more than the patchwork, shadow reality

[Vladv1]

"The first AC/DC album Brian Johnson had managed to scribble some lyrics for – or that the brothers had let him get in on – for 20 years, it wasn’t until you’d sat through ‘Rock’n’Roll Train’, ‘She Likes Rock’n’Roll’, Rock’n’Roll Dream’ and ‘Rocking All The Way’ that you realised this wasn’t so much a return to form as simply business as usual. The only thing that had changed was the generation of critics that had grown up with the idea of AC/DC, more than the patchwork, shadow reality. An appropriate situation, given it is the idea of AC/DC that we all now cling to, even as we ‘like’ them on Facebook or download ‘Rock’n’Roll Train’ as a ringtone. When they finally won a Grammy for the admittedly superior ‘War Machine’, the feeling of awards-for-the-boys was unmistakeable".

Mick Wall, "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be".

Could you please reword the bolded?

 

[Tarheel]

I think that by "idea" they mean the reality (not the usual meaning).