Flashback: the greatest finale to the greatest rock concert I ever attended
November 8th, 2007I spent 5 years in the United Kingdom as a student, and believe it or not, never even once went over to watch Football League First Division (predecessor to the English Premier League - EPL today) match.
However, this is not to say I never went inside their stadiums. I was a hard rock / heavy metal music fan and even with my limited student’s budget, went to see world class rock bands in various locations.
Of all of them, one particular concert stands tall. It was the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, located between Nottingham and Sheffield and happened on 17th August 1991.
The concert was an 8-hour marathon, starting 2.30pm. There were 5 bands, all world-class: if you’re a hard rock fan, you’d surely recognise these brands: Black Crowes, Queensryche, Motley Crue, Metallica and AC/DC. I doubt any of the last 3 bands would ever be allowed to perform in Malaysia.
There were about 72,000 in the crowd. The nearest we could get to the stage was about 200 metres. The speakers were stacked up a few storeys tall. 500,000 Watts of power could be heard from 10 miles away. Lars Ulrich’s snare drum soundcheck sounded like shotgun. I was in ecstasy: my idols were right there in front!
After screaming myself hoarse, AC/DC, the mother of all rock bands made their entrance. Their 2-hour, 18-song show included the Hells Bells, an inflatable Rosie and inflatable Angus.
So what could be the greatest finale to 8 hours of solid rock and roll? Only one song would be worthy, and AC/DC delivered “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” with their usual panache. The 21 gun salute used real cannons.
Strangely, I never found out that AC/DC’s concert DVD was released in 2003. So imagine my delight when recently, I finally saw the DVD to this concert which I attended 16 years earlier! The same memory of sights and sounds came flooding back, only this time I was right next to the band looking out at the audience. I can only imagine myself among the masses 
To film the video, they used 26 cameras that included one situated inside a helicopter. The DVD also has audio commentary by band members Angus Young (lead guitar), Malcolm Young (rhythm guitar), Brian Johnson (vocals) and Cliff Williams (bass).
Then there’s the option in which you can focus on just one member for the length of a song. For example, you can watch Angus Young for the duration of “Thunderstruck,” “Back In Black,” and “Highway To Hell”.
Someone posted “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” as performed during the concert at youtube:
Of course the video & sound quality on the DVD is much better. If you’re a rock music fan and you don’t have this already, I suggest you get AC/DC - Live at Donington
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Wah Ben, I am struggling to imagine you at such a concert, ha!
But I think Metallica has quite a decent image nowadays, don’t they?
Indeed, appearances can deceive hahaha… but time played a major part too
But actually, I never grew my locks long, even though pictures of the likes of Tom Araya and Slash adorned my room walls. During the concert and actually any concert I ever attended, drug dealers were left and right and the rowdiest people you could imagine were there - probably even worse than could ever be found at any EPL match! Still, we tolerated them and focused on the music.
How then did we manage to get our degrees? I think it’s all about having the right type of close friends, and my upbringing. My first friend at university turned out to be quite into the occult, and I was wise enough to back off and look for another crowd.
Regarding Metallica, I think they suffer from the same thing as me and anybody: age mellows you. When I went to the concert they had just released their Black Album, Enter Sandman was all the rage and Metallica had not entered their “mellow” phase yet. I shall never forget the sight of James Hetfield smirking as he played the first few notes of Fade To Black, Kirk Hammett’s going a little off-key during the ultrafast solo to One and Jason Newsted turning his hair into a propeller. Truly, those were the days…
so can we suggest that monster of rock concert be staged at the padang near dewan tun hamdan, tamparuli.? with luu panjang as the opening acts followed by kuak, gorib, the 6th beatles and co. with gatim and singkun dancing around drunkenly and with sopok as the MC?????? can we organise something like that??????????
If you are like the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, who would never take no for an answer from the authorities, it is not impossible. But to remind you of the colossal task ahead, even Beyonce Knowles backed off from KL, but performed at Jakarta instead……….