Nearly two and a half years after it started, AC/DC’s ‘Power Up’ tour will end Friday night with a show at MetLife Stadium outside of New York City.
Which means it’s once again time to ask the question: Will this be the last time the legendary Australian hard rock band ever performs live?
Never the most talkative bunch, AC/DC have been particularly tight-lipped about their plans (and lineup changes) in recent years. But in June they posted a video on social media promoting the summer 2026 dates, declaring that they were going to “power up one last time.”
The fact that they mentioned the tour’s name (also the title of their most recent album, 2020’s Power Up) would seem to suggest that they were talking about the end of this tour, not their touring career.
But who knows?
Singer Brian Johnson will turn 79 on Monday (Oct. 5). Lead guitarist Angus Young – the only remaining founding member of AC/DC – is 71. Rhythm guitarist Stevie Young – who has taken over for his late uncle Malcolm Young since 2014 – will turn 70 in December.
At some point will a quiet retirement sound better than the roar of the crowd?
(The band’s newly hired rhythm section – bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Matt Laug, who are both about to complete their first tour with AC/DC – are a comparatively spry 56 and 58 years old.)
AC/DC also seem to be creatures of habit. For over four decades they have only toured after releasing a new studio album – with the exception of a brief 2003 run of special concerts, timed to promote the re-release of their catalog via Sony Music.
If they stick to their usual plan, we may be in for a long wait. The group has only released four albums in the last thirty years, with a six-year wait between their last three albums: 2008’s Black Ice, 2014’s Rock or Bust and Power Up.
Partly due to the COVID pandemic, fans waited eight years in between the 2015 end of AC/DC’s trouble-plagued ‘Rock or Bust’ tour and the 2024 start of the ‘Power Up’ Tour. Start the clock right now, cut that time in half and you’re still looking at a 2030 return to the stage.
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Of course AC/DC could break with their traditional ways at a moment’s notice. Maybe they will release their first-ever greatest hits record (amazingly, they’ve never released one) and tour behind that next year.
Maybe they’ve already secretly recorded a new album – although they seem to be photographed in Vancouver every time they start to work on one. Or maybe they’ll tour without any kind of new album. But all of those things would be big changes from their established ways.
If the band’s two senior members – Angus and Brian – do have any retirement plans they kept it to themselves during their one and only interview so far this year. When asked by USA Today where they’d like to perform their last-ever show, Young deftly dodged the question: “I hope it’s not at my funeral.”
When asked what legacy they hope to leave behind, the duo’s answers were as no-nonsense as their music. “I would just say ‘a great rock band,'” replied Young. Johnson was only slightly more verbose: “They were great at what they did. And they did it consistently.”
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These Aussies are nothing if not consistent.
Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli
