This past Wednesday, a remarkable assembly of 374 pipers united in the heart of Melbourne to play AC/DC's iconic anthem "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock'n'Roll)", setting a new world record near the historic spot where Bon Scott and the band famously played the tune from a moving truck fifty years earlier.
That particular song is the only major hit that AC/DC has retired from concerts, out of respect for Scott's memory since his passing in 1980. But the omission is barely felt when the concert setlist are so packed with fan favorites: an electric excitement swept through the eighty thousand concertgoers at the MCG as AC/DC opened with "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" and immediately followed with "Back in Black". Who else would have the confidence to play such a monumental anthem so soon after starting? Yet this band does, treating the crowd to what amounts to a lengthy greatest hits celebration.
Brian Johnson refers to Melbourne AC/DC's 'ancestral homeland'.
It's time to discuss the obvious questions: indeed, Brian Johnson is seventy-eight years of age and, no, his vocal range doesn't hit the former peaks or sustain as long compared to the eighties. He can no longer scream with the same intensity on tracks like "High Voltage" or "Highway to Hell", but he certainly tries his best with a grin on his face. The singer was previously forced to leave AC/DC's 2016 world tour due to severe hearing loss (a substitute vocalist filled in), but a remedy was found and it's clear he's thrilled to be back, laughing like a gremlin during breaks. (The band doesn't engage in stage banter, and no one minds.)
Likewise, Angus Young – who continues to wear his signature schoolboy shorts at seventy – is noticeably slower on some early tracks, including the frenetic intro to "Thunderstruck". But it remains "Thunderstruck", and who cares when a entire venue is chanting so powerfully, that joyfully, as one?
With his striking white mane and skinny legs poking out from his shorts, Young simultaneously looks like an elderly sage and oddly youthful; when he returns to the band at the end of a number, he looks like a lost little boy searching for his guardians – right up until he begins a frenzied solo, his digits moving at blinding speed. He can still duckwalk the length of a huge stage, with intense eyes and shaking violently as if he's been electrocuted.
'Young commands the stage while the others recede.'
He slowly loses garments throughout the performance, even using his tie like a violin bow to play his instrument. By the finale, when his top is almost completely unbuttoned, he's the main attraction of the whole show.
On "Let There Be Rock", Young embarks on a lengthy, indulgent and immensely enjoyable guitar solo that seems like a dare to those who doubted AC/DC weren't still up to it. The other members fade away as Young struts, pausing only to revel in the cheers before collapsing on the floor and writhing like a someone enchanted. "Where did that come from?" Johnson queries afterwards; who could say?
Johnson and Young are the ringleaders, but they have tight support from guitar player Angus's nephew, who officially came onboard in 2014 following his uncle Malcolm health decline; along with bassist the bass player and percussionist the man on drums, who performs with the fervor of a man trying to trigger an earthquake. Your eardrums won't be the same again.
Although the tour is named for the 2020 release "Power Up", they only play one song from it. Instead, the crowd is given the finest selections: "Shoot to Thrill", "High Voltage", "Highway to Hell", "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "TNT" and "Whole Lotta Rosie". There's even room for a surprise inclusion with "Jailbreak", a song they have not played live since 1991, which is welcomed with huge enthusiasm.
This marks AC/DC's initial performance in Australia in a decade, and the city is their first stop – after all, it is the group's roots, as Johnson declares, being "the home of Mr Scott". It's difficult to ignore that this may be the band's last world tour, and maybe even their final visit to the native land – but what a thrilling spectacle it is for anyone lucky enough to get a ticket. They rock and we applaud them.
- The band will perform at the Melbourne Cricket Ground again on 16 November, followed by the Sydney venue on November 21 and 25, Adelaide on 30 November, the Perth concerts on 4 and 8 December, and the Brisbane dates on 14 and 18 December.
