LIVE
AC/DC
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, August 21
Unstinting high-voltage thrills from the ageless rock bloodletters
Brian Johnson and Angus Young: is this farewell?
ROBERTO RICCIUTI/GETTY IMAGES
“WERE gonna play some rock’n’roll, have a party,” says Brian Johnson, setting out his stall as the chords of tonight’s opener “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” fade away. “Come on, let’s go!”
A successful rallying cry for the 70,000-strong audience in Murrayfield, it is also emblematic of how AC/DC have operated for over 50 years. After all, it’s hard to think of a band who’ve previously denied the passage of time quite as vigorously as AC/DC. But can such rugged defiance last forever? Angus Young’s trademark school uniform is in evidence – but so is a shock of pure white hair. Johnson, dressed in newsboy cap and sleeveless shirt, still looks the part, although some upper-register notes are harder to reach. Unsubstantiated rumours persist that this is their final UK show, with Edinburgh close enough to the Young clan’s birthplace of Glasgow to provide some loose notion of a circle being closed. But invincibility suits AC/DC. If this is farewell, then it is very much how you’d expect them to go out: rock or bust.