Airbourne may have been downsized from the main hall of Vega to the smaller venue Lille Vega, but on the other hand they sold that place out, and I don’t believe anyone at show would have traded this more intimate experience for anything else.

Before this main act came on, two other bands, Black Spiders and Enforcer, had done what they could to warm up the crowd, and the taps at the bar had loosened peoples tongues, so when the new superstars from down under took the stage everyone was ready to throw themselves into the throng, and blow the roof of with their mighty voices.
Airbourne immediately built an atmosphere as they used the Terminator theme as an intro melody, after which the tempo took a steep turn upwards with their own Raise The Flag. From here on out, it was deemed high octane rock n’ roll partying for the rest of the night…

That the band was all fired up for the show, there should be no doubt. Joel O’Keeffe (vocals/guitars) opened with congratulating us on selling the place out, and later went on to explain why he loved Copenhagen. The reason was that we love hard rock, and of course the beautiful women (surprise, surprise)…
On the topic of O’Keeffe (still Joel, not his drumming brother Ryan), I was wondering why he had a large patch on his forehead and thought he might have head-butted the microphone one too many times, but soon enough another possibility presented itself; during the encore with Runnin’ Wild, he banged a beer can against his head until it burst open and sprayed everyone close by. As the stunt was apparently much appreciated, he did it once more, and I suppose excessive use of this trick could easily be the reason for the needed healing…
Long before this, he was up to other tricks though, like the time he took a tour around the whole room on the shoulders of on in the crew while at the same time playing the solo during Girls In Black.
Now, you must not think that I’m only writing about him because the others in the band weren’t doing anything; nothing could be further from the truth. It was just that they weren’t moving beyond the edge of the stage in quite such a literal meaning, but their performance was. It is not often that I see such a lively band as this, and it was quite a delight.

The audience wanted a part of it as well, and after O’Keeffe had lead the way, a whole bunch of full-grown men were suddenly on the shoulders of their friends, rocking on Airbourne style…
I suppose it won’t surprise you to read that the hall was alive with headbanging and loud singing as well, but it needs be said that it was quite impressive, and the room’s temperature was quickly reaching critical levels. But I guess this is the way an Airbourne show is supposed to be…
I at least caught myself thinking that it is interesting to see how all AC/DC copycats (which in all honesty Airbourne must rank as) are always more interesting than the original band. So, two fists up from this reporter for an excellent party and a dangerous way to spend a Sunday evening.

Setlist:

Raise The Flag
Hellfire
Chewin’ The Fat
Diamond In The Rough
Blonde, Bad and Beautiful
Girls In Black
Bottom Of The Well
Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women
Born To Kill
No Way But The Hard Way
Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast
Runnin’ Wild