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Angus Young is 53 years old, and he mooned me Tuesday night.

In fact, Young showed his bottom - covered up with a pair of AC/DC undies - to a sold-out crowd at Wachovia Arena as he concluded a strip tease that saw AC/DC's lead guitarist shed his signature jacket, shirt and tie midway through the band's performance of their blues-inspired song, "The Jack."

Young and the rest of the crew - vocalist Brian Johnson, rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd - may have been playing their style of gritty, barroom rock 'n' roll some 30-odd years, but they proved you're only as old as you feel, performing with the energy and, more importantly, the enthusiasm of musicians half their age.

Tuesday's show marked the start of their Black Ice Tour 2008; AC/DC's first since 2000 when the Australian-based band hit the road in support of Stiff Upper Lip. And if the five-piece had accrued any rust sonically in the past eight years, it didn't show through. Even if it did, it's doubtful the raucous crowd would have cared much.

"Remember," Johnson told the crowd between songs, "you heard it here first."

The show began with an animated sequence of an out-of-control steam train being steered by Angus. Some on the train were panicked, others thrilled, and a few were quite slutty. Two of these nefarious female ne'er-do-wells went on to seduce Angus before tying him up and slamming on the train's brakes, sending it off the tracks and, as a large video screen split in two, onto the stage above the drum kit as the band launched into its latest single from the Black Ice album, "Rock 'n' Roll Train."

AC/DC would go on to jump between their classics and new songs, rotating from "Back In Black" to "Big Jack" to "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and "You Shook Me All Night Long."

The pulsating rhythms of Williams and Rudd kept the pace for the night, keeping the audience moving, and Johnson's vocals were seemingly spot on, sounding at times like his voice was coming from an album rather than on stage. But it was Angus' showmanship and guitar styling that frequently threw the audience into frenzy.

Angus broke out his signature stage trot during "Thunderstruck," which was captured by cameras underneath the stage and displayed on two big screens. The above mentioned strip tease may have brought forth the loudest crowd noise. He had many solos, but the best came during "Let There Be Rock" as he trotted down a runway that jutted into the audience some 30 rows and stepped into a circle lit with color and raised into the air with hydraulics. At an estimated 25 feet above the crowd, Angus played frenetically, even doing so one-handed. He then dropped to the ground and spun in a circle as he continued with his solo before heading to a riser above the drum kit and drawing the song to a close just before the encore.

Ahh, the encore. It wasn't a giant surprise. The crowd was at fever pitch and the house lights remained dark, so it was obvious AC/DC would be back on stage. Surprisingly, more people than I expected made way for the exit doors - maybe to beat the traffic.

Whoever left missed the band's performance of "Highway To Hell" and "For Those About to Rock," which was complemented at the end with booming fireworks shot from six cannons.

There were a few glitches during the show. Angus' guitar sounded a bit distorted in the club level at the outset, and a panel on the video screen went black.

And one person was missing Ð Rosie.

"We got a bit of a disappointment tonight. Rosie couldn't be here. Flames melted her, I guess," Johnson told a crowd likely clueless to what he was referencing.

During "T.N.T.," fire was shot from the train prop. This was followed by "Whole Lotta Rosie," but the enormous, mischievous-looking blowup doll they'd planned to let ride atop the train was unavailable. She melted during Sunday's rehearsal. The crowd missed out on a cool prop and AC/DC will have to mix up their set list to get the big girl safely back on the train later in the tour.

Overall, the crowd and the band had fun. More importantly, AC/DC still has it. They sounded great and put on a performance worthy of a salute.
-escicchitano@timesshamrock.com