*OH MY GOSH!!!!! What a hell of day, May 4th, 2001!!!!
I made it into the Angus Army by answering a triva question on the radio. I listen to WAAF in Boston and they were the only area station giving away spots to the Angus Army. They were giving away one spot a day and I had been trying all week. For me, the third day was the lucky one. As soon as I heard them say, “the first caller to answer this question correctly will win a spot on the Angus Army” I immediately picked up the phone to dial because I knew there was no chance in hell that they were going to ask a question that I didn’t know! So you must be curious to know what trivia question was asked, right? THOUGHT SO! They said, “Angus and Malcolm’s older brother was quite instrumental in the success of the band’s career early on. But their older brother actually had a band of his own that scored a hit. If you can tell me what the name of the song was, you win!” So there I am almost shitting myself because of course I know it and I actually got through! No busy signal! So here I am listening to the people before me give stupid and wrong answers then all of a sudden I hear the DJ Hillman say, “Hello, WAAF, do you know the answer?” And then a rush of adrenalin went through my body because I realized I was now on the air and I was going to win!! So I just said emphatically, “GEORGE YOUNG WITH THE EASYBEATS, IT WAS FRIDAY ON MY MIND!!!!” Everyone busts into clapping and laughter because I knew all aspects of it. When they said, “you’re right, you win!” I said, “OH BABY CAN YOU FEEL THAT” in Jim Carey (in Pet Detective) fashion. That just made everyone laugh even harder. So as we’re talking briefly as to what I won, I start giving my Brian Johnson impersonation and to be honest, it’s pretty good! They just lost it at that point! I know I sounded like a total Lloyd to most of the listeners but it was so much fun. In fact, when I got to work a lot of people had heard me and they were still laughing!
So as far as the actual day goes, it all started when my wife Carol and I showed up at the station. I showed up in my own Angus outfit that I always wear. I knew I would be getting a new one to wear that day but I didn’t want to jinx the day since I have worn that same suit to all the shows. They like my own outfit so much and just got a kick out of the way I was talking about ‘DC that they put me on the radio so I just started right away talking up the band and the show that night, and spittin' off AC/DC trivia. Imagine how I was already having a blast and it was only about 10:00 in the morning! Very Cool! They then brought us to a room where the other Army winners were. There we all just got to know each other a little bit and swapped a few ‘DC stories back and forth until it was time to go out to the bus.
The bus was absolutely beautiful. As you can tell by the pictures, it was huge. First we met the drivers and went over all the “rules” of the day and the bus. And Mike Hsu, one of the DJ’s, came with us as well as Sean from WAAF promotions. We were given T-shirts, key chains that played Back In Black, and Angus patches to give away! And of course we all got our own red velvet Angus suit to wear and keep!
First we went out to eat to have an Angus Steak at The Hilltop Steakhouse! It was funny because so many people were just looking at us trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Here it is on a Friday afternoon and only older people are in this place and about 10 people walk in with red schoolboy suits. I sat down with an older couple and asked them if they like to “rock” to AC/DC! They said, “no, but my son loves them!” So I gave them a keychain! Then it was off to bowling with our Big Balls! There we got a good buzz going, played some pool, ran into a dude that thought we were the ACTUAL band!, and a group of little girls that were so excited that AC/DC was at THEIR birthday party. That might have been the highlight of my wife’s day – giving them some free stuff and seeing how happy they were! So hey, AC/DC must still be alive and well in the adolescent age – Brittney who? Then off to Hooters for Some Dirty Deeds! THIS WAS SO FUCKIN’ COOL! They introduced all of us together as the Angus Army as we all did our own version of the duck walk into the club. Shoot To Thrill (the whole Back In Black CD actually) was blaring over the sound system and Let There Be Rock The Movie was playing on wide screen TV’s. This was just an hour or so before the show so the place was packed and ready to rock. We threw out the rest of our schwag to everyone inside and made them answer trivia questions to win the remainder of the T-shirts. WAAF filmed us at Hooters for a weekly TV show called Real Rock TV. This made for one awesome souvenir when it aired.
We also got 2 tickets to the show for being a winner. Now us hardcore fans already had way better seats so I gave the tickets I won to a friend. WAAF had box seats for Angus Army winners only so it was a good time for them. As far as my wife and I go, we were so close we basically had to bring a towel to wipe Angus’s sweat off us. Well, I exaggerate but you get the picture.
I had heard a rumor from another Army winner that WAAF was going to give one of us lucky winners two backstage passes. The rumor was that they were to pull a name from a hat. Well, that bummed me out since I knew I was the biggest fan there, but I was determined not to let that get in the way of the fun. In order to keep this story shorter than a brief novel, Sean from WAAF took my wife aside in Hooters and gave her two backstage passes and made her promise that she could not tell anyone, especially me, until we got to our seats. He said he didn't want to "make anyone angry but the bottom line is, we were the biggest fan of any band they have ever seen and we simply deserved it." She was speechless. She had to hold those passes for 2 hours before she gave them to me! You should have seen my expression when she pulled those baby’s out! In fact, my first words to her were, “what did you do for those?” Frankly, I’m not sure I would have cared at that point..LOL! Once we got backstage, the whole band was as cool as we know them to be. But what can I really say about this? You were there about 8 months earlier! I got autographs and awesome pictures with everyone. They had just postponed the two shows prior to this one due to Brian having a sore throat so I talked to him about that. We just basically shot the shit with everyone, drank a beer or water, and ate some snacks. Like everyone knows, Brian is the coolest. He kissed my wife as he does to all the women he meets and my wife tried slipping one on the lips...lol! Angus complimented me on my suit and Mal thanked us for coming to the show. I didn’t really ask any specific questions since I just wanted to relish in the moment, enjoy their company and be loose.