When Donington brought the “monster metal showdown” of AC/DC vs Van Halen
The momentous Monsters of Rock festival brought all sorts of stars to the mystical West Midlands, but the real showdown took place when the monsters of metal, AC/DC, faced rocking come-uppers Van Halen.
Yet, what many imagined to be a rivalry really became the catalyst for a meaningful comradeship between hard rockers.
The 1984 festival at the infamous motor racing track near Castle Donington was not the first time Van Halen had crossed the Australian metal heads on stage, with guitarist Eddie Van Halen first seeing AC/DC play live in 1978 at a festival where they were both opening for Aerosmith.
“I was standing on the side of the stage, going, ‘We have to follow these motherfuckers?’” Van Halen told Louder Sound, “They were so fucking powerful”.
So it’s no surprise that coming up to their Leicestershire stint, a Whistle Test journalist enquired how the Van Halen boys were feeling about going on stage before AC/DC: “It’s not going to be a battle, there’s not going to be any kind of rivalry, maybe in their minds but not in our minds”, came band drummer Alex Van Halen’s confident reply, cooly explaining, “We are gonna jump on stage and we’re going to play our music, and hopefully everybody will have a good time.”
Angus Young’s response might have been a little bolder than that, in that he has the audacity to label the rock band as “pop”. When asked about a possible battle of the bands, the founding guitarist of AC/DC swerved the idea of a showdown with the tranquility of someone who’d been asked whether they’d like milk in their tea: “Nah, not really…It’s a different thing, they’re more of a, what would you say? Pop band, I suppose, than what we are. We’re more rock and roll band I suppose”, casually running a rock band’s reputation into the ground.
The festival obviously turned out to be a remarkable success for both bands, with a manic turnout of 65,000 people dubbing the 1984 edition among the best Monsters of Rock ever. The festival was also the first occasion for AC/DC and Van Halen to finally get to meet in person, aside from all expectations of on-stage competition. What emerged from the serendipitous star crossing was an unexpected friendship forged in explosive talent, as Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young stayed close for years to come.
The Van Halen guitarist went so far as to mix his admiration with a naivety of time zone differences and wake Young up in the middle of the night while he was sleeping ‘Down Under’. His Dutch-Californian counterpart called him up just to inform him that, in his words, “’Hey man, you’re a really bad motherfucker!’” the Australian guitar hero told Talk Is Jericho.
Angus Young was equally moved by the Van Halen frontman, and hailed his mark on guitar rock history as “pure wizardry” following his friend’s death in October 2020. Although often compared and put against one another as rivals, Donington was just another chance for each act to revel in their own unique artistry, and of course, compare themselves to all other acts performing alongside them.
