Hard rock and metal fans were delighted at the announcement of the first AC/DC show since 2016. Earlier this year, the band announced they would be part of the Power Trip festival in California. The three-day event runs from Oct. 6 to 8 and features six of the biggest bands in rock and metal: AC/DC, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Tool, Guns N’ Roses and Iron Maiden.
AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, who had to exit the band’s last tour due to hearing issues, commented on the band’s return on the Fuelling Around podcast.
“We decided to do this wonderful show that they’ve put together out in the desert near Palm Springs, near Coachella,” Johnson said.
“It’s all rock and roll bands. It’s fantastic. I think it’s just a statement to say that rock and roll is a legitimate form of music. It really has made a difference. Ozzy is coming out of retirement so I’ll be able to see my old pals again. The Guns N’ Roses boys, the Metallica boys and the Iron Maiden boys — all in one field. Boy, what a party!”
“It’s going to be in a beautiful valley, near Coachella, but I don’t get involved in that kind of thing. I just like to turn up, get up and just rock my little socks off until I drop.”
AC/DC rehearsed in preparation for shows to support their 2020 album, “Power Up,” but all of that was put on hold.
“I’m so excited because three years ago we did get together when ‘Power Up’ the album came out,” Johnson continued.
“It was fantastic. It went to number one in 27 countries or something and we went, ‘Yeah, we’re back. We’re so proud of the album’. We started to rehearse in Amsterdam. Phil [Rudd] was back on drums. I had this new earpiece that we’d invented. It was fantastic. Honestly, I’ve never heard the band so tight. For three weeks, I think we had one day off because we wanted to be there in each other’s company. We f*cked up a few words, chords and just got them tight again and then our tour manager came up and said, ‘Hey, listen, guys, we’ve got this thing. It’s called the Chinese flu or some kind of sh*t. Just go home for six weeks and we’ll meet again in London.’ You know what happened there. Angus and Phil, New Zealand and Australia just wouldn’t let them out for months and months afterwards.”
Johnson continued: “It does take a lot of time to get a band like AC/DC together again. Most of the crew were out working with other people. Trying to get those guys back together again was tough but I’ve got my fingers crossed — everything is going okay. The most important thing about it all is the eagerness we all feel. The juices are running again.”
Johnson commented on Axl Rose’s stint in AC/DC as his temporary replacement in his recent autobiography.
“I’m told that he did a great job,” Johnson said of Axl, “but I just couldn’t watch — especially when you’ve been doing it for 35 years. It’s like finding a stranger in your house, sitting in your favorite chair. But I bear no grudges. It was a tough situation. Angus and the lads did what they felt they had to do. That said, after the band released a statement confirming that I was leaving the tour and wishing me all the best for the future, I couldn’t relax or concentrate on anything. It was just always there.”
“Part of the pain of it was that I blamed myself,” he admitted. “For most of my career, I’d been in the loudest band in the world. I’d flown constantly. I’d flown even when I knew I wasn’t well. For a while, people would ask me if I was depressed, but depression is treatable. My hearing loss wasn’t. What I was feeling wasn’t depression. It was something closer to despair.”
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