Back on the “Highway To Hell”: AC/DC comes to Zurich

The legendary hard rock band AC/DC will go on tour this summer for the first time in almost eight years. The Australians, famous for rock anthems such as ‘Highway To Hell’, ‘Back In Black’ and ‘Thunderstruck’, announced on Monday a European tour from May to August, confirming months of speculation.

During their “Power Up” tour, the group around cult guitarist Angus Young will also perform in Zurich on June 29. Presales start on February 16.

Band founder Angus Young (68), who always appears in school uniform, and singer Brian Johnson (76) are the last surviving members of the AC/DC line-up that recorded ‘Back In Black’ in 1980, one of the most successful albums from music history. Rhythm guitarist Stevie Young succeeded band founder Malcolm Young, who became ill in 2014 and died in 2017. New to the band is drummer Matt Laug (55), who performed with the group for the first time at the ‘Power Trip’ festival last year. Former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney (53) also replaces the retired Cliff Williams.

At the ‘Powertrip’ festival in California last October, AC/DC made their live comeback after a seven-year hiatus. There were already rumors about a tour. Last week, AC/DC further fueled the speculation with a countdown on their website. On February 9, they shared a video with the caption “Are you ready” on X.

Just a few years ago it seemed as if AC/DC were saying goodbye to the big stage. The main reason for this was that singer Brian Johnson had to leave the band during the ‘Rock Or Bust’ tour in 2016 due to hearing problems. At the last 22 concerts he was represented by Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose. But with the help of a specialist, the problems were resolved enough for Johnson to return to music.

In 2020, AC/DC recorded the album “Power Up”. In addition to Johnson and Williams, who had actually announced his retirement in 2016, former drummer Phil Rudd also returned. The band split with Rudd in 2014 after he got into trouble with the law and was even temporarily under house arrest in his home country of New Zealand. It was not known why Rudd (69) was on the album, but not on the tour.

Due to the corona pandemic, AC/DC initially put their 2020 tour plans on hold. “We were already preparing, we actually wanted to do some live concerts,” Angus Young said in an interview with the German Press Agency in London, “and then this virus came.” At the same time, singer Johnson expressed hope that the band would make amends. “We would like to give concerts again,” he said in an interview with the dpa. “I hope so.”

AC/DC became famous in the 1970s with their pounding hard rock and energetic live shows. Songs like ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’, ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ and ‘Let There Be Rock’ are considered classics today. Singer Bon Scott died in 1980 shortly after the release of the successful album ‘Highway To Hell’, which gave AC/DC their international breakthrough. In the same year, the band released the cult album ‘Back In Black’ with Scott’s successor Brian Johnson, which even surpassed their success. (saw/sda/dpa)