For those about to ROCK....

Nathan is the resident rocker in our house. He makes it very clear that his all-time favorite guitarist is Angus Young of AC/DC. This is just fine with me, since many of the favored memories of my youth flashback in my brain accompanied by a soundtrack of AC/DC songs. Recently, in what I am now calling the "Year of Nathan," we made memories bigger and better than most all of those previously recorded in my brain. Although not everything in the "Year of Nathan" has gone according to plan, good things seem to be following him this year...and I am really happy for him. Here is an example:

On Wednesday, Nathan was injured during (indoor) football practice. He went up to catch a pass, and his ankle was rolled upon by an opposing player, as they both tumbled back on the turf. Initially, we were told that it was likely that he had fractured a bone and had a growth plate injury. However, after seeing an orthopedist, it was determined to be a very severe sprain. He'll be out of commission for 4-8 weeks. [Wait, I'm getting to the GOOD part.] So, on Friday, he was on crutches. This really discouraged him, until he was surprised by some great friends of ours with two tickets to see AC/DC at the Schottenstein Center. Guess who was the lucky recipient of the other ticket..?! So, Nathan and I headed to the arena after I returned home from work.

Once we arrived at the Schott, a bus picked us up in the parking lot and dropped us off at the door. Seeing Nathan on crutches, the ushers waved us to the front of the long lines and through a side security check point. We were directed to the elevators where we showed our tickets to the attendant. We descended a few floors, and when the doors opened, we found ourselves BACKSTAGE! Everyone had big passes hanging from their necks. The attendant saw my surprise and told us to just show our tickets to anyone who questioned us. We walked past the roadies, through some curtains, and found our way to the floor of the arena, just in front of the stage. I found an usher, showed him our tickets, and asked him where our seats were located. He said "right here." Our seats were in front of the stage, and just 3 seats from the long runway which jutted out from the middle and into the first section of seats. My face probably looked just like Nathan's in this photo. We settled in and talked with a few of the nice people around us. Many were just like me, children of the 70's & 80's, attending the concert with their kids. There was a couple in front of us with very strong Australian accents, who flew from New York just for this show. The air was electric when the opening band, The Answer, finally took the stage. I hadn't really heard them before, but they played what they called "Irish swamp music." It sounded a lot like Led Zeppelin to us, and we became instant fans. Their show ended after an hour, and it was time for the headliners to play. There was not a single empty seat in the place when the house lights went down, and a 40-foot locomotive, spewing smoke and fire, crashed through a screen and onto the stage. This was the start of the most entertaining show I have ever seen. Period. Words cannot describe it. Neither can pictures. I tried to take some, but the light show and smoke effects wreaked havoc with the camera settings. I tried to adjust, but just decided to snap photos so as not to miss the show while messing with the camera.

Sorry for the blurred images...

Nathan called Michele in the middle of the concert and screamed at the top of his lungs, "THIS IS FLIPPIN' AWESOME!" He couldn't hear if she replied. To be truthful, I couldn't hear for two days after the concert. I must be getting too old for this. But it was SO worth it... The boys from Melbourne are all in their mid to late fifties now. Having seats this close to the stage allowed us to see every wrinkle, scar, and roll. A lifetime of hard rocking shows on their faces, making them look older. Angus is a tiny guy, almost troll-like. But man, can he play. When Angus or Brian Johnson walked up the runway, the people in our section placed Nathan next to the railing. During these portions of the show, he had the best seat in the house...just 5 feet from his (our) rock 'n' roll idols! This is a night we'll never forget.