AC/DC returned to the stage during this past weekend’s Power Trip Festival in Indio, California. The band performed at the festival for the first time, after seven long years, on Saturday night, October 7th, and since the release of their return album “Power Up” in 2020, from which the band made a live debut of two songs, ‘Demon Fire’ and ‘Shot In The Dark,’ during their festival performance.
It was also the first performance for vocalist Brian Johnson, who had to quit touring, back in 2016, due to the risk of total hearing loss if he continued. Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose was recruited to complete the remaining ten shows in North America and twelve shows in Europe.
The Power Trip festival performance saw Cliff Williams, the band’s longstanding bassist, coming out of retirement, Matt Laug, who has played with many bands such as Alice Cooper, Alanis Morissette, Slash’s Snakepit, among others, filled in for Phil Rudd on drums, and Angus and Stevie Young were back on guitars.
Following Judas Priest, AC/DC took the stage at precisely 9:45 p.m. Power Trip prompted AC/DC to perform ‘Dog Eat Dog’ with Brian for the first time since 2009, ‘Riff Raff’ since 1996, and ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ for the first time since 2003.
The hard rock heroes performed 24 songs, until the show ended at midnight between sky-high fireworks and a delirious audience rejoiced by a band in which many of us wondered if it would ever return to the stage.
