An AC/DC show isn’t a rock concert; it’s a shared ritual in which the moving parts are well known and the participants bonded by the understanding that no expectation will be left unmet. AC/DC are a bunch of old guys with long hair and bald spots; they are the quintessential uncles that visit’s only once a year and which your mom tries to keep away from you for fear that you will end up in a strip club at 2:30pm on a Tuesday. Their aesthetic is one of unveiled and skanky innuendo with a never ending parade of metaphors for the male orgasm – a steam train’s pounding pistons, cannon fire, throbbing electric bolts and lyrics like these

Went through to Texas, yeah Texas
And we had some fun
We met some girls,
Some dancers who gave a good time
Broke all the rules, played all the fools
Yeah, yeah, they, they, they blew our minds
And I was shakin’ at the knees
Could I come again please.
Yeah the ladies were too kind
You’ve been – thunderstruck, thunderstruck

And they certainly did come to Texas and, I assume, also came in Texas.

The format of an AC/DC show is well known and documented. They come on and the first song will always be the first single from their latest album; in this case Rock ‘n Roll Train. They’ll follow up with a few hits and memories – Thunderstruck will feature early in the set. About a third of the way in they play The Jack during which Angus strips down to his shorts and mock-moons the crowd. After this Hells Bells is sure to follow featuring Brian Johnson swinging from the eponymous bell and after that Whole Lotta Rosie featuring a skanky blow up doll, in this case astride the throbbing bolt of the steam train that backs the band as the major prop on stage.

Rosie rides the Train

The set climaxes with an extended version of one of their classic hits, in this case Let There Be Rock, during which Angus will play a solo which reaches into the 5 or 6 minute category and features several call-and-response segments. Angus will likely spend part of the solo spinning on his side in his perspex dais and on this tour the dais itself gets elevated on a hydraulic lift. The band then leave the stage to raucous cheering and soon after reappears for the encore and the crowning glory of the set; For Those About to Rock and its 6-cannon barrage.

There’s nothing more to it and nothing less – it’s not life changing, but it is life affirming; they genuinely love the audience and seem consumed with our joy. An AC/DC show isn’t a rock concert; it’s a shared ritual and the band are consumed by leading us through its familiar path and feeling the swell of our being swept up in it.