Album Review

AC/DC – Live At River Plate

• 19th Nov 2012

Classic rock legends AC/DC have released their first live performance album in 20 years, taken from their 200,000 capacity show 3 years ago in Buenos Aires. There’s always a concern, for me anyway, that live recordings on CD don’t quite encapsulate a live atmosphere in as best way as it can; although it would be a crime for a band as well-known as AC/DC to release an album that didn’t mirror their critically acclaimed live performance. At a lengthy 19 tracks featuring some of their most famous songs it seems that Buenos Aires would have had one hell of a night back in 2009.

Kicking off the set with classic ‘Rock N Roll Train,’ AC/DC have already pleased the crowd with what sounds like the whole venue cheering for the five-piece. Continuing with some great tracks including ‘Back In Black,’ ‘The Jack’ and ‘Hells Bells’ the live performance sounds amazingly tight, but having been around for nearly 40 years I guess practice certainly does make perfect.
Frontman Brian Johnson has the crowd right in the palm of his hand, interacting well between songs, gearing the hundreds of thousands of people up throughout the set and giving off a very natural confidence. ‘TNT’ engages interaction with the crowd with the 200,000 capacity venue chanting in unison and singing the chorus back to the five-piece. Featuring a perfectly executed guitar solo that would make anybody gawp in awe, AC/DC’s performance continues to astound both the crowd and myself, along with more favourites including ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ which builds up additional energy within the venue.

I usually have a vendetta against any band who do what AC/DC have just done in finale track ‘Let There Be Rock’: when bands stand on stage for 17 and a half minutes playing guitar solo after guitar solo I usually stand there in frustration ready to leave. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s already been obvious in the past 16 songs that Young is damn good at guitar. Nonetheless the crowd seemed to love it with them cheering the venue down at the end of the set.

Coming back on stage for an encore consisting of ‘Highway To Hell’ and ‘For Those About To Rock,’ AC/DC seem to have done nothing but impress the crowd with constant cheers and praise, not to mention the sound of a firework display to top off what sounded like an exceptional performance.
AC/DC’s live performance is top notch: for a band who have been around since 1973 it’s admirable that they can still stand up in front of a crowd of 200,000 people playing sets of nearly 20 songs to such a consistently high standard. Despite my pre-listening concern about live albums I was proved very wrong and AC/DC execute a great performance. Translated onto CD you can still embrace the live atmosphere that was created those 3 years ago and that must have been somewhat incredible in the flesh.

Venue: Live At River Plate
Support Band: Sony