Live Photos: AC/DC keep the bell ringing at Wembley Stadium
Just six days before what would have been Bon Scott’s 78th birthday, the current line-up of AC/DC stepped onto the stage at London’s Wembley Stadium. While it would be barmy to expect such an energetic performance in this arena from football legends of the 1970s and ’80s, surviving members of the classic line-up, Angus Young, Brian Johnson, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd, know how to keep the voltage elevated some 50 years into the band’s existence.
Johnson, who replaced Scott as the lead vocalist in 1980, entered the stage powerfully, laying out a simple plan for the evening: “We’re going to have some fun and play some rock ‘n’ roll.” The statement is central to AC/DC’s credo of no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll. We fans come to hear clean-cut, amplified rock music quaking from Johnson’s lungs and radiating from Angus Young’s strings, and that’s exactly what we got.
To kick the set off, AC/DC reached back to 1979 for a rendition of ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’. The track first arrived on Highway to Hell, Scott’s final album before his death the following year. At the time, it was an album track muscled out by popular singles. However, over the years, Johnson made the song one of his own and a sturdy presence in the live show.
Next up, Young ripped into the iconic riff that propels ‘Back in Black’, the namesake and fourth single of Johnson’s first album with AC/DC. As the set progressed, the band recognised the album’s status as a fan favourite, honouring ‘Shoot to Thrill’, ‘Hells Bells’, ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ and ‘Have a Drink on Me’ with electrifying performances.
‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ received a particularly impassioned performance from Johnson, who maintains that it is his overall favourite. “The one I remember more than anything was one of the first songs we did,” he once revealed. “I remember I’m sitting in the little cubicle. Malcolm [Young] came down and said, ‘Right, Brian, this is a rough backing track of this song. We want to call it ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’.”
Indeed, AC/DC shook us all night long, scouring the catalogue for highlights from all eras, from 1977’s ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ to ‘Shot in the Dark’, the lead single from 2020’s Power Up. Cutting a familiar silhouette, Angus Young demonstrated his virtuosity with a blistering set, still wearing his iconic school uniform under a mop of thinning grey hair.
Through highlights like ‘Thunderstruck’, ‘Let There Be Rock’ and ‘T.N.T.’, Young held down explosive riffs effortlessly, all the while jumping and jiving and frequently honouring his all-time guitar hero Chuck Berry with a duckwalk.
The evening finally wound to a close with a fitting performance of ‘For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)’. The 1981 classic left fans buzzing with energy as they filed out of the stadium, some still wielding their air guitars. A set of such composure and virtuosity all these years on gives fans hope that AC/DC are far from done. Returning from the brink after Johnson’s recent hearing loss scare, the flag is high, and the bell is still ringing.
