30 years ago… AC/DC rocks Kemper Arena!
For Those About to Rock!
The “Ballbreaker World Tour” came to Kansas City on April 2, 1996.
Image by Vishnu R Nair from Unsplash
Thirty years ago, my cousin and I saw AC/DC live at Kemper Arena when the Ballbreaker World Tour arrived in Kansas City. The opening act was The Poor. Ballbreaker is the band’s thirteenth studio album and is the only AC/DC album produced by Rick Rubin, who is a long-time fan of the band. The album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and achieved Double Platinum status in the U.S.
This is an image of the cover art for the album Ballbreaker by AC/DC. Copyright Albert.
Our seats were in the lower bowl, not far from the stage (downstage right). Later in show, Angus and his guitar were only a few rows away from us, as he made his way through the crowd atop the shoulders of a roadie. I also remember the climatic volley of cannon fire as “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” closed out the show.
Apr. 2, 1996: AC/DC performs “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” live at Kemper Arena.
Video (Audio) Source: YouTube Powerage
AC/DC is one of my favorite bands and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see them live. Since the early days of MTV, there was a certain video, a concert video that captured my attention. The video began with a shirtless guitarist under the spotlight, rhythmically marching in place while playing one of the most haunting, bad a$$ opening riffs in Rock history; Angus Young and AC/DC performing “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)”. The intro to this banger was the first riff that I learned how to play on the guitar. I initially could only play it using the B string and the high E string. Something didn’t sound quite right though and unfortunately, I didn’t have sheet music or guitar tab for reference, nor did I have a copy of the music video. Eventually, my friend and I figured it out; I needed to also include some notes on the G string. After a few more tries, I had it down.
A truly bad a$$ riff!
Here I’m playing the riff with a pick and an open B string…