AC/DC Self-Confirmed For Download Festival 2010?

AC/DC look likely to be confirmed as headliners for next year’s Download Festival after an over-enthusiastic admin on their official website revealed the band will be playing.

The date has since been removed, but eager fans noted that the Australian rockers are expected to play on Friday, June 11.

Organiser Andy Copping used his Twitter feed to acknowledge the mistake writing: “Not sure what to say about the AC/DC slip up tonight, it seems to have been taken off their site now. I think they may just want to play.”

Rock Like AC/DC With New Angus Young Gibson SG

We know we have a lot of AC/DC fans here, and we know many of them play guitar so here is big news for you from Gibson: For more than 35 years, AC/DC has represented the archetypal “big rock” guitar sound, setting the standards for countless bands to follow. In particular, Angus Young’s incendiary lead tone and mammoth rhythm crunch have inspired wave after wave of rock guitar heroes, and he has done it all on a Gibson SG Standard. The SG replaced the underappreciated Les Paul Standard in 1961, and while the Les Paul would surface later in the decade as a rock and blues classic, the new SG (originally named Les Paul/SG) was an instant hit in its own right. Its simple yet inspired ingredients of thin, all-mahogany body and neck and two Gibson humbucking pickups gave it a snappy attack with a muscular punch, and its slim, fast neck yielded unprecedented playability. Now the Gibson Custom Shop offers its reproduction of one of the world’s most renowned SGs in the form of the Angus Young SG, a Limited Edition that captures the tone, look, and feel of this rare specimen among a classic breed, but which updates this legendary guitar with custom modifications requested by Angus himself.
Angus Young acquired his 1968 SG Standard in 1970, and has used it on all major AC/DC recordings and many tours since the band’s inception in 1973. Young’s ’68 SG is known to be a superb example of this model, with an unusually slim neck, pickups that blend just the right proportions of power and sweetness, and a resonant, vocal tone that represents the best of the SG formula. Listen closely to any classic AC/DC tune, and the tone is huge, but not filthy or fizzy. Angus’s ’68 SG achieves a stunning clarity and definition right within its bone-crushing thump and grind. With utmost attention to detail, the Angus Young SG seeks to achieve that tone, aided by a pair of custom-spec Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucking pickups. And with 50 guitars out of the total run of 250 aged in-house by Gibson and signed by Angus himself, this outstanding Custom Shop reproduction also nails the look of this legendary guitar, with upgraded modifications at Angus’s request, including an ebony fingerboard with “lightning bolt” inlays (a further 200 guitars will receive the VOS treatment). The Custom Shop Angus Young SG will also be sold with a custom Certificate of Authenticity, a Gibson Custom Shop hardshell case, and a full range of owner’s manuals and instruction sheets.

Fans Ask AC/DC To Change Their Tunes

(antiMusic) acdcfans.net has issued an open letter to AC/DC in hopes of getting the band to change their tunes. Here is the letter: acdcfans.net represents an extremely vocal group of your most loyal fans. Just a handful of us have collectively attended more than 157 of your concerts (and counting) since 1978 and estimate we’ve contributed more than USD$84,000 (and counting) to the AC/DC juggernaut. We are just the tip of the iceberg.

Now while those numbers may seem insignificant given your touring history and estimated wealth, for us the numbers represent a passionate investment of time and hard earned money in your music. We are AC/DC fans for life, and we wouldn’t change that for the world.

However, there is something we’d like AC/DC to consider changing… The setlist. On the current Black Ice World Tour, during which some of us having travelled across Europe, the United States and flown between the two continents (with flights already booked to Australia to catch the Australian leg), we have listened to you play the same great songs each and every night. We absolutely appreciate every song you play, but we can’t help but wonder if the band is getting a little bored of playing the same songs night after night.

Are you aware there are thousands of fans just like us who have spent months discussing the Black Ice World Tour setlist, every one of them hoping that the band will play something other than songs geared towards casual fans? – the sort of fans that put money in your pockets, but who don’t have the same level of passion for your music as us. They may cheer at the concerts, they may go home happy… but they only came to hear Thunderstruck. They don’t eat, sleep and shit AC/DC like we do.

As the greatest band on Earth, we think it is a travesty that you are not playing songs that are dear to yourselves and your long term loyal fans – the songs from albums that critics wrote off, but which we both know are some of the finest from your back catalogue.

So, we’d like you to consider changing the setlist. We won’t be rude and say “play this” or “don’t play that” – we’ll leave it to you to decide – surprise us!

Please give us, and the many thousands like us, some hard hittin’, heavy rockin’ tracks that we, the true long term fans of AC/DC, know and love.

Thank you for your time and your music.

Yours respectfully in rock

38 bands the USSR banned

A secret Cold War document has been revealed, listing bands the Soviet Union refused to allow to be heard in youth discos – and while the usual suspects are high in the ratings there’s a few surprising entries too.

The Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Judas Priest and AC/DC all appear, as might be expected. But alongside them are some

Banned in the USSR

surprising entries, including “punk violence” acts Madness and Blondie, and “neofascist” performers Julio Iglesias and 10cc.

The People’s Cube has translated the paper into English, detailing the reasons why 38 acts were not to be heard in the USSR during the mid-1980s. The site editor explains: “We never saw it before because it was for internal use only, but we felt the invisible presence of such lists throughout life in the Motherland.”

It’s a stark illustration of the strict limits imposed on freedom in the Soviet Union of the 1980s, even though the era of change which would see the collapse of the USSR and and the end of the Cold War was only a year away.

The Soviet Komsomol, the Communist Party for young people, released the banning order in 1985, stating: “The following is a list of foreign music groups and artists whose repertoires contain ideologically harmful compositions.

“This information is recommended for the purpose of intensifying control over the activities of discotheques. This information must also be provided to all vocal-instrument ensembles [that’s bands] in the region.”

The list, approved by Head of the General Department of the Obkom of Komsomol, explains why each band is not to be publicised.

“Group Name and Type of Propaganda”

1. Sex Pistols – punk, violence

2. B-52s – punk, violence

3. Madness – punk, violence

4. Clash – punk, violence

5. Stranglers – punk, violence

6. Kiss – neofascism, punk, violence

7. Krokus – violence, cult of strong personality

8. Styx – violence, vandalism

9. Iron Maiden – violence, religious obscurantism

10. Judas Priest – anticommunism, racism

11. AC/DC – neofascism, violence

12. Sparks – neofascism, racism

13. Black Sabbath – violence, religious obscurantism

14. Alice Cooper – violence, vandalism

15. Nazareth – violence, religious mysticism

16. Scorpions – violence

17. Genghis Khan – anticommunism, nationalism

18. UFO – violenct

19. Pink Floyd – distortion of Soviet foreign policy (“Soviet agression in Afghanistan”)

20. Talking Heads – myth of the Soviet military threat

21. Perron – eroticism

22. Bohannon – eroticism

23. Originals – sex

24. Donna Summer – eroticism

25. Tina Turner – sex

26. Junior English – sex

27. Canned Heat – homosexuality

28. Munich Machine – eroticism

29. Ramones – punk

30. Van Halen – anti-Soviet propaganda

31. Julio Iglesias – neofascism

32. Yazoo – punk, violence

33. Depeche Mode – punk, violence

34. Village People – violence

35. 10cc – neofascism

36. Stooges – violence

37. Boys – punk, violence

38. Blondie – punk, violence

AC/DC – No Bull Concert Set For Blu-Ray Release In December

According to Highdefdigest.com, after a delay of over a year, AC/DC’s 1996 concert filmed in Madrid, Spain will finally hit Blu-Ray in two months. Sony Music is prepping AC/DC: No Bull for a high-definition release on December 8.

There’s no word on tech specs or extras as of yet, but a full tracklisting can be viewed below.

Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $24.98 US.

The concert was filmed in 1996 in the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, in Madrid, Spain, on Super 16 film.

Tracklisting:
‘Back In Black’
‘Shot Down In Flames’
‘Thunderstruck’
‘Girl’s Got Rhythm’
‘Hard As A Rock’
‘Shoot To Thrill’
‘Boogie Man’
‘Hail Caesar’
‘Hells Bells’
‘Dog Eat Dog’
‘The Jack’
‘Ballbreaker’
‘Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution’
‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’
‘You Shook Me All Night Long’
‘Whole Lotta Rosie’
‘TNT’
‘Let There Be Rock’
‘Highway To Hell’
‘For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)’

Madonna, U2, AC/DC Lead Billboard Touring Awards Finalists

Madonna, U2 and AC/DC are among the finalists for the 2009 Billboard Touring Awards, which will be handed out at a special reception in New York on Nov. 5. The awards are based on global box office numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore from Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, 2009.

Madonna Rock !!!

The finalists for the Top Tour and Top Draw awards, which acknowledge the top grossing and ticket selling tours, respectively, are the same three global treks: U2’s 360 tour, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour, and AC/DC’s Black Ice tour.

The Top Package award goes to the top-grossing tour with three or more artists on the bill. Finalists include five-time winner Kenny Chesney for his Sun City Carnival tour with Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry on the bill; the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 with Jordin Sparks, Honor Society and Wonder Girls; and Nickelback for their Dark Horse tour, with Hinder, Papa Roach, and Saving Abel on board.

The Breakthrough Award goes to the top-grossing artist in their first decade as a national headlining act. Four artists enjoyed remarkable touring breakthroughs this year: Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, Kings Of Leon, and Il Divo. Dane Cook, Robin Williams, and French & Saunders are finalists for the Top Comedy Tour.

Finalists for the Top Boxscore award, which goes to the top-grossing single engagement for the time period, are U2 at Croke Park in Dublin, U2 at Stade de France in Paris, and the Oxegen fest at Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, Ireland.

Global concert mega-promoters Live Nation and AEG Live are joined by Sao Paulo promoter Time 4 Fun (T4F) as finalists for the Top Promoter award. T4F is also a finalist, with MCD and Australian promoter Michael Coppel Presents, in the international independent promoter division.

Four-time winner Jam Productions in Chicago, 2007 winner C3 Presents in Austin, and Madison, Wis.-based Frank Productions are the finalists for Top Independent Promoter, U.S.

Other than the Boxscore-related awards, the Billboard Touring Awards also includes the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award and the Eventful Fans’ Choice Award, both of which are determined by online voting. Additionally, Ozzy Osbourne will be named 2009 Legend Of Live, and Warped founder Kevin Lyman will receive the Humanitarian Award.

AC/DC and The Answer Tour Part III

The Answer, from Northern Ireland, has been selected to continue as the only opening act for the final North American encore leg of AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour. The itinerary kicks off October 1st at the US Airways Arena in Phoenix, AZ and concludes on November 8 in Houston, TX at the Toyota Center. The Answer will also headline their own club shows on off days throughout the tour.

The Black Ice World Tour represents The Answer’s third tour of America with AC/DC. Their mammoth sound is often compared to The Black Crowes and Free, and is fully primed for stadium and arena shows. In Europe, they’ve opened concerts for The Rolling Stones, The Who, Aerosmith and just completed a tour of Europe with AC/DC. In addition, the group has headlined tours in the U.K., Europe, Japan and Australia.

Everyday Demons is The Answer’s explosive new album which was released on March 31st on The End Records, distributed through RED and was recorded in summer ’08 in Los Angeles with John Travis (Kid Rock, Static-X) producing.

Get ready for their triumphant return to North America on October 1st as they hit the road with AC/DC and stay tuned for more headline gigs across the country to be announced soon.

October
1 – US Airways – Phoenix, AZ
3 – MGM Grand – Las Vegas, NV
6 – Freedom Hall – Louisville, KY
8 – Spring Center – Kansas City, KS
10 – Wells Fargo Arena – Des Moines, IA
14 – Bradley Center – Milwaukee, WI
16 – Verizon Center – Washington, DC
18 – HSBC Arena – Buffalo, NY
20 – Hard Rock Cafe – Pittsburgh, PA – Headline Show
21 – Wachovia – Philadelphia, PA
23 – Phillips Arena – Atlanta, GA
24 – Hard Rock Cafe – Atlanta, GA – Headline Show
25 – Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, NC
28 – New Orleans Arena – New Orleans, LA
30 – Jacksonville Arena – Jacksonville, FL

November
2 – American Airlines Center – Dallas. TX
3 – Two Frogs Grill – Ardmore, OK – Headline Show
4 – Ford Center – Oklahoma City, OK
6 – Erwin Center – Austin, TX
8 – Toyota Center – Houston, TX

Band members AC/DC

* Brian Johnson – lead vocals (1980–present)

Brian Johnson (left) and Angus Young (right) in St. Paul, Minnesota, on 23 November 2008

* Angus Young – lead guitar (1973–present)
* Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1973–present)
* Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals (1977–present)
* Phil Rudd – drums, percussion (1975–1983, 1994–present)

Former members

* Dave Evans – lead vocals (1973–74)
* Bon Scott – lead vocals (1974–80)
* Mark Evans – bass guitar, backing vocals (1975–77)
* Simon Wright – drums, percussion (1983–89)
* Chris Slade – drums, percussion (1989–94)