Black to the future: AC/DC to tour Australia

AC/DC will be back in Australia in November – with returned members, guitarist Steve Young and drummer Chris Slade, joining Angus Young, Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams.

Tickets are capped at $99 and $159, which promoter Garry Van Egmond says the band insisted on to make them accessible for fans as they return to the country where it all started for them. Tickets go on sale Monday April 20. More information at acdctour.com.au.

The tour comes on the heels of the success of Rock Or Bust, an album titled to denote the band’s resolution to carry on despite internal health and legal adversities. It went to #1 on the ARIA chart and has been certified Platinum. It also went to #1 in 12 countries, including Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. It reached #3 in the US and UK.

Later today (Friday April 10), AC/DC take to the stage of California’s Coachella festival. It’s a case of biggest is best. Last year’s Coachella drew an aggregate attendance of 579,000 over six days and grossed a record-breaking US$78.3 million. Obviously they needed a spectacular arena band to hit all the spaces on stage. AC/DC are determined to rise to the occasion: they have been in Los Angeles this week putting in six hour rehearsals.

Demand for tickets for the current AC/DC world tour has been astounding. The 25-date European run from mid-May to late Julyshifted 1.75 million tickets in 24 hours. In Germany, they set a new world record for the most amount of tickets sold within the shortest time: over 300,000 in 77 minutes. 70,000 tickets for the London Wembley Stadium disappeared in 12 minutes. The tour quickly sold out in Arnhem, Dresden, Munich, Madrid, Roskilde, Nuremberg, Hockenheim, Koln, Hannover, Zurich, Dublin and Glasgow.Rock Or Bust then hits North America in August and September.

Van Egmond expects the Australian shows to have equally quick sell-outs. The initial announcement of dates are:

SYDNEY – Wednesday November 4, ANZ Stadium Australia

BRISBANE – Thursday November 12, Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre

ADELAIDE – Saturday November 21, Adelaide Oval

PERTH – Friday November 27, Domain Stadium

MELBOURNE – Sunday December 6, Etihad Stadium

It is expected that more shows will be added, similar to fan response when they played here in February 2010 as part of the Black Ice tour. AC/DC tickets were the fastest sell-out in the history of Australia. It also broke new attendance records, pulling 212,729 tickets for three concerts at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The global tour played 160 shows to 4.9 million fans, and is the fourth highest grossing tour ever bringing in US$441.6 million.

Obviously what AC/DC are hoping doesn’t repeat are two incidents during the Melbourne run. A 56-year-old man had a heart attack and a woman went into labour, later naming her son Jack Angus.

Of AC/DC’s latest resurgence, Brian Johnson told the LA Times,"You pick yourself up, dust yourself down and just keep going. You live on, and you have a wonderful memory of them always with you, but you're not going to stop doing what you do. Otherwise, you die inside, you know? And we would die — I would, if I didn't do what I was doing. There'd be nothing. I'd just be another guy looking for a hobby."

Johnson told the newspaper of advice given to him by Paul McCartney who played Coachella in 2009. McCartney had said, "'Brian, you get on that stage and I'm telling you, you see all these kids looking for the hip-hop acts. Then they see you, and they're like, 'Who's he? Oh, yeah — me dad talks of him. But it's great because you're doing your thing, and eventually all the kids go, 'He's cool, this dude!'” Johnson added, "It kind of takes you right back to the start, when you had to win over an audience. I'm excited."