Exact set list unknown, very similar to this.
Angus Young - Lead Guitar
Malcolm Young - Rhythm Guitar
Bon Scott - Lead Vocals
Cliff Williams - Bass
Phil Rudd - Drums
Supporting: Rainbow
Tickets: $7.00 / 8.00
Promoter: Mark Puma
Capacity: 2,400
By paul gardella, staten island ny 10304:
Wow what can I say. There was a local band in my neighborhood called Pyramid. I used to go to this guys Stans basement and listen to practice, Willy Tarzian was the drummer and Steve Safran was the guitarist, who by the way became a significant Dr in brain medicine. They used to play sin city in their set. SO ac/dc announces that they will be playing in Long Island at the calderone concert hall. We bought tickets at 7.50 . They were playing bottom to Richie Blackmores Rainbow. So Silvio stan willy and I went to show and brought bras and panties with us to throw onstage for a goof. After they played their set we threw them onstage and Bon Scott picked them up. He said Screw these panties and bras Where are the girls who were wearing them? Tremendous. I was 17 years old and was amazed how great and loud they were. After they performed. Rainbow came out and people were chanting dc dc dc dc. Blackmore left the stage and let acdc do another song. Class act.. I will never forget........
By Barry K, Fort Lauderdale, FL:
I was at the Calderone show in August of 1978 as well. I remember Angus Jumping on Bon's shoulders and Bon walking up and down the aisle of the theater. To this day was one of the greatest shows and it was the best "warm up performance" I ever saw. I have been to many, many concerts. At that moment you knew, you were witnessing a historic band in the making.
By Nick T, Manhasset, NY:
Ok I was at this show. First its important to understand the two bands here. Rainbow was an operatic rock band and had a rabid fan base due to the cult of Richie Blackmore while AC/DC was absolutely new on the scene and was a hard rock/bluesy/power cord band, really a throwback to a more pure rock than Rainbow.
AC/DC came out and with Angus continuously thrashing his head it really seemed crazy. I was in the front row because friends of mine were Rainbow super-fans and got tickets the second they went on sale. Sweat was pouring out of Angus's hair and literally spraying us. But the crowd was there for Rainbow and had been booing and calling for Rainbow from the start.
An idiot next to me had put his middle finger up right in Bon Scotts face for the entire first song and kept in there into the second song when Angus came over, put his guitar on the floor, turned around and dropped his pants. He spread his butt cheeks open wide, pointing to his fully exposed asshole and then to this idiot, rightly signaling "You're an asshole!!!'. Then he pulled his pants up and instead of picking up the guitar leapt into the audience and started pummeling this guy. This was happening right next to me so I got an crazy view of Angus repeating punching this douche in the face and then four giant roadies ran out, grabbed this guy and dragged him across the stage disappearing backstage. He was not to return! Who knows what they did to him but this was back when a dick could get the shit kicked out of him with no repercussions. As can be imagined everyone after that behaved. As another reviewer here mentions there were panties thrown on stage and Scott even put them in his mouth. AC/DC finished their set and they were pretty amazing to me as I wasn't in the Rainbow cult.
Of course all those in the audience were soon to be AC/DC fans anyway and the whole operatic rock thing more or less faded away as bands like AC/DC ascended and punk gained more influence. I bet a lot of fans who booed AC/DC then look back on the concert with rose glasses, but I can say that what Angus did was freaking insane and one of the coolest concert moments ever.
By Mark Lewis, Eliot,Maine/USA:
Great show. Felt sorry for Bon as he sang his heart out in the shadows while the spotlight followed Angus all set. Angus did his striptease (I believe it was during Bad Boy Boogie) and at the end, when he mooned the audience, someone in the front nailed him with a water balloon. He dove off the stage at the guy with fists flying. Roadies followed, and it was crazy. Then he got back onstage and continued the show.
Rainbow were great too, (Ritchie Blackmore is a fantastic guitarist) but they couldn't match the energy level of AC/DC. At one point Ritchie stepped off stage for a moment and switched to a cheap guitar which he then smashed while playing, which seemed very staged and tacky.
By Rick E, Setauket NY:
This show changed my life - no kidding. Some friends and I went to see Rainbow (with Dio on vocals). We didn’t have much money but you could afford tickets in those days so we went to pretty much every show that came to the Island. Pretty sure Rainbow was on the Long Live Rock n Roll tour (I have the $3 tour shirt somewhere still). I hadn’t heard about AC/DC at this point. I would hear Twisted Sister do Sin City in the clubs but didn’t know it was an AC/DC song. Anyway the warm up band (AC/DC) comes on stage…pretty sure they opened with Live Wire. When the band kicked in it was like someone kicked me in the chest and sent me sailing backwards across the room! What a band! I never saw or heard a band like AC/DC - pure rock n roll energy with kick ass tunes. From my perspective they tore the house down and owned that venue (Calderone Theater). I remember Angus getting into a scuffle with someone near the stage. Mal and Cliff stood at the edge of the stage and watched while they kept playing (pretty sure it was during Bad Boy Boogie) and Angus tore into this jackass in the audience (I think the guy threw a floor chair or something at Angus…couldn’t exactly see what was thrown but it pissed Ang off so he jumped off the stage and went after the guy). AC/DC was smoking that night, I didn’t even care to see Rainbow anymore at that point (and the Rainbow lineup at that point was great). The next day I went to Record World and bought every AC/DC record (remember vinyl?) I could find, including the imports (which I still have the original versions). Then proceeded to learn every single song on my guitar. I started playing guitar at 13, but that AC/DC performance made me seriously start learning how to play and I am still at it today - 44 years later playing in a band and wailing away on AC/DC tunes. I channel Malcolm as he was and still is my guitar hero and it all goes back to that show at the little LI club in 1978. Like I said, that show changed my life - it was like a religious experience. I even have the ad from a local paper promoting the show. It’s framed and hangs in my music studio. I can’t count how many times I have seen AC/DC since then. Always a great show, but that gig in ‘78 is my favorite because it wasn’t a big arena, it was a small club…with Bon on vocals and the band still not a household word in the States yet. Wish I had video of that show.
» Upload a review if you were at any of these shows!