March 11, 2018 – I’ve talked about this for at least a year, even wanted to see that all-female AC-DC tribute band last summer, but that never worked out… money and time extremely short seeing as I was my dad’s companion in chemo and had to fly those many times. Still, perhaps it’s actually true what they say – when you put something out there, it comes back to you, because…

I finally got to see an AC-DC tribute show! Okay, not girls, not satisfying my own personal dream to be in one, but still really fun. And free! The band’s name was AC-BG, not sure the spelling actually, but their get-up was AC-DC music with Bee Gees’ outfits. Seriously, the guitar player’s outfit was nuts, spot on John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. The bass player, sparkly disco. The drummer? Not sure on him, but he might have had on a hat. Seriously though, I’m not sure the singer got the memo about the band dress code; he looked very 2018-metal. Actually, I thought he was wearing an apron, but upon my review in making videos, that’s actually a long shirt. More on him later, but I think he might have been mocking the rest of the band via his jacket featuring the words Give Me A Break on the back. Humm, a little bit of drama…

The apparent dress code drama aside, the band was tight, and the show was fun. The band had a good replication of the AC-DC tone (loving that Marshal JTM 45 in the background, I still want one), with the guitar player alternating between leads and rhythms, both Angus and Malcolm. Honestly, I wasn’t certain an AC-DC cover band could do justice without the Malcolm part, but I was pleasantly surprised. The other musicians were also really true to form. I liked the singer’s voice as well, but he never talked to the crowd. The bass player did the talking, an unusual role for that position. The band played for two hours, perhaps with a set that is normally shorter as they repeated some of the songs, sometimes at the crowds’ request, which brings me to the secondary star of this show. The crowd.

The venue was at the Farmer’s Market, essentially a warehouse space that’s been a Los Angeles staple since the earliest days of Los Angeles, and which features live music on Friday evenings. The market contains small mom and pop eateries with tables in open court areas.  At the last of the open court areas, there is a short platform that serves as a stage, the tables pulled away a few feet to leave an area for dancing.

I got myself a food-favorite of mine – a filled crepe, and sat down at a table towards the end of the area. There was one other person at my table. There was a bar area to the left. I’m pretty sure almost everyone there was drinking and perhaps eating. It seemed very all-ages.  The band was playing when I got there. A few people started to dance, as the band played, but about thirty minutes in, the adult dancers stopped dancing. Even with a direct invitation from the bass-player acting as a front man, we like your dancing, at first nobody seemed to take him up on that invitation. About a song or so later, a group of three or four boys, elementary school age, I believe, would change that.

I generally associate that age with hip hop. I even overheard them describe themselves with the word d’jour these days, savage. Although one poor boy was insulted – you’re average, not savage. These boys? They really knew their AC-DC. They danced as if it was the best music of all time. They danced like guitar-based music is all they listen to. I don’t know if that’s true, but if not, I think it will be now. The three to four boys grew to many more. They brought out the opposite end of the spectrum too, grey hair grooving along as well.

The band’s energy increased all the while. People got up and filmed. Everyone in the audience was smiling, watching and singing along. The bass-player’s front-man words acknowledged the kids, and then, and I’m not sure how this was done, the band invited the child-ring-leader on the stage to sing a song. The band’s singer handed a lyric sheet to the boy, and when the boy, with all of the attitude you would want in the front-man he’ll become in the next five to ten years, said I don’t need it. In reality, he might have needed it a little, but the oy oy oy and TNT lyrics were spot on. The band enjoyed this kid; even the singer enjoyed himself on this one.

I have a feeling the band usually plays a shorter set than their two hours because they stretched the end of the show, asking the crowd what they wanted to hear. I tried for Thunderstruck, but they didn’t play that one. Two guys were yelling out Ace of Spades. I think those guys had had too much beer though and didn’t know what tribute band they were seeing. The band seemed happy to play for this happy and appreciative audience, happy to have the child dancers, happy in general. Okay, sort of. At some point, the singer left; he came back, but he left again, even making a sort of “cut” hand gesture to the guitar player on the singer’s final exit. Perhaps the words on the singer’s jacket expressed some other deep-seated view of his band mates, perhaps he was having a poo snooty, perhaps he was in need of the little boys’ room, perhaps he wanted to get home and take a bath while singing every hard song you know in the bathtub afterwards… Oh wait, that was me. At any rate, the rest of the band never missed a beat when the singer left, just kept going, finishing with a rousing and instrumental version of Hell’s Bells.

After the show I sat watching while the kids approached the band to get their pictures taken with the guitar player and the bass player. Humm, I’m not sure if that was a band pic or the kids’ pic. Either way, it shows that moment, that night, was the real deal, a nice thing for me to have, finally my AC-DC tribute band. Well, not my AC-DC tribute band, but … what’s the expression? Oh yeah, put it out there, and it will come.

Video mashup of the audience, kids, seniors, young and old, all races, rocking out!

(Special thanks to jhs for helping me edit and upload the videos. Thanks to my new Apple iPhone SE for allowing me to actually get footage I can use; I’m loving this thing!)