.” I don’t care how old they are. I’d pay to watch Angus Young play ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ on a ukulele.
Little Bean’s first taste of hard rock was also AC/DC. And not even the later Brian Johnson years. Oh no, I went full on Bon Scott with her. She’s particularly interested in both loud and, as she calls it, “crazy music.” Enter ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ the song that she insists we have dance parties to when momma isn’t home. And I will dance with her to AC/DC until my final breath.
She’s begged me for years to see the real band and we’ve scratched our AC/DC itch by becoming friends with the boys from the amazing tribute band, Thunderstruck, and seeing them up close several times. They’ve showered their littlest, greatest fan with swag and gifts, even dedicating the song ‘Thunderstruck’ to her from the stage.
She’s already asked if we’re going to meet the band. Don’t think I won’t try, but I’m preparing her for me to not be successful in that regard. Another younger, amazing band, The Pretty Reckless, is opening for AC/DC so I might have more luck there.
On a recent trip into Massachusetts we came close enough to the stadium to swing by so I could show her where the band will be playing. “Whoa,” she said as we drove up, “that’s big.”
“Gonna be an all day affair as well,” I tell her. And then I pull her close, and in an almost whispered, reverent voice, I say, “Let me tell you about a thing called tail-gating.”
Horns in the air, we march on.
BIG SURPRISE DROP TOMORROW: We have a last second, unscheduled Interviews By Uma (and Dan) coming at you tomorrow morning. Very exciting! Stay tuned!
Yep, your in for a ride now. She got the Jack......... 🤘
We will have to share pics of our AC⚡DC adventures this year!
You are such a great dad!!!