Arriving at my seat for this AC/DC was a saga and a half. I had enjoyed AC/DC in DC the first time, and my Peruvian teacher friend Manuel and his family were excited for me to join. The concert was scheduled during what I call the Molten Hot Lava section of the year – when a volleyball tournament, athletic awards, the Fitness Hall of Fame, and a sprawling theater/poetry variety show come together at the same time. It’s a three-ring circus with little wiggle room.
I thought I could work it all out. Manuel could drive, and I could copy and paste a listserv for variety show parents from my phone when we arrived. Then, once we got to the parking lot, I discovered the phone would not allow it. I knew that if I didn’t send the message to those parents that night, the event would not happen. It really was dependent on that moment. So, then it became this absurd logistical pretzel. Manuel, his family, and I had to exchange phones, so they’d be able to get in the arena, and I’d be able to get in the back to the car. I then tried moving all over Landover to get enough bars of laptop Wifi to send the message. After I finally did (thanks, McDonald’s!), there was a separate saga trying to find the alternate seats Manuel and his family went to.
Ultimately though, more than halfway through the set, I made it, and it was all worth it. The variety show at Busboys and Poets was a smashing success weeks later, and I saw Manuel and his family flip OUT the rest of the night. It was hilarious seeing Manuel call “Let There Be Rock” before it happened, a fan bow down after “Thunderstruck,” and a guy try to take our picture all night long…
Worthwhile Exhaustion vibes continued the next day when I found out that a bleary-eyed Marcus Berry, Amy Hansen, and two of my students had been there as well! My eyes were less tired than my ears, which felt shot after being directly next to the cannons. The cannons KEPT EXPLODING at the end. To quote Mark Hamill in The Life of Chuck, “the worst part was the waiting,” never knowing when the next blast would come…
I didn’t get the usual live notes, but these pictures capture the excitement.
Grade: B+
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