Brian Johnson’s voice is frayed but Angus Young’s guitar tone is as thrilling as ever, and this show on what could be the band’s last world tour packs an emotional punch
Who would have thought that the band with a guitarist in a schoolboy’s uniform would be the one most profoundly affected by ageing? With their entire rhythm section now lost to death (Malcolm Young), retirement (Cliff Williams) and being a carer (Phil Rudd), AC/DC is now down to two core members. Angus Young still wears his blue velvet uniform, but beneath the cap, his hair is now pure white. Brian Johnson, having been out and then back in the band with his own health issues, simply appears delighted to be there.
Johnson is now 76, and there’s no point claiming his voice is what it once was. Even in 1980, on Back in Black, he sounded at the very top of his register (or, indeed, somewhere around the highest notes attainable by humans), and those songs cause him the most trouble tonight – he sometimes seems barely there, dropping octaves mid-line, struggling for power. No one minds: everyone in the stadium seems as happy as Johnson that he’s back in the band.
And what they are really here for is the riffs, anyway, which are still perfect: Back in Black, Highway to Hell, Whole Lotta Rosie, and 18 others. Young’s guitar tone is inimitable, and his effort unstinting: at 69 he still spends the whole show in perpetual motion. He’s helped by the current rhythm section – led by nephew Stevie Young – being the tightest set of replacements imaginable. Matt Laug, at last, is a drummer who seems content to play Phil Rudd’s parts without the need to add embellishment.
In truth, it’s more or less the same show AC/DC have been playing for decades, albeit the giant Rosie is now just on big screens rather than an inflatable. The emotional power comes from the suspicion that this world tour will surely be the band’s last, and from the palpable joy their thrilling, reductive, primal music has brought over so many years. It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock’n’roll, they sang a very long time ago. They reached the top, and when they leave us, it will be from the top.
This is what we’re up against
Bad actors spreading disinformation online to fuel intolerance.
Teams of lawyers from the rich and powerful trying to stop us publishing stories they don’t want you to see.
Lobby groups with opaque funding who are determined to undermine facts about the climate emergency and other established science.
AC/DC have confirmed the line-up for their first UK and European tour in eight years – see who’s joining the band on stage below.
Yesterday (February 12), the legendary Australian band revealed the dates for their 2024 ‘Power Trip’ tour, which will take them throughout the UK and Europe across the summer.
The tour – the band’s first since 2016 – will mark the official return of Brian Johnson on vocals, after hearing issues forced him to leave the band’s 2016 dates and be replaced by Axl Rose.
He will be joined by Angus and Stevie Young on guitars, and the band have confirmed that former Jane’s Addiction member Chris Chaney will be performing on bass. Drummer Matt Laug, who debuted with the band at their live return for the Power Trip festival in California last year, will continue to sit in for Phil Rudd.
The band will play 21 dates across the UK and Europe, beginning in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on May 17 and running through to August 17, where they will wrap up the tour in Dublin’s Croke Park.
In between, they will play two nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and gigs in Amsterdam, Paris and more.
See the band’s ‘Power Up’ tour dates below. Tickets go on sale here on Friday, February 16. Click the link for detailed on-sale times for specific dates.
Sir Michael Caine has issued the perfect two-word response to the ongoing race riots in Britain.
Over the past fortnight, violent disorder has spread across the country in the wake of the stabbings of three young children in Southport after misinformation spread that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Thousands of police officers have been deployed to prepare for further action after racist and Islamophobic attacks have led to stabbings, street beatings, and mosques under siege.
Piers Morgan and Krishnan Guru-Murthy called out billionare tech owner Elon Musk, who has been accused of fanning the flames of unrest in the UK
But Caine, the 91-year-old star of films including Alfie, Get Carter and The Dark Knight, seemingly hinted at the racist and Islamophobic attacks with a blunt post that’s being celebrated for its succinctness.
On Wednesday (7 August), shared a post on X/Twitter that merely said: “Calm down.”
“Sage wisdom from the OG,” one person replied, with another adding: “He has spoken.”
If you can, please support us on a monthly basis. It takes less than a minute to set up, and you can rest assured that you’re making a big impact every sing
