By Tova O'Brien
Wellington's Cake Tin will probably never be the same again. AC/DC have been rocking the stage there for almost two hours at the time of writing, and the show's not over yet.
One in every 35 Kiwis will see AC/DC live during their three New Zealand concerts, but no one is more excited than the musicians sharing the stage with them.
For Shihad, the band who have been chosen specifically by AC/DC to support them for the third tour running, it is a religious experience.
"It feels just as exciting to me as it did when we first got asked in '91," says singer Jon Toogood. "It does, it's like rock'n'roll dreams come true, and yay. You know we always go - if we were Catholic it would be like meeting the pope."
Bassist Karl Kippenberger had only played one small gig with Shihad in 1991 before being thrust on stage with AC/DC.
"It's the second best thing to being AC/DC," he says.
AC/DC are often hailed as three chord wonders who have based their career around writing the same song hundreds of times.
"I remember seeing an interview with one of the young brothers, and the journalist was going, 'Why have you written the same 13 albums?' and he goes, 'Nah, it's 15,'" says Kippenberger.
But both Shihad and fellow support act The Checks agree - it's a winning formula worth sticking to.
"There's something primal about it, something so simple and so direct it just hits everybody, but done so well," says Checks guitarist Sven Pettersen. "They just nail that one and kill it like no one else can."
And judging by the number of black jeans/black t-shirt combos that have descended on Wellington, their fans agree wholeheartedly.
"It's great, the atmosphere in town at the moment," says Sean Magee. "Every second person you meet is going to the concert and there's a great spirit tonight in Wellington."
It's not just the school uniform-wearing, AC/DC tattoo-toting adults that were getting into that spirit. Five-and-a-quarter-year-old Miriane Mottin-Rutledge was also gearing up for tonight's show, even if she doesn't make it into the mosh pit.
"It's really loud and even if you're at the back you can still hear it really loud," says Miriane.
And that's a fact - at 104dB, these famous three chords can be heard from all over Wellington.
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