Hardcore fan quits job to follow Acca Dacca tour

BY MICHAEL BERRY

Craig Tulloch has all the attributes to be an AC/DC roadie: he's a carpenter and he likes "beer and women".

And the 38-year-old Scotsman will be looking for work after he quit his job as a carpenter in Whangarei so he could attend all three of the AC/DC Black Ice Tour New Zealand shows.

Mr Tulloch has lived in New Zealand for 5 1/2 years and is a self-confessed AC/DC fiend.

"I'm not too sure why, I've just grown up with them – it's more of an addiction than anything."

When asked how to get tickets for shows so popular they sold out in hours, he shrugged: "Take a day off work."

Mr Tulloch told his boss it was a matter of "life and death" that he got the day off work when the tickets went on sale, but when his boss found out what the day of leave was used for, he did not understand.

"I started falling out with work after that."

When it came time to get the time off work for the concerts they came to a disagreement about how many days he would be taking off.

"So they just paid me all my holiday pay and that was the end of that."

He said he would never be able to live with the regret if he had stayed at work and hadn't gone to the shows.

"It's probably the last time I'll see them."

With no accommodation left vacant on the nights of the Wellington concerts, Mr Tulloch has hired a van and a car park in the city centre for a week as a place to sleep.

To help him get into the mood for the first Wellington concert on January 28, Mr Tulloch sailed from Wellington to Blenheim on Friday because he heard Builders Bar was holding an AC/DC night.

Mr Tulloch said he was "claiming the band for Scotland" as founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott (deceased) were born in Scotland.

Now all he needs to do is set up a job for when the AC/DC binge is over.

"If they [AC/DC] are ever needing a chippie, I'd be happy to be part of their road crew – I've got all the attributes to be a roadie: I like beer and women."

CRAIG'S AC/DC CURRICULUM VITAE

He has been to 13 concerts so far (he thought it unlucky to leave it at that).

His favourite song is Cold Hearted Man.

He has watched the No Bull DVD of the 1996 concert in Madrid once a week for the last six years.

He has four AC/DC tattoos.

He once owned three ferrets and named them Angus, Malcolm and Bon.

His boat is called Dirty Deeds.

Even his email address includes "acdc" in it.

He has never met the band (he did not want to appear a stalker).

- © Fairfax NZ News