AC/DC - Black Ice

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With as far as we knew, no other AC/DC related events happening this year, we decided that it would be our turn to organise something, so the first step was to have an advert in the newsletter to say that we were looking for a venue and possibly somebody to organise the event. Kelv Norris wrote in to say that he works for a club in Hawick and that the management were interested in doing the event. It was just then a question of persuading enough people to go to make the event worthwhile.

Any of you who went to the last conference we did will remember that we only had about 50 people turn up, that was because we did not have much of a local audience due to being not able to publicise the concert in the local press (if it had been a brass band concert, it would be a different story). Fortunately Kelv had asked around and found out that the local support for the event was so strong that getting enough people should not be a problem, in fact, the problem was if too many people turned up, so this time we had to go for advance tickets, rather that people paying on the door. Alan Shailes was selling some of his collection, and had agreed to turn up with a selection of items for sale, which proved popular with the fans. Clayton and I decided to stay in Galashiels for three nights as we suspected that accomodation in Hawick would be a bit stretched, and also we were going to catch the bus to Edinburgh the next day, as the city is within easy reach. Kelv had us sorted out with a good Bed & Breakfast.

We arrived at the venue at about 1 o'clock, it was open because it is a pub during the day and it did not take long before people started to arrive, some were also staying for a few days and making a holiday of it. We talked and drank until about 5 and then everybody went their separate ways to find pizzas and curries. The support band for the evening were a local 'indie' metal band called 9th Circle who went down well with the audience, they were on for about an hour, when we started to notice the only problem with the evening, because it was only a small venue, the temperature was rising rapidly. I had to start drinking soft drinks due to the heat, it was like a sauna in there by the time that AB/CD came on. You can go on 'new age' weekends where they do Indian sweat lodge rituals, and the interior of the club was resembling that sort of thing, people were throwing wringing wet items of clothing, there were people dancing on the bar, the floor was bouncing up and down in time to the music.

AB/CD themselves were having to play a few songs and then take a break. Alan, the singer, was having to run out of the back door to get some fresh air. Eventually they had to cut their set list from the night to shorter. A lot of people said that if you close your eyes it was just like being at a genuine AC/DC gig in the 70's, and that it was the second biggest concert ever to take place in the town, after Runrig played there a few years ago. It was about 2 in the morning when we got back to where we were staying, sneaking in as not to wake anybody. We were sharing the B&B with a group of American golfers, and they rolled in singing at about 4. Everybody had a great weekend. We hope to do something similar next year if there is no activity from AC/DC

- Nikki Goff.

Thanks to Jarmo and Pekko at No Nonsense AC/DC Web site.

Fan Club address
ELECTRIC OUTLAWS
c/o Nikki Goff
PO Box 197
Totton
SO40 8HA
England

Thanks to Jarmo & Pekko for the images displayed on this page