AC/DC returns to the Tacoma Dome August 31. And just as when they swung through here a few months back, tickets will set you back a healthy hundred bucks a pop. You may wonder, are there any AC/DC fans out there who are willing to shell out for a hundred-dollar ticket? The answer is an emphatic yes. They sold out the Tacoma Dome in only a few hours last time and will most likely do so again.

It might occur to you that maybe there are simply a shitload of older, moneyed people out there nostalgic for AC/DC who are outbidding the true fans. However, when I was confronted with the horde of hungry concertgoers besieging the bar where I work, the teeming mass was overwhelmingly, stereotypically working class – a proletarian parade swilling cheap beer before marching off to their hundred-dollar-a-ticket arena concert.

In fact, AC/DC demonstrates that Marxist objectives are better achieved through a rock band than via a political system. This notion is not as surprising as you might first think, since the band hails from the Marxist hotbed of Australia. AC/DC has triumphed everywhere that Communism failed, and it’s not too difficult to understand why. Whereas Communism tried to glorify the proletariat on the job with its bland, imposing Socialist Realism, AC/DC glorifies the proletariat on Saturday night, producing solid, driving rock ’n’ roll that the proletariat truly enjoys. This earns a much better response, since it is during the weekend, when he is not working and can temporarily escape the alienation of capitalism, that the worker feels most himself. The Socialist Realism produced under Communism, on the other hand, with its towering statues depicting Chinese girls with hammers held high, only serves to reinforce the alienation between the worker’s job and his true nature, regardless of whether the woman is getting ready to chisel another brick for the people or for the man. Now compare AC/DC’s stage props: vibrant images, such as a giant inflatable fat chick and giant inflatable rocker dude, sporting a mullet, hands held high with forefinger and pinky extended in salute to those about to rock.

AC/DC knows that all the working man wants is to hear some rock ‘n’ roll, and – more than any other band – they dutifully adhere to his needs. Consistency is the key. AC/DC has always delivered the goods, and this, in no small part, is what has given them credibility with the proletariat. Conversely, Communism’s inconsistencies between theory and practice were very great, and ultimately led to its downfall. As dictatorships of the proletariat go, an AC/DC concert is a better model on almost every level than Communism itself, and is far more appealing to the working man. And at the rate the band is going, they might end up having a longer run than Communism did, too.