AC/DC November 2, 1990 Centrum Worcester, MA, United States The Razor's Edge North American Tour 1st Leg
2 DVDs CBG Classic / Silver Stallion Audience Master (CBG) Sony Handycam CCD-TR5 8mm camcorder (w/ 2X teleconverter lens) master 8mm analog tape; NTSC, 4:3 PAR, 29.97 fps; transferred to harddrive via a firewire using a Sony TRV-330 8mm digital camera w/ Time Base Correction; video capture, editing, and 2-pass VBR encoding done with Sony Vegas Pro 13 at 8.2K max, 8K avg, 1K min; authored to DVD in Sony DVD Architect Pro 6 NTSC 4:3 61:00 & 61:52 min. A- A-
DVD 1: Thunderstruck Shoot to Thrill Back in Black Fire Your Guns Sin City Heatseeker Who Made Who Jailbreak The Jack The Razor's Edge
DVD 2: That's the Way I Wanna Rock and Roll Moneytalks Hells Bells High Voltage You Shook Me All Night Long Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock Highway to Hell TNT For Those About to Rock
Audio recorded w/ Aiwa-CM30A mic through the Sony Handycam CCD-TR5's external mic in jack; captured with the video from the master 8mm analog tape; audio tweaking done using Sony Vegas Pro 13's 10-band EQ plug-in; LPCM 1536 bit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is “CBG Classic Master Video Series Vol. 65”.
After being able to film one of my favorite bands, AC/DC, in 1988 at the Meadowlands Arena (previously posted) on the Blow Up Your Video tour, it was two more years until they would put out a new album, The Razors Edge. The album also featured a new drummer for AC/DC, Chris Slade, who was last in The Firm with Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page. The new album was also produced by Bruce Fairburn (R.I.P.), who produced Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Aerosmith’s Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get a Grip. So there were big changes at this point for AC/DC.
The new song, Thunderstruck, rocked hard. Money Talks, the second single from the album, had a catchy riff. As luck would have it, they decided to open their world tour outside of Boston, Massachusetts in Worcester. This Worcester Centrum Arena had become the go-to arena for Boston area concerts, more so than playing the old Boston Garden, which was antiquated and tight. Worcester was just up the road from me, so you know I was going to attempt to film the show. Got my ticket and I was ready.
It was hard to believe that just 11 years earlier I was in High School as a 10th grader and just found out about AC/DC in 1979 as they were the warm-up band for Ted Nugent on the State of Shock tour at Madison Square Garden. They rocked the Garden bigtime, not saying Ted Nugent didn’t. But that is a heck of a warm-up band. Then in 1980, as a Junior in High School, AC/DC puts out their new album Back in Black with new singer Brian Johnson. This became one of the staple albums played at all parties and driving around in cars playing the 8-Track or cassette. Just 10 years later, I would get the opportunity to film them in Worcester opening their tour!
I now had the Sony TR-5 handycam camcorder, which was a big improvement on the very first Sony 8mm camcorder, the V5. It accepted the light better, had a sharper image compared to the V5, and was way smaller, allowing me to crotch it easily. I ended up going to my favorite spot on the 2nd overhang on the right side of the arena. I was not able to get front row, so I had to stand the entire time and film. They had recently built the 3rd level upgrade in this arena, but at this point, I don’t believe it was open for public use yet. I had a couple issues with security packs roaming around the arena to the entrances on either side of the section, but the crowd tended to screen me from view. I ended up getting the whole show. Opening night in Worcester!
By now, I was well on my way to filming, knowing I had a small compact camcorder to consistently get into arenas without having to strap it on my back. That's the way I wanted to rock n' roll. The handycam also got better picture quality for the technology of the time. It made it all worthwhile to go to these shows and try to capture the bands I loved live. It would end up being a banner year for me. Enjoy AC/DC playing The Razors Edge for the first time Live in the world, in Worcester! CBG5150 Posted to DIME 2017-08-08.
