The AC/DC group returns to Europe after eight years of absence

Europe 1 with AFP 5:52 p.m., February 12, 2024

AC/DC, legendary hard-rock group, absent on stage on the Old Continent for eight years, returns for a European tour in 2024 with Brian Johnson on vocals, the Australian group announced on Monday. This tour stretches from May 17 in Germany to August 17 in Ireland, including a visit to France on August 13 at the Paris Longchamp Hippodrome (tickets go on sale for this date Friday at 10 a.m. Paris time) .

It is called “Power Up”, after the name of their last studio album in 2020, which ranked number one in around twenty countries upon its release. Brian Johnson sang on this record, although he was replaced on stage in 2016 behind the microphone by Axl Rose, of Guns N' Roses, due to hearing problems. Brian Johnson, 76, now uses state-of-the-art hearing equipment.

A European tour as part of the group's 50th anniversary

The other figure in the group is guitarist Angus Young, 68, still dressed in his retro school uniform. He is the repository of the riffs of the standards “Highway To Hell”, “Thunderstruck” and “Back In Black”. The face of AC/DC is him too. Angus Young poses on the cover of "Highway To Hell" (1979) with imp horns, a find still exploited 45 years later by the merchandising around the group.

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The group has sold a total of more than 200 million records in their career. This European tour will be part of the 50th anniversary of the group, which gave its very first concert on December 31, 1973 at Checkers Nightclub in Sydney, Australia.

The history of AC/DC – name in reference to alternating current, but also “sail and steam” in slang – is tumultuous. The first singer, Bon Scott died in 1980 and Malcolm Young - guitarist and co-founder in 1973 of the group with his brother Angus (Scots based in Australia) - died in 2017.