HELL IN BERCY!

If this is hell. Then you could say. It's heavenly. 

Hell ain't a bad place to be

Smoke, fire, horns, rock'n'roll, flames, Angus Young and crowdsurfers... What else do we need?

We're sure you can feel the rock'n'roll too watching this video...

PARISIAN NIGHTS....

Unfortunately AC/DC Abruzzo will not be present in Rotterdam for tonight's show. We made the decision to take a break before our second leg of the European Tour (indoor). We will be back in action in Prague as a warm up for Milan which will probably be one of the highlights of the tour! However, we have several correspondants tonight from the front that will let us know if there are any surprises in Holland.

Looking back at the glorious past three weeks on the road with AC/DC we still find ourselves thinking nostalgically about Paris. The bruises have almost totally gone but we still keep wonderful memories of those two legendary rock'n'roll nights. As Brias said once, Paris is really "heaven on earth for rock'n'roll"! We look forward to the Stade De France show!

Here's a few random pictures of AC/DC Abruzzo's adventures in Paris... We met new and old friends, ate excellent food, drank good wine and had a real good time! More exclusive pictures by AC/DC Abruzzo of the two shows can be found on acdc-italia.com here. A rare/exclusive ultra-shaky rock'n'roll video of Highway to Hell from the pit during the second show at Bercy will be released very soon on our YOU TUBEchannel.

PHOTO GALLERY

Same setlist in BREMEN

No changes. The solid setlist remains the same in Bremen too. Thanks to our Italian correspondant from Germany!

We salute you from Abruzzo!

OBERHAUSEN, König Pilsener Arena March 9 2009

SETLIST:

1. Rock'n'roll Train
2. Hell ain't a bad place to be
3. Back in Black
4. Big Jack
5. Dirty Deeds
6. Shot Down in Flames
7. Thunderstruck
8. Black Ice
9. The Jack
10. Hell's Bells
11. Shoot to Thrill
12. War Machine
13. Anything Goes
14. You Shook Me All Night Long
15. TNT
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. Let there be Rock
18. Highway to Hell
19. For Those About to Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

Oberhausen was one of the two extra dates added by AC/DC Abruzzo after the Antwerp disappointment. We decided it was worth going there since it was very close to Dusseldorf and so we could kill two birds with one stone.

After the Dusseldorf show we kept meeting other German hard-core fans with lots of interesting stories to tell. The highlight was Ralf, a local German fan, who told us when he was backstage in 1978 and met both Bon and Angus for the first time. He was 14 (the same age of his kid that he took to the Dussendolf show two nights before) and couldn't really speak English but when he told us about Bon's charming attitude we could see in his eyes a sort of spark, the same spark we saw in the eye of other fans that we met on the road telling similar stories. Especially about Bon and the early days...

As for the show, it was another great performance of the boys. They really look they're getting better as time goes by... Which is very good, considering they're going to play stadiums soon. The best song of the night was LET THERE BE ROCK. Amazing performance of Angus... After doing his final long solo he unexpectedly came back first on the catwalk (first time he did that in the last 8 shows we saw) and then on the right, as usual, for the finale.

Unfortunately the audience was the most. "sleepy" of the whole tour. And please note that we're using a euphemism here. Really, this time, for the first time since the beginning of the European tour, it looked like there were reserved seats in the standing section. People more interested in taking photos than in having a good time. It was quite frustrating for us. 

There were a few Greeks in the audience not too far from us and they tried very hard to express their Mediterranean rock'n'roll attitude but I don't think they were satisfied. We also noticed that several crowd surfing attempts failed because the audience was not cooperative at all. After Paris it's going to be difficult to find a crowd as energetic as the French one. We have high expectations for Italy and Spain. AC/DC Abruzzo will be there, so we'll see.

AC/DC Abruzzo wishes to thank Jonas and the other German fans for helping us to solve the ticket problem. We salute them! Final CIAO to the Calabresi friends we met after the show, Gino and Luigi, who gave us a ride back to Dusseldorf. You guys rock!

With Ralf

With some German fans who were also in London in 2003

Brian in excellent shape

With the Calabresi friends after the show

Ralf's copy of High Voltage from 1978

MORE PICS AND VIDEOS SOON

ROCCO 'N' ROLLO! TRUE ABRUZZESE ROCKER!!!!

IL ROCKER DI COCULLO

LA CHITARRA GRANITICA DEL GRAN SASSO 

L'ULULATO DEL PARCO NAZIONALE D'ABRUZZO

ROCCO'N'ROLLO!!! FROM ABRUZZO!!

AH AH AH AH AH AH

ABRUZZO PROVERB OF THE MONTH

"A CI'NNIJI PIASCE LU ROCK E LU VIN NIN PUZZ'ARRIVA' A DUMANE MATIN"

"Those who do not appreciate rock and wine shall perish before the end of tonight"

Amen

Dusseldorf, GE ISS DOME March 7, 2009

SETLIST:

1. Rock'n'roll Train
2. Hell ain't a bad place to be
3. Back in Black
4. Big Jack
5. Dirty Deeds
6. Shot Down in Flames
7. Thunderstruck
8. Black Ice
9. The Jack
10. Hell's Bells
11. Shoot to Thrill
12. War Machine
13. Anything Goes
14. You Shook Me All Night Long
15. TNT
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. Let there be Rock
18. Highway to Hell
19. For Those About to Rock

AC/DC ABRUZZO OFFICIAL REPORT

After the disappointment of the cancelled show in Antwerp AC/DC Abruzzo came back in the ring to take another swing!

This was probably the best shows so far in Europe for the band. The boys all performed with incredibly intense energy and power. Brian was jumping, dancing, running and screaming like he used to do in his thirties. It was difficult to believe that he had the flu 5 days before... Brian's voice really sounds different comparing to the SUL tour. When we talked to him he said it was because of the BI production, but actually on stage he sounds even better than in the album at times. Angus was also more active than usual. He also looked like he was enjoying himself a lot more! Malcolm, Phil and Cliff were just impeccable as usual.

As for the setlist, no change at all. We personally started to miss Stiff Upper Lip a little bit. It's hard to understand why they decided to drop this song. And last night we also thought about how powerful was If You Want Blood You Got It back in 2003... It would be great to hear them again, maybe for the open air tour.

As for the audience the German crowd was not up to our expectations and was a bit too quite and sometime not responsive at all (e.g. during Anything goes) so the show was not as intense as Paris, which still remains the best show of the European tour. The songs we particularly enjoyed yesterday night were Rosie and Let There Be Rock! We like a lot R'n'R Train, War Machine, Shot Down in Flames which was a great add for Europe...

But in the end we really should thank the Gods of rock'n'roll for this tour! Let's just remember where we were one year ago... No album, no news, an allegedly booked and cancelled ghost gig in Switzerland... On the contrary now we have the chance to see AC/DC playing such small venues in such an amazing shape!!!

At this gig AC/DC Abruzzo met some cool/historic fans who were very friendly with us. Especially a Dutch fan named Bart who told lots of stories from the 80's and the 90's in front of a good German beer and Italian pizza after the show. Stories that really make you understand the unique relationship that exists between this legendary but very humble rock band and their loyal fans... We salute them all! See you in Oberhausen!!

PHOTO GALLERY

Thanks to our (unnamed) German friend!

ISS DOME

Excellent show in Dusserdolf. The band is back and everybody is in great shape, including Brian. Angus seemed to enjoy a lot playing so close to his Dutch hometown... The crowd was a bit better than in the scandinavian countries but way calmer than Paris...
AC/DC Abruzzo wishes to thank AC/DC Italia who was at the show too. The boys from northern Italy really know how to rock! We got the proof during Whole Lotta Rosie...
We missed Stefano who couldnt make it from London this time. Hopefully, the AC/DC Abruzzo staff will all be present in Milan for the Italian shows.
Pics and report coming soon.
This German motel/hotel with no wireless connection really makes me cry!

AC/DC ABRUZZO IN DUSSELDORF

Hotel. Motel. Make you wanna cry!

AC/DC ABRUZZO has just arrived in Dusseldorf. It was a long and tiring journey. Tomorrow AC/DC Italia will probably join the President at the ISS DOME.
BUONANOTTE!

AC/DC ABRUZZO WILL GO TO GERMANY!

07 Mar Dusseldorf DE ISS Dome

09 Mar Oberhausen DE KoPi Arena

The decision was made two days ago after the second Antwerp show was cancelled. AC/DC Abruzzo has been working around the clock in the last 48 hours to arrange everything for this unplanned journey to Germany to follow our favourite band.

The President is now in our Rome headquarters where he had time only for some rest, a quick pasta refill and for some laundry. The Special Envoy is in London dealing with some professional matters while the Vice President is in the Abruzzo General Headquarters, working as well on the German campaign.

We did what had to be done. We now hope that the Gods of Rock will help us in this new venture.

AC/DC ABRUZZO IN THE MEDIA

Three days without AC/DC and the withdrawal symptoms have started... AC/DC Abruzzo's Action Plan will be finalised in the next few hours and then implemented asap.

  
In the meantime please take a look at AC/DC Italia youtube channel that has some of our exclusive videos from the road! We have admired their work in the past 6 years (yesterday it was their birthday) so a 21-gun salute to them!!!

Here's a couple of links of press and TV sent by Phil of AC/DC BEDLAM in BELGIUM.

GAZET VAN ANTWERPEN (PHOTO GALLERY)

TV NEWS (CLICK ON BRIAN AND WATCH THE TV REPORT UNTIL THE END!)

"So, what is ABRUZZO???"

Many people asked us this question. So here's the answer! ABRUZZO ROCKS!!!

Abruzzo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Abruzzi" redirects here. For other uses, see Abruzzi (disambiguation).

Abruzzo
Flag	Coat of arms
Location
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Administration
Country	Italy
NUTS Region	ITF
Capital	L'Aquila
President	Gianni Chiodi (Pdl)
Basic statistics
Area	10,794 km² (4,168 sq mi) (Ranked 13th, 3.6 %)
Population	1,323,987 (12/2007) (Ranked 14th, 2.2 %)
- Density	123 /km² (318 /sq mi)
Other information
GDP/ Nominal	€ 26.8 billion (2006)
Website	www.regione.abruzzo.it

Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lies less than 50 miles due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Although geographically a central region,ISTAT (the Italian statistical authority) considers it part of Southern Italy, a vestige of Abruzzo's historic association with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Contents  [hide] 1 History 2 Geography 3 Politics 4 Local government 5 Economy 6 Tourism and wild life 7 Demographics 8 Culture 8.1 Medieval and Renaissance hill towns 9 Notes 10 External links

[edit]History

The name Abruzzo appears to derive from the Latin form Aprutium although in Roman times the region was known at various times as Picenum, Sabina et Samnium, Flaminia et Picenum and/or Campania et Samnium. This region was known as Aprutium in the Middle Ages arising from four possible sources. Many think it is apparently a corruption of Praetutium, or rather of the name of the people Praetutii, applied to their chief city, Interamnaes, now present day Teramo. Another etymology is from the Latin "aper" (boar) so that Aprutium was the "land of boars" or from "abruptum" (rugged, steep). A more recent etymology is from the Latin expression "a Bruttiis" (from the Bruttii) meaning the land that began from the Bruzi people, who moved south to occupy Calabria^[1].

Until 1963 it was part of the Abruzzi region with Molise. The term Abruzzi derives from the time when the region was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the territory was administered as Abruzzo Citeriore (Nearer Abruzzo) and Abruzzo Ulteriore I and II (Farther Abruzzo I and II ), that being nearer and farther from Naples, the capital of the kingdom. Abruzzo Citeriore is present day Chieti province. Abruzzo Ulteriore I comprised the Teramo and Pescara provinces; Abruzzo Ulteriore II is now the Province of L'Aquila.

[edit]Geography

Abruzzo covers 10,794 km² almost two-thirds of which is mountainous. The remainder of the land consists of hills sloping to a narrow plain that runs for most of the 129 kilometre long Adriatic coastline. The Apennine mountain chain runs through the Abruzzo where it reaches its greatest elevations on the Italian peninsula, the highest peaks being Corno Grande (Gran Sasso massif) (2914m) and Monte Amaro (Maiella-group) (2795m). The main rivers are the Aterno-Pescara, the Sangro and the Tronto. Abruzzo has experienced a number of major earthquakes over the centuries.

[edit]Politics

Main article: Politics of Abruzzo

[edit]Local government

The region is divided into 4 provinces:

Map	Name	Inhabitants	Municipalities
	L'Aquila	297,592	108
	Teramo	296,063	47
	Chieti	381,993	104
	Pescara	312,215	46

[edit]Economy

Corno Grande, the Gran SassoMassif's and Italian peninsula's tallest peak.

A view of the Abruzzo National Park.

Pineto's sandy beach.

Since the 1950s, Abruzzo has had steady economic growth. In 1951, Abruzzo‘s per capita income orGDP was 53% of that of Northern Italy, the nation's richest region. By 1971, Abruzzo was at 65% and, by 1994, per capita income was at 76% of Northern Italy's per capita income, giving Abruzzo the highest per capita GDP of the Mezzogiorno surpassing the growth rate of every other region of Italy. The construction of superhighways from Rome to Teramo (A24) and Rome to Pescara (A25) opened Abruzzo to easy access, state and private investment in the region increased, and Abruzzo attained higher per capita education levels and greater productivity growth than the rest of the Mezzogiorno. As a result, Abruzzo's industrial sector expanded rapidly, especially in mechanical engineering, transportation equipment and telecommunications. ^[2] As of 2003, Abruzzo's per capita GDP was 19,506 EUR or 84% of the national average of 23,181 EUR and well outpacing that of the South (15,808 EUR).^[3]

[edit]Tourism and wild life

In the past decade, tourism has increased, mostly among Italians and other Europeans. Abruzzo's wealth of castles and medieval towns, especially near the town of L'Aquila, has earned it in some quarters the nickname of "Abruzzoshire", by analogy with the "Chiantishire" nickname sometimes used to refer to the Chianti area of Tuscany, but Abruzzo is still off the beaten path for most visitors to Italy.

The region has 21 ski areas with 368 km. of runs, all within a few hours of Rome. The most developed resort being Roccaraso, followed by Campo Felice, and Campo Imperatore. Located in the highest region of the Apennines, these ski areas are at heights nearly comparable to many Alpine resorts. Because of their proximity to the Adriatic and winter precipitation patterns, they often have more snow than the Alps. Abruzzo also is popular for cross country skiing, especially on the high plain of Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso as well as the Piana Grande in the Majella.

The Gran Sasso massif sports the Italian peninsula’s highest peak, Corno Grande, and Europe’s southernmost glacier, Il Calderone. The Corno Grande and its neighboring Corno Piccolo provide a range of climbing opportunities from mountain hikes suitable for novices to sheer rock wall ascents suitable only for expert alpinists. Abruzzo’s lesser known peaks, especially the gentler slopes of the Majella, offer climbers the opportunity to hike and climb in solitude.

Abruzzo’s 129 km. long sandy coastline is home to a many popular beach resorts, among them Vastoon Abruzzo’s southern coast; mid-coast are Silvi Marina, whose sands are considered among the best in Italy, Giulianova, Francavilla al Mare and Pineto, and on Abruzzo’s northern coast are Alba Adriaticaand Martinsicuro.

One third of the region is designated as national or regional parkland. The following parks lie, wholly or partially, within Abruzzo:

• Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise (Abruzzo National Park)
• Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park
• Majella National Park
• Sirente Velino Regional Park
• Lago di Barrea (Barrea Lake Wetlands)

The protected areas are environmentally important and are home to rare flora and fauna, such as the brown bear, the wolf and the chamois.

[edit]Demographics

From the early to mid-20th century Abruzzo's population was in decline. Beginning in the 1970s, this trend began to reverse as Abruzzo's population grew due to a net migration into the region. ^[2] In 2001, Italy's decennial census showed Abruzzo had 1,262,392 residents, a slight increase over the previous decade. With the exception of L'Aquila, whose population remained essentially unchanged, Abruzzo's other provinces had small increases in population. The provinces of L’Aquila, Teramo and Pescara, each had a 2001 population just under 300,000 while the Province of Chieti had a population just over of 380,000. ^[4]

The Fountain of Ninety-nine Spouts in L'Aquila.

Towns of Abruzzo with a population of 50,000 or more:

Comune	Population (2007 est.)
Pescara	122,363§
L'Aquila	72,402§
Chieti	55,102§
Teramo	54,590§

L'Aquila is Abruzzo's regional capital as well as the capital of the province of l’Aquila. Abruzzo’s other provincial capitals are Pescara, which is Abruzzo's largest city with a population of 150,000 as of 2000,Teramo (population 52,000) and Chieti (population 56,000). Other large municipalities in Abruzzo include Avezzano (population 40,000), an industrial and high technology center, and Lanciano (population 36,000) another important industrial and tourism center.

[edit]Culture

Castel del Monte, one of Abruzzo's little-known hill towns.

In the past, the region of Abruzzo was well known for the transumanza, the migratory movement of sheep principally south to the region of Puglia during the cold winter months.

The regional accents of Abruzzo include Teramano, Abruzzese Orientale Adriatico and Abruzzese Occidentale. The first two form part of the Italiano meridionale-interno dialect of southern Italy also known simply as "Neapolitan" due to the region having been part of the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies, while the Italian of L'Aquila Province is related to the Osco-Umbro dialect of central Italy, including the one of Rome. It should be noted that Abruzzo's Italian dialects are not particularly marked. In fact, Harvard University bases an intensive summer language program in Vasto, a resort town on Abruzzo's southern coast. There is, however, a small Albanian linguistic area at Penne, in the Province of Pescara.

Among Abruzzo many historic towns are: Sulmona at the foot of the Maiella massif and known for Italy’s most famous ancient poet , Ovid, Scanno, a lakeside hill town, Atri a picturesque artistic center, and the hillside towns of Penne, Lanciano and Loreto Aprutino.

[edit]Medieval and Renaissance hill towns

Abruzzo holds some of Italy's best-preserved medieval and Renaissance hill towns. The abrupt decline of Abruzzo’s agricultural economy in the early to mid-20th century saved some of the region’s most beautiful hill towns from the onslaught of modern development. Many lie entirely within regional and national parks so their preservation is all but guaranteed. Among the most well preserved are Castel del Monte (AQ) and Santo Stefano di Sessanio, which lie in the Gran Sasso National Park on the edge of the high plain of Campo Imperatore and nestled beneath the Apennines’ highest peaks; both hill towns, which were ruled by the Medicis for over a century-and-a-half, have relatively little tourism. Between the two towns sits Rocca di Calascio, the ruin of an ancient fortress popular with film makers. Also within the Gran Sasso National Park is Castelli, an ancient pottery center whose artisans produced ceramics for most of the royal houses of Europe. Although still home to many artisans, Castelli has a modest tourist trade.

Other medieval hill towns located fully within Abruzzo's park system are Pacentro in the Parco Nazionale della Majella and Pescasseroli in the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo. Pacentro, which features a 14th century castle with two intact towers, has been little touched by modernization and is also known for being the origin village of the grandfathers of the entertainers Madonna and Dean Martin.