AC/DC retiring today?

From Billy Joel Tribute Band to the Real Thing

“Here’s to Billy Joel — that’s why we’ve got a gig,” Mike DelGuidice called out from his piano at Mulcahy’s, a pub and concert hall here on Long Island. As he and his band, Big Shot, performed covers of songs like “My Life” and “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” on a recent Friday night, a regular crowd of revelers occasionally stopped taking selfies long enough to applaud, or at least clink their beer bottles in appreciation.

Running a tribute band, as Mr. DelGuidice has done for nearly 15 years, can be occasionally unglamorous work, but it has provided invaluable training for his other vocation: playing Billy Joel’s music, alongside Mr. Joel himself, as the newest member of his band.

Just a week earlier, Mr. DelGuidice was one of a few musicians onstage in the otherwise empty Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead, N.Y., practicing with Mr. Joel as that best-selling singer-songwriter prepared for his New Year’s Eve concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. At 42, Mr. DelGuidice (pronounced del-JU-das) has a rugged, tattooed exterior and a shaved head that belie a gentle demeanor.

While the mischievous Mr. Joel, running the rehearsal from his own piano, raced through impromptu renditions of Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “The Godfather” theme, Mr. DelGuidice matched him chord for chord on a guitar, never losing the tempo or the grateful smile on his face.

Later, after the rehearsal, Mr. DelGuidice said: “I’m not nervous, I’m just overwhelmed with every emotion you could possibly imagine. I’ve waited my whole life to do something like this.”

The phenomenon of long-lived rock acts replenishing their ranks with performers who cover their music is no longer unusual — groups like Judas Priest and Boston have done it — and it is becoming increasingly acceptable to artists and listeners alike.

“That’s what the audience wants,” said the filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz, whose documentary “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey” chronicles the classic-rock group Journey as it hires a cover singer from the Philippines to become its new lead vocalist.

“From the point of view of the fans, it’s like you’re one step up,” Ms. Diaz said. “It’s not even a step up — it’s the ultimate. You’ve gotten the gold.”

For Mr. DelGuidice, who continues to alternate shows with his tribute band and with the genuine article, his recent hiring as a guitarist, vocalist and rehearsal pianist in Mr. Joel’s band is the ultimate validation of a career spent paying homage to Billy Joel music.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/arts/music/from-billy-joel-tribute-band-to-the-real-thing.html

 

The Youngs have many family members who are musicians. They won't have to go far to find someone to sit in if they tour (interestingly enough the statement only says they will make music which could possibly mean they'll record what they have written and that's it).

 

Video of that an early performance by that man.

 

"We only play 80s Joel."

 

I remember the same thing as a kid. Highway to Hell and the associated album cover stirred that hornets nest. Even back then, I told people "Have you listened to the song or are you making assumptions?"

 

Brian Johnson says it's "likely" AC/DC will tour before the end of the year:

http://www.nme.com/news/acdc/78024

 

Family confirms Malcolm Young suffering from dementia:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/malcolm-youngs-family-confirms-ac-dc-guitarists-dementia-20140930

Nephew Stevie Young (who's only four years younger than Malcolm and two years younger than Angus) will fill in on their 2015 tour.

 

With regard to the Rock Star/Tribute Band to the real thing, the best story I know is regarding Warren Zevon's "Stand in the Fire" live album. He was looking to tour and the record company was making noises about a live album, but he didn't have a band. He'd been working solo or with one other guy, and had used studio musicians to record.

He saw a Warren Zevon tribute band, I think it was in Denver, hired them, and that was the band on the live album... and it's really, really good.

 

Great story.

 

A different genre, but Bob Wootton became Johnny Cash's guitarist in "The Tennessee Three" just a month after Luther Perkins died. He was a huge fan and asked Cash if he could fill-in at the show he was at and Wootton was so good Cash asked him to join the band. That was in 1968...he was a mainstay with the group until 1997, when Cash retired.

 

It is one of the best live albums most people have never heard. Killer stuff all the way through. One of the guys in the band was David Landau whose brother Jon has been Springsteen's manager for ages. Only know that through Rolling Stone's great article on Zevon's struggle to get sober.

 

Thank God for David Letterman or Zevon would be more criminally underrated than he is.