AC/DC, tour review: Axl Rose and Angus Young a match made in rock heaven

Axl offered up air-raid siren vocals while Young wrestled gigantic riffs from his Gibson SG, says Rick Pearson
Dynamite: Axl Rose alongside guitarist Angus Young
Rex
Rick Pearson6 June 2016

A crowd dressed in devil horns, a grown man in school uniform and a wall of Marshall amps: it could only be AC/DC at the Olympic Stadium.

With lead singer Brian Johnson at home nursing hearing problems — a lifetime of standing inches away from Angus Young’s amplifier will do that to you — the Aussies have recruited Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose for their “Rock or Bust” world tour.

It was a match made in hard-rock heaven. Axl — plaid shirt, assorted bling, leg cast — offered up air-raid siren vocals while Young wrestled gigantic riffs from his Gibson SG.

Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be was bellowed back at them by a crowd not composed entirely of teetotallers. Back in Black was arena rock at its foundation-shaking finest and You Shook Me All Night Long rejoiced in its sing-along chorus and single-entendres. The ghost of Spinal Tap stalked Hells Bells, a spooky rocker, while Young’s guitar-solo-with-a-school-tie added to the general silliness.

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Like an antipodean Status Quo, AC/DC have forged a decades-long career out of about three chords. This is both impressive and limiting. Impressive because they’ve written several stone-cold classics within the format; limiting because many of the songs inevitably end up sounding a little too similar.

But this was not a night for chin-stroking contemplation. This was cock-rock in excelsis — and AC/DC and Axl proved themselves masters of the genre.

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