Like the neon wristbands that turn modern Coldplay shows into Jackson Pollock fever dreams, lighting up in the proximity of a chiming indie guitar riff, the devil-horn headpieces that pepper Wembley Stadium tonight appear programmed to begin flashing as we approach the turn-off for the highway to hell.
They heighten an already intense sensation of anticipation. AC/DC’s 2024 tour returns to London after over a decade apart, leaving fans wondering if the band would ever return in any shade of black. Their 2015-16 Rock or Bust tour failed when flat-capped singer Brian Johnson, the only rock legend with the stage presence of a plumber, was forced off the road due to hearing concerns and replaced by Axl Rose on the final leg. During the hiatus, the band appeared to disintegrate after guitarist Malcolm Young died in 2017 and bassist Cliff Williams retired. That these 200-million-selling veterans of classic rock—or what left of them—are reunited to finally tour 2020’s Power Up.
The lights dim, devil horns flash, and a cartoon roadster speeds across the huge screens on its way to the gig. But just when you’d expect it to fly out of the back of the stage, spewing flames from its exhaust, Johnson and his ageing schoolboy sidekick Angus Young – now resembling a man held back in year 4 for 60 years straight – simply walk onto a stage stacked with Marshall stacks and start playing “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” from 1979’s Highway to Hell.
For a band renowned for their large-scale stage gimmicks, from gigantic wrecking balls to full-size train carriages bursting from the backdrop, it’s a low-key entrance. Several iconic AC/DC props survive: the chiming church bell that descends from the rafters for “Hells Bells” and the Napoleonic array of cannons discharging on “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” have been mainstays of the set since the early Eighties. But for the most part, the AC/DC of 2024 want the music to do the talking.
