Cat handed one to me. “Thanks.” I smiled, cautiously sipping it. We chatted and nodded our heads to the rock DJ’s set, observing those around us but not really engaging. I found myself often glancing at the girl with the braids but couldn’t always spot her as the venue filled. My sister asked if I was OK. “I’m fine.” I said. “I can’t thank you enough… this is the best birthday present ever.” I grinned.
Half an hour passed and the DJ played all the hard rock classics, plus the odd soft rock shocker by the likes of Bon Jovi and Heart. Then, the lights began to dim and the music began to fade. The show was about to start and everyone faced the empty stage. I’ve never known anticipation like it. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife as thousands upon thousands of people waited with bated breath.
The crowd erupted as the first note from Angus’s SG burst out of the wall of speakers that flanked the stage. A second later the legend himself strutted on stage wearing his school boy outfit and the rest of the band were flooded in spotlights. Lead singer Brian Johnson entered to a roar of approval. It was the loudest thing I’d ever experienced and even if this moment deafened me, it would be worth it! His gravelly vocals filled the EnormoDome and the entire crowd singing running right off the track in response to the chorus of Rock ‘n’ Roll Train. We punched their air. We jumped. We bounced. We rocked. Life cannot get better than this, I thought… then it did when the awesomeness of Back in Black’s opening riff filled the air!
Nothing mattered but the music. The band had the crowd in the palms of their hands. They called, we responded. There’s nowhere on earth I’d rather be than right here, right now. “Angus! … Angus! … Angus! … Angus!” we chanted. Fists punched the air. My bangles rattled up and down my forearms. The band barely stopped between songs; Big Jack, Dirty Deeds and Shot Down in Flames came at us like a juggernaut and finally we had chance to give the band our raucous appreciation. Terrie, Cat, Izzy and I grinned at each other. “This is awesome!” It was so hot in the crowd. “I’m so glad I’m not wearing jeans!” I said to my sister.
“Me too!” she grinned, looking down at my little skirt and fishnet tights. “A night to remember?” she asked.
“Definitely!” I said, glancing around the crowd. I spot the girl with the braids and we make eye contact, sharing a momentary smile before Thunderstruck begins with its infectious opening and drew everyone’s attention. We punched the air in time with the bass drum, chanting “Thunder … Thunder.” I glanced over to the girl with the braids. She pounds her fist against the sky, chanting with the rest of us. She glances back and smiles. I bashfully avert my eyes. For moment there I thought I was a guy.
“I was caught… in the middle of a railroad track… I looked ’round… and I knew there was no turning back” burst out of the speakers. Everyone chants ‘thunder’ in time. I glance back toward the girl with the braids. She knows all the words. She glances back and again I look away. What if she thinks I’m a lesbian? What if she’s a lesbian? That could be really awkward! I thought, before worrying that she could have just as easily seen through my make-up and braids to the sixteen year old boy beneath. I made a conscious effort not to glance in her direction from that moment on.
After ten, maybe fifteen songs I began to feel like they’d never stop. I don’t think the crowd would let them even if they wanted too. AC/DC really did shake us all night long! We knew the end was coming when all their really big anthems came one after another… T.N.T, Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, and finally the encore Highway to Hell and For Those About to Rock. AC/DC left the stage to chants of “Angus, Angus, Angus.” which morphed into chants of “Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm.”
As the crowd began to thin, I glanced around the auditorium, hoping to see the girl with the braids but I guess she must have gone. “Do I still look OK?” I asked my sister. “Have I sweated all my make-up off?”
“You look fine Tilly.” she told me. Getting out into the chilly night air was such a relief after several hours in the hot and sweaty EnormoDome. A multitude of coaches and taxis awaited the exiting crowds. People seemed confused, not knowing which was theirs or where to go whereas we just had a half hour walk back to the hotel. Cat offered me a cigarette. “Thanks.” I said, taking one. Izzy and Terrie spotted a nearby convenience store and went to get some beers. Cat and I waited away from the crowds near the golf centre we’d passed on the way in. I told her that it got so hot in there I was glad I wasn’t wearing jeans. “You know what’s funny?” I said.
“What?” Cat replied.
“I didn’t need to loo anyway.” I chuckled. “That was Izzy’s reasoning for dressing me like this.”
Cat chuckled. “It wasn’t the only reason though.” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… Izzy’s dressed you up as a girl loads of times so you obviously enjoy it.” she told me. “This was the ideal opportunity to do it properly… you know, full make-up, in public, somewhere no one knows you.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. My sister has dressed me up as a girl on a handful of occasions but I wouldn’t say I enjoy it that much… but then again, If I didn’t I wouldn’t give in to my sister’s pestering quite so easily. “It’s not so much that I like it… in fact I’ve been really petrified all day.” I replied.
“Excited too though.”
“Kind of.. but I was more excited about seeing AC/DC than seeing them dressed like this.”
“But you did say you were glad you weren’t wearing jeans.”
“’coz of the heat.”
“Yeah but even still… I think you’re just afraid to admit it because you’re a guy.” Cat claimed.
“Well I don’t want people thinking I’m something I’m not… you know?”
“Yeah I get that. I just wish guys could wear whatever like us girls can.” Cat said. “They’re taking their time.” she added, casting her eyes in the direction my sister and Terrie should be coming from. “Shall we have a doobie?”
“Have you got one?”
“I’ve got a few… well hidden so the security guards didn’t find them when they searched my bag.”
“Blimey… that’s a bit of a risk innit?” I replied. “You might not have got in.”
“Well they were well hidden.” she said, removing a mobile phone from her bag and opening the battery compartment.
“Is that a fake phone?!” I exclaimed, noticing a large cavity inside it, filled with about seven single skin joints. She nodded and lit one. “Cool.” I said.
She had a few tokes and passed it to me. I had a few and passed it back. “Thought you two would arrive the moment I sparked up.” she said as Izzy and Terrie finally rejoined us.
“It was packed in there!” Terrie said.
“Are you warm enough Tilly?” my sister asked. “I’ve got a top if you want one.”
I was getting a bit chilly in only my racer back vest. She pulled a black top from her bag, but it wasn’t a conventional top. “Err… what’s this?” I asked, seeing sleeves and not much else.
“It’s a bolero.” she told me, before helping me into it. It covered my arms, shoulders and my upper back and nothing more than that.
“Have you got something?” I asked.
“Yeah but I’m fine for now.” she told me. “Us girls are used to not wearing much.” she said. “Is that warm enough?”
“Yeah.” I replied.
