ac dc tour 2023 power trip

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AC/DC Makes Triumphant Return at Power Trip: Review and Set List

AC/DC made their triumphant return to the stage on Saturday at Power Trip , commemorating their first performance in more than seven years with a few live debuts and songs not performed in decades.

You can see the full set list below.

The rockers came out swinging with the one-two punch of "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" and "Back in Black" before debuting "Demon Fire" off 2020’s  Power Up . It was one of two live debuts from their latest album, as "Shot in the Dark" appeared later in the 24-song set.

READ MORE:   The Most Overlooked Song From Each AC/DC Album

AC/DC also broke out "Stiff Upper Lip" for the first time since 2003 (according to setlist.fm ) and busted out several songs that they hadn't performed with Brian Johnson in over a decade, including "Riff Raff" (1996), "Dog Eat Dog" (2009) and the aforementioned "If You Want Blood" (2003). The band more recently performed the last three with Axl Rose when he briefly took over for Johnson in 2016.

Watch AC/DC Perform 'If You Want Blood (You've Got It)'

Brian Johnson Made His Long-Awaited Return to the Stage

AC/DC's Power Trip performance marked their first show since Sept. 20, 2016, ending a seven-plus-year drought. But it had been even longer since they'd performed with Johnson, who was forced to bow out of the Rock or Bust tour due to hearing issues. The longtime frontman last joined his cohort onstage on Feb. 28, 2016.

The rest of the AC/DC lineup consisted of guitarists Angus and Stevie Young, bassist Cliff Williams  and drummer Matt Laug , who played in place of longtime drummer Phil Rudd .

How Did AC/DC Sound at Power Trip?

Anticipation for AC/DC's Power Trip performance was sky-high, and following  Judas Priest was no cakewalk. Nevertheless, the band rose to the occasion with a spirited two-hour-and-15-minute performance that succeeded in spite of its imperfections.

Johnson just turned 76, and returning to the stage at that age after a seven-year absence is a Herculean feat. His voice had its fair share of croaks and cracks, but he summoned the power when it counted most, supported by his bandmates' backing vocals and spurred by the ecstatic crowd. The singer wore a cheeky grin as he boogied onstage, and several times he looked to the audience with eyes wide and arms outspread, as if he, too, could hardly believe the enormity of the occasion.

Watch AC/DC Perform 'Shot in the Dark'

READ MORE: When Was AC/DC's Last Concert?

Young, meanwhile, was the same live wire as always, strutting down the catwalk and writhing atop a platform that elevated him above the stage as he ripped a furious extended solo in "Let There Be Rock." The band sounded especially hot on Bon Scott -era classics, delivering incendiary renditions of "High Voltage" and "Riff Raff." They also crushed  Back in Black album cuts like "Have a Drink on Me" and "Given the Dog a Bone." And of course, it was hard to resist the primal thrills of mega-hits like "Hells Bells," "Highway to Hell" and the (literally) explosive set closer "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"

It's unclear what AC/DC has planned beyond Power Trip, but whether they just mounted a comeback or delivered a swan song, they did it with one-of-a-kind style and energy.

Watch AC/DC Perform 'Back in Black'

AC/DC, 10/7/23, Power Trip, Indio, California 1. "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" 2. "Back in Black" 3. "Demon Fire" 4. "Shot Down in Flames" 5. "Thunderstruck" 6. "Have a Drink on Me" 7. "Hells Bells" 8. "Shot in the Dark" 9. "Stiff Upper Lip" 10. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" 11. "Shoot to Thrill" 12. "Sin City" 13. "Given the Dog a Bone" 14. "Rock 'n' Roll Train" 15. "You Shook Me All Night Long" 16. "Dog Eat Dog" 17. "High Voltage" 18. "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be" 19. "Riff Raff" 20. "Highway to Hell" 21. "Whole Lotta Rosie" 22. "Let There Be Rock" 23. "T.N.T." 24. "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You")

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Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff

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• October 7, 2023 Setlist

AC/DC Setlist at Empire Polo Club, Indio, CA, USA

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• If You Want Blood (You've Got It) ( first time as show opener; first performance with Brian Johnson since 2003 ) Play Video
• Back in Black Play Video
• Demon Fire ( live debut ) Play Video
• Shot Down in Flames Play Video
• Thunderstruck Play Video
• Have a Drink on Me Play Video
• Hells Bells Play Video
• Shot in the Dark ( first time played live by AC/DC ) Play Video
• Stiff Upper Lip ( first time since 2003 ) Play Video
• Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Play Video
• Shoot to Thrill Play Video
• Sin City Play Video
• Givin the Dog a Bone Play Video
• Rock 'n' Roll Train Play Video
• You Shook Me All Night Long Play Video
• Dog Eat Dog ( first time with Brian since 2009 ) Play Video
• High Voltage Play Video
• Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be Play Video
• Riff Raff ( first time with Brian live ) Play Video
• Highway to Hell Play Video
• Whole Lotta Rosie Play Video
• Let There Be Rock ( with Angus Young guitar solo ) Play Video
• T.N.T. Play Video
• For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) Play Video

Note: First show since September 20th 2016; first show with Brian Johnson since February 28th 2016; Matt Laug filling in for Phil Rudd on drums.

Edits and Comments

140 activities (last edit by kfinch , 1 Jan 2024, 22:45 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Back in Black
• Givin the Dog a Bone
• Have a Drink on Me
• Hells Bells
• Shoot to Thrill
• You Shook Me All Night Long
• Dog Eat Dog
• Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
• Let There Be Rock
• Whole Lotta Rosie
• Highway to Hell
• If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
• Shot Down in Flames
• Shot in the Dark
• High Voltage
• Rock 'n' Roll Train
• Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
• For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
• Stiff Upper Lip
• Thunderstruck

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Power Trip 2023 setlists

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Ac/dc gig timeline.

• Sep 17 2016 Verizon Center Washington, DC, USA Add time Add time
• Sep 20 2016 Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, PA, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 07 2023 Power Trip 2023 This Setlist Indio, CA, USA Start time: 9:45 PM 9:45 PM
• May 17 2024 Veltins-Arena Gelsenkirchen, Germany Start time: 8:35 PM 8:35 PM
• May 21 2024 Veltins-Arena Gelsenkirchen, Germany Start time: 8:30 PM 8:30 PM

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AC/DC at Power Trip: if this is the band's last hurrah, they've gone out with an incredible, weekend-stealing set for the ages

Ac/dc's headline performance at power trip featured hits, debuts and rarities aplenty.

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

It's a miracle that AC/DC still exist. Between wayward drummers, retired bassists and cited hearing issues that forced singer Brian Johnson to sit out the majority of the band's 2016 tour - Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose guesting in his place - it was starting to look like a very real possibility that we might never see the band again. And good god, what a tragedy that would have been. 

Seven years away might have added a few more creaks and groans to the band's frame, but a sprawling 24-song set soon blows the cobwebs off as they pull out hits, rarities and even a few new tracks for their Power Trip headline spot. Kicking off with If You Want Blood (You've Got It) , AC/DC don't so much ease themselves in as leap headfirst, anthems coming thick and fast as Back In Black, Shot Down In Flames and Thunderstruck all fly out as early inclusions. 

A band built for - and from - the sweat of live performance, it's refreshing to see how surprisingly austere their production is. Yes, the on-stage visuals are gorgeous, but there are no massive trains, bulldozers or even an inflatable Rosie this time out; the focus instead being drawn entirely to the band on-stage and the sheer magic of their performance (and maybe the odd massive bell).  

“How lovely's this? Nice to see ya. Let’s get rocking and rolling.” Johnson remains a cheeky and lively presence on-stage, looking like one of the more hale members of the group as even Angus has to tone down his duckwalking antics to selected songs ( Shoot To Thrill and Let There Be Rock , if you're asking). But what he lacks in physical theatrics, he makes up for in instrumental wizardry, his every touch sending the guitar wailing as if 50,000 volts are being blasted through it. 

And when the guitar isn't screaming, the fans are. Power Up tracks Demon Fire and Shot In The Dark receive a warm welcome as new boogie-friendly additions to the band's canon, but it's anthems like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap , Whole Lotta Rosie and You Shook Me All Night Long that have voices roaring into the night sky. But there's a place for hits and rarities alike in the set, a two-hour extravaganza that throws up a miscellany of styles and tones.

Much like the ship of Theseus – or Trigger’s broom if you’d rather a reference from the last century – AC/DC have changed enough over the past 50 years that it can be hard to reconcile the band that wrote rock'n'roll tracks that take off at 100mph like Riff Raff with the more blues based Have A Drink On Me or Stiff Upper Lip . Yet the band approach each with the same expert craftmanship that ensures nothing but good times and massive smiles all around, indisputably AC/DC in everything they put their hand to. 

By the time AC/DC signal for the 21-gun salute of For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) , there's no doubt in our minds that they are still the greatest rock'n'roll stars to ever (duck) walk the planet. Whether Power Trip remains a one-off, or the staging ground for another massive global tour remains to be seen. But even if this is the band's last hurrah, there's no better way to go out than with a final almighty showing of raucous, rougish rock'n'roll that is celebrated the world over. Oft-copied, never surpassed. 

AC/DC setlist Power Trip festival October 7 2023

If You Want Blood (You've Got It) Back In Black Demon Fire Shot Down In Flames Thunderstruck Have A Drink On Me Hells Bells Shot In The Dark Stiff Upper Lip Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Shoot To Thrill Sin City Givin The Dog A Bone Rock'n'Roll Train You Shook Me All Night Long Dog Eat Dog High Voltage Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be Riff Raff Highway To Hell Whole Lotta Rosie Let There Be Rock T.N.T. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

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AC/DC Triumphs in First Show in 7 Years

Brian Johnson and Angus Young of ACDC, at the Power Trip festival

AC/DC returned to the stage on Saturday (October 7, 2023) for their first concert in seven years at the Power Trip festival. The performance, which headlined the second night of the three-day event in Indio, Calif., was a triumph for the legendary hard rock band, and marked the return of lead vocalist Brian Johnson as well as bassist Cliff Williams, joining mainstay lead guitarist Angus Young. For this show, drummer Phil Rudd was replaced by Matt Laug. The lineup is completed by rhythm guitarist Stevie Young. The audience, estimated at 80,000, was treated to a 24-song set of classic rock favorites followed by a fireworks display.

AC/DC powered its way through many of their iconic songs throughout the set, including “Back in Black,” “Thunderstruck,” “Hells Bells,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and “Highway to Hell,” as well as several numbers from their 2020 album,  Power Up .

AC/DC’s set followed one by Judas Priest, who were replacing Ozzy Osbourne. (Osbourne had bailed in July admitting that “my body is telling me that I’m just not ready yet.”) Power Trip began on Friday (Oct. 6) with sets by Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses. It closes tonight with Tool followed by Metallica.

Watch AC/DC’s introduction and their first two songs, “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” and “Back in Black”

Johnson departed the band in 2016 after suffering a hearing loss during the group’s “Rock or Bust” tour. He was replaced for the remainder of that tour by Axl Rose, though Johnson vowed to return. The vocalist issued a statement at that time that said he hoped to be able to resume his performance career eventually. “My entire focus is to continue medical treatment to improve my hearing,” he said. “I am hoping that in time my hearing will improve and allow me to return to live concert performances. While the outcome is uncertain, my attitude is optimistic.”

The concert marked the band’s first performance of “Demon Fire” from  Power Up .

The event is from Goldenvoice, the Coachella organizers who also produced 2016’s Desert Trip. The event was originally revealed on March 30 after teasers began to appear on the social media platforms of many of the acts involved.

Five songs in… “Thunderstruck”

Watch AC/DC perform “Givin the Dog a Bone” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”

Watch the spectacular main set’s closer, “Let There Be Rock”

And here’s the evening’s final number, “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”

Thanks to The Californian Adventurer for some of the great videos. Here’s hoping the band announces a full tour.

AC/DC Power Trip Festival, Oct. 7, 2023, Setlist “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” “Back in Black” “Demon Fire” “Shot Down in Flames” “Thunderstruck” “Have a Drink on Me” “Hells Bells” “Shot in the Dark” “Stiff Upper Lip” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” “Shoot to Thrill” “Sin City” “Givin the Dog a Bone” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train” “You Shook Me All Night Long” “Dog Eat Dog” “High Voltage” “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be Play Video” “Riff Raff” “Highway to Hell” “Whole Lotta Rosie” “Let There Be Rock”

Encore “T.N.T” “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”

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Is it just me, or is Brian’s range gone? He sure wasn’t hitting any high notes in “You Shook Me.” Now, I realize that this stuff is hard to sing, and that Brian is getting on up there in age, but he sure was singing flat and not hitting the high ones. I hope things will improve as more concerts unfold.

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Power Trip 2023: AC/DC setlist

AC/DC returned to the stage for the first time in seven years Saturday at Power Trip, but the Australian rockers proved they haven't missed a beat.

Here's what one of the most iconic bands in rock history performed at the Empire Polo Club on Oct. 7 (in chronological order):

• "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)"
• "Back in Black"
• "Demon Fire"
• "Shot Down in Flames"
• "Thunderstruck"
• "Have a Drink on Me"
• "Hells Bells"
• "Shot in the Dark"
• "Stiff Upper Lip"
• "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
• "Shoot to Thrill"
• "Givin the Dog a Bone"
• "Rock 'n' Roll Train"
• "You Shook Me All Night Long"
• "Dog Eat Dog"
• "High Voltage"
• "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be Play Video"
• "Riff Raff"
• "Highway to Hell"
• "Whole Lotta Rosie"
• "Let There Be Rock"
• "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"

Review: AC/DC rocks festival with first live show in seven years

Review: After seven-year absence, AC/DC proves the eternal joy of a riff and a screech

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Brian Johnson stood onstage at the Power Trip festival on Saturday night, two days after his 76th birthday, with the rest of AC/DC behind him for the first time in more than seven years.

In early 2016, the hard-rock band’s longtime frontman was forced off the road when doctors told him his hearing was at immediate risk; Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses stepped in to complete the group’s Rock or Bust tour. Thanks to technology he discovered on YouTube, Johnson regained enough hearing to make 2020’s “Power Up” album, which AC/DC framed as a tribute to founding guitarist Malcolm Young, who’d died in 2017. Then COVID scotched the band’s live plans.

“How cool is this?” Johnson asked as he looked out at a crowd filled with thousands of blinking light-up devil horns. Dressed as always in black jeans and a black T-shirt, tufts of hair poking out from beneath his signature flat cap, he allowed himself a few seconds to take in the sight — one he might’ve thought he wouldn’t see again — before cuing his bandmates to crank up “Back in Black.” The riff, of course, went off like a bomb.

At Power Trip, Guns N’ Roses ditches spectacle as it polishes the messy past

Guns N’ Roses headlined the first night of this weekend’s Power Trip hard rock festival with a show that lacked spectacle and mayhem.

Oct. 7, 2023

Was this gig at Power Trip — a three-day rock fest at the Empire Polo Club that also features Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Tool — a preamble to further road work from the reactivated AC/DC? The band hasn’t said one way or the other. (In addition to Johnson, the lineup here included lead guitarist Angus Young, Young’s nephew Stevie Young on rhythm guitar, bassist Cliff Williams and the veteran session and touring drummer Matt Laug in place of Phil Rudd, who’s faced a host of legal troubles in recent years.)

Yet it’s hard to see why these guys would opt not to keep playing. For one thing, those illuminated horns go for $20 a pop, to say nothing of the AC/DC T-shirts I’ve seen on what seems like every third person in the desert this weekend — not just at Power Trip but at the grocery store and the gas station and especially among the military-history enthusiasts at the Palm Springs Air Museum. On Saturday evening, the line snaking out of the festival merch tent was so long that you had to wonder if somebody was gonna miss AC/DC’s performance while waiting to buy an AC/DC hoodie.

More important, though, the band is simply still too good to hang it up; surely, the members — all in their 60s and 70s save for Laug, who’s 55 — recognize that that would constitute some kind of betrayal.

The group’s set, which lasted a little over two hours, stacked classic after classic (after classic): “Thunderstruck,” “Hells Bells,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” “Shoot to Thrill,” each delivered at deafening volume and with precisely the right blend of rawness and finesse. The Youngs sounded like they were using Brillo pads for guitar picks; Williams and Laug kept the grooves so square that somehow they were funky. Johnson’s voice, meanwhile, was a ruined screech, his words all but unintelligible — just the way you wanted it, not least when he voiced some horrifying idea about women’s bodies.

For visuals, the band had a giant wall of Marshall amplifiers and it had Angus Young, who duck-walked in his schoolboy uniform until he evidently got too hot for a jacket and tie; the guitarist spent the latter half of the show with his shirt open like the world’s swinging-est granddad at work on his old pickup. (Second-best look of the night came from Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, who opened his band’s set earlier Saturday in a silver jacket that evoked one of those crinkly trauma blankets.)

Naturally, AC/DC saved some of its biggest hits for near the end of the concert, and every time the band revved one of those indelible riffs — as in “You Shook Me All Night Long,” for instance, or “Highway to Hell” — you couldn’t believe you’d already heard so many all-timers without hearing this one. The show displayed absolutely no development of the group’s music because development is not what this group is about.

The whole point of AC/DC, which formed in 1973, is that the members stripped away everything unnecessary from rock music and found enough left to explore for half a century.

Half a century and then some, they made you hope on Saturday.

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“This is a celebration!” proclaimed Metallica’s James Hetfield midway through the band’s set at the first-ever all-metal “Power Trip” festival . His comment was actually an understatement: While major metal festivals have been staged for decades, this one placed six of the world’s most legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands in history on one stage at the Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. — home of Coachella festival and, of course, “Desert Trip,” the similarly billed 2016 classic-rock super-festival that featured Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

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If you’re thinking the crowd consisted largely of aging Beavis’ and Buttheads, you’re not wrong: One very awesome official tee shirt featured that duo headbanging on site, and the “newest” group in the lineup, Tool, released their first EP 31 years ago. And though many metalheads’ dreams of collaborations and reunions with past band members didn’t come to fruition, the fest was a testament to what nearly all of these long-running acts do best: hard-rocking classics and stage shows filled with various forms of over-the-toppedness, and with two acts playing per day to allow for proper headlining sets.

Worse, Guns N’ Roses, who have essentially been on one long tour since three key members reunited in 2016, played an over-long three-hour set that would have been much stronger if it was tighter. And while lead guitarist Slash has never sounded better, the same can’t be said for singer Axl Rose, whose vocals were inconsistent, perhaps due to the dry desert air.

Thankfully, rock valhalla arrived on day 2: Judas Priest and AC/DC were undeniable highlights of the weekend, with the former relentlessly blasting through hits like “A Touch Of Evil” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” with full confidence and a sound-mix that showed off 72-year old singer Rob Halford’s near-operatic range, which he somehow delivered in a series of leather outfits despite the 90-degree-plus heat. Founding guitarist Glenn Tipton, who is suffering from Parkinsons’ Disease, joined the band for their encore, a family-minded move that was clearly relished by the band and their fans.

The nearly sold-out crowd was swelling with flashing red devil horns by the time AC/DC took the stage for their first show since 2016, reuniting with singer Brian Johnson (who took a leave of absence that year for hearing related problems) and slammed the field with a 24-song set that included nearly every song a fan could hope for: “Back in Black,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Hell’s Bells,” “For Those About To Rock,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “High Voltage,” “Highway to Hell,” and many more, delivering a great reminder that they’re among the most influential rock bands of all time.

The final day was an ode to two different brands of intensity, with Tool — an outlier in the lineup, as they’re more associated with the ‘90s alt-rock movement than classic metal — playing a preposterously loud, overly ambitious set of their proggy, moody ear-blasts amid surreal psychedelic videos depicting skeletons, body parts, and shape-shifting aliens. Sadly, they do a disservice to fans further back by not allowing close-ups of them playing to appear on the video screens, leaving the audience to wonder whether all of those drum sounds come from superhuman skin-pounder Danny Carey (spoiler from the front: they do).

Power Trip was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see all these high-level heavy bands at once, and though there were some squandered opportunities to make the sets themselves stand out from what each of these bands does night after night on tour, devil horns were raised, countless beers were consumed, and ears were blown: a success by any suitable metric.

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AC/DC Make Victorious Return With First Live Show in Seven Years

By Charisma Madarang

Charisma Madarang

AC/DC took to the stage for the first time in seven years on Saturday night of the Power Trip festival .

It was the first time lead vocalist Brian Johnson performed live with the group since September 2016 in Philadelphia, following a 79-date Rock or Bust world tour. The ill-fated trek  required the services  of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose for the final 22 stops after Johnson bowed out with  hearing loss issues .

Saturday’s lineup also saw Matt Laug step in for drummer Phil Rudd, while longtime bassist Cliff Williams came out of retirement with Angus and Stevie Young on guitar.

AC/DC played a 24-song set and opened for the first time with “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It),” according to Spin . The performance also packed hits “Back in Black,” “Thunderstruck,” “Have a Drink on Me,” “Highway to Hell,” and “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

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Shakin’ at the knees ⚡️ @acdc pic.twitter.com/KAV6oFzvLW — Power Trip (@Powertriplive) October 8, 2023

Last year, Johnson told  Rolling Stone   he didn’t know if AC/DC would perform again. “I would love to,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. I think everybody would. There’s a groundswell of people just asking. But I hate talking about the future, because, fuck, we were ready two years ago, and the pandemic came, and it screwed everything up. So I’m terrified to say what could happen and what couldn’t.”

Power Trip also saw Judas Priest reunite with guitarist Glenn Tipton, who retired in 2018 due to Parkinson’s disease. The band filled in for former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who was scheduled to headline at the festival, but withdrew due to ongoing health issues .

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For those about to rock, we salute you.

On Tuesday, March 28, metal legends Metallica , Iron Maiden , Ozzy Osbourne and Tool posted cryptic teasers on Instagram promoting a new festival that goes by the name Power Trip.

Then, AC/DC entered the chat .

The legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers shared a short teaser video suggesting they’ll also be performing at Power Trip.

If Brian Johnson and co. were to play, this would be their first live show since 2016.

As of now, it looks like Power Trip will take place at Coachella’s home: the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA from October 6-8.

A full lineup announcement is expected to drop on March 30.

Stay tuned, headbangers.

Huge metal tours in 2023

While Power Trip rumors are certainly intriguing, we have news of metal tours guaranteed to hit venues near you this summer.

Here are just five of our favorite heavy treks we can’t wait to jump aboard these next few months.

• Metallica

•  Guns N’ Roses

• Avenged Sevenfold

• Rob Zombie with Alice Cooper

Need more music options? Check out our list of the 52 biggest concert tours in 2023 here .

• Album Release Calendar
• Festival Guide

Fans React to AC/DC’s Power Trip Festival Performance

Following their seven-year live hiatus, AC/DC have finally returned to the stage! As Loudwire posted about earlier today (Oct. 8), the iconic Australian rockers headlined the second day of this year’s Power Trip festival last night (Oct. 7), and naturally, fans and music writers couldn’t wait to share their thoughts on the performance.

Specifically, Classic Rock magazine concluded: “[I]f this is the band’s last hurrah, they’ve gone out with an incredible, weekend-stealing set for the ages.” Likewise, UCR declared that they made “a triumphant return” with “one-of-a-kind style and energy."

As for fans’ responses, they’ve been mostly positive thus far.

For instance, one person on X (formerly Twitter) wrote : “Great selection of songs and opening with ‘If You Want Blood’ a ripper idea. Only song I want added is ‘Jailbreak.’” Another attendee proclaimed that AC/DC – as well as Judas Priest – “rocked the stage,” while another made a bolder claim : “If AC/DC does eventually tour with the set they're ripping tonight at Power Trip, I will be levitating at one of those shows.”

That said, there has also been some criticism, such as one Facebook user arguing : “Brian really needs to bow out as gracefully as possible. He's going to lose his voice for good. Big props to Brian. He's really struggling, with some of the songs, at Power Trip. He's 76. God bless 'em.”

You can see those reactions – in addition to many others – below.

Given that AC/DC’s last show was on Sept. 20, 2016 (in Philadelphia, Pa.) – as well as the fact that they played classics such as “Back in Black,” “Hells Bells,” “Thunderstruck,” “T.N.T.” and “Highway to Hell” – it’s no surprise that most concertgoers were happy to see the boys back on stage.

Plus, they included a couple of live debuts (“Demon Fire” and “Shot in the Dark”), as well as a few tracks that hadn’t been played with frontman Brian Johnson in nearly 15 years (if not longer): “If You Want Blood (You've Got It),” “Stiff Upper Lip,” “Dog Eat Dog” and “Riff Raff.” READ MORE: What Metal Band Has Sold the Most Albums?

As for whether or not AC/DC will embark on the rumored 2024 tour, well, we’ll just have to wait and see. At the very least, we can hope that they’ll take Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo up on his offer to have them play at the 2024 NFL championship event at Allegiant Stadium (in Las Vegas, Nev.).

So, did you see AC/DC at this year’s Power Trip festival? If so, what’d you think of their set? Let us know!

Fans React to AC/DC’s Performance at Power Trip Festival 2023

2023 rock + metal music festival guide.

Gallery Credit: Todd Fooks

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Review: METALLICA, AC/DC, PRIEST and more rule first-ever Power Trip festival

"So the question I got for you right now: Do you want heavy? Indio, do you want heavy ?"

Even as he asked the question, James Hetfield already knew the answer, not just as Metallica 's frontman and co-founder, but as a true fan of all that had unfolded this past weekend at the Power Trip festival , set on the vast green fields of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, since 1999 the site of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. Metallica was joined there by five other essential headliners of metal and hard rock: AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and TOOL.

As hard-rock and metal summits go, Power Trip was unique in that it was limited to six acts, serving as a heavy-music answer to 2016's Desert Trip festival, which gathered a dream lineup of Sixties rock acts, including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and the Who at the same venue. TOOL, AC/DC and GN'R had all played Coachella in the past as sometimes lone representatives of heavy music on the festival bill, but gathered together, Power Trip was a show of force by some of the genre's biggest names over a three-day weekend, October 6th-8th.

There have been monumental metal summits before, one-off festivals and traveling roadshows over the decades remembered as much for hard partying and self-immolation as epic riffs. Back in 2004, Ozzfest had three pillars of metal with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Slayer all on the same stage in one eardrum-melting day. And in 2011, Metallica hosted the "Big 4" fest in Indio with fellow thrash originators Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.

With fall temperatures reaching 100 degrees and above in the desert, each act pushed through the heat and delivered in top form. One clear highlight was AC/DC, marking their first live performance in seven years. In that company, no act could fall short without some kind of shame, and none did.

On Sunday, Metallica kicked off their set with some of their most immediate songs, starting with the jagged thrash attack of "Whiplash," from the band's 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All . Then came "Creeping Death" and the hypnotic pulse of "For Whom the Bell Tolls," including a startling guitar wind-out from lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.

Unsurprisingly, Metallica was fully in shape after a summer tour of North America and Europe in support of their newest album, 72 Seasons . They performed 16 songs stretching from their early Eighties infancy to the present moment, including "Too Far Gone," a grinding growling tune with a forlorn Hetfield vocal, ending with Ulrich tossing his sticks hard into the crowd. At times, band members wandered out on a wide circular catwalk, much like on this year's world tour, designed to bring the players closer to fans. But there was something especially moving when they kept close around Ulrich's drumkit, standing tightly together like journeymen thrashers in a space the size of a one-car garage.

After playing a delicate guitar intro, Hetfield roared the opening lyric to 1997's "Fuel" — "Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire!" — to a tidal wave of flames that erupted across the stage. The quartet stretched out on the expansive instrumental "Orion" in tribute to their late bassist Cliff Burton, the primary writer of the song. During "Seek and Destroy," remnants of old flyers from their earliest days on the SoCal metal scene flashed on the screen. Ulrich took a rare solo, sending Robert Trujillo spinning in a circle with his bass.

"After 42 years of playing music, we don't take it for granted," Hetfield told the thousands gathered in front of him. "We love what we do. We get to do this. This is our purpose. There's been a bunch of bands here that we greatly respect because they have helped Metallica become Metallica. I got to see my heroes this weekend. We were down in the front headbanging."

During the inevitable closing "Master of Puppets," discovered by a new generation of listeners after appearing on Netflix's Stranger Things , one last mosh pit opened up near the stage. Then the set was over, and the big screen turned white, lighting up the faces of fans. In the festival's final moments, Ulrich grabbed the mic and declared the weekend a huge success, and a signal that "heavy music is alive and maybe doing better than ever before!"

As an esteemed veteran act on the bill, Iron Maiden started the festival off Friday with a 15-song, action-packed set built on decades of metal in the classic mode. Frontman Bruce Dickinson moved across the stage like a Shakespearean actor, gesturing dramatically to the band's three-layers of baroque guitars, and traded onstage canon fire with the band's ghoulish mascot Eddie, dressed in sci-fi battle gear. From an informal T-shirt count alone, Maiden was clearly the main event for many in the pit, and fans leaned forward to sing along to "Can I Play With Madness?" Later, there were delicate moments of guitar on "Fear of the Dark" before giving way to heavier riffs and Dickinson's hearty wail.

Behind the band was a kind of dystopian cityscape of the Blade Runner variety, with signs in Asian script and another announcing a "Mars Shuttle." As ever, special effects were at centerstage: A supersized Eddie appeared dressed as a samurai knight, doing battle with a bloody sword against the three guitarists, while "Hell on Earth" had fire shooting across the stage. By the time Maiden closed with a loud yet wistful "Wasted Years," they had fully demonstrated the firepower that had inspired generations of metal players.

Closing the festival's opening night was Guns N' Roses, delivering a marathon 29-song set that took the night to one minute past curfew and a blast of fireworks at 1:01 a.m. Opening with the signature rocker "It's So Easy," released as the band's debut single in 1987, the night was less about playing the hits than showcasing the band's history and range. Slash unfurled some sleazy, slippery bottleneck guitar on the Aerosmith-ish "Bad Obsession," while the big screen zoomed in on his fingers and skull rings in action.

Guns N' Roses last played on these grounds for Coachella in 2016 with the newly (and miraculously) reunited Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan at the band's core. Axl had a busted foot that night, and performed on a throne borrowed from Dave Grohl, but the reunion has held together in the years since. While no new album project has emerged after reuniting, onstage this expanded lineup of players was a tight unity, delivering the old songs and surprises.

Axl screamed the opening lines to "Welcome to the Jungle" — the threatening "You know where you are!?" and "I want to hear you scream!" — more screechy and insane than ever, as lasers shot over the crowd. The song began with a music history lesson as Slash played a bit of Link Wray's "Rumble," a direct influence on later generations of heavy players. The guitarist also closed "Civil War" with a taste of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child."

These and other moments showed Slash is still growing as a guitarist, bringing new shadings even to the older songs. During the big solos, he would lean back in his Alice Cooper T-shirt, face skyward, mirror shades catching the light. He brought some exotic jazzman subtlety during his solo on "Double Talkin' Jive," from Use Your Illusion I . Axl noted that the song's grisly opening line about finding a severed head and arm in a trash can behind the studio (during the recording of Use Your Illusion ) was a true story: "Whose they were, I don't know."

Duff stepped up to the mic for a snarling take on the Stooges' "TV Eye," sung with mad proto-punk force. There were other surprising covers, like Axl singing the 1968 Glen Campbell hit "Wichita Lineman," following a haunting echoing intro by guitarist Richard Fortus, and the more expected but always explosive "Live and Let Die," by Paul McCartney and Wings. Not every fan was able to make it the full three hours, and there were some empty seats by the very end of the night, but the run time was an impressive display of endurance for a band back in shape.

Night two began with Judas Priest, who announced their upcoming, 19th album, Invincible Shield , right before their set. The veteran "metal gods" stepped onstage only after Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" blasted the crowd, paying tribute to some sidelined friends and comrades: Sabbath was originally invited to play the festival but declined, and then Ozzy Osbourne had to cancel his set for health reasons, before Priest stepped into his slot.

Singer Rob Halford entered like the Gandalf of classic metal with a full white beard, silvery long coat and a cane, as the band erupted in rapid fire on two songs from 1982's Screaming for Vengeance : "Electric Eye" and "Riding on the Wind." With footage of motorcycles roaring across a desert landscape on the big screen, Halford unleashed his piercing operatic wail and walked up to the front of the stage and fans already chanting "Priest! Priest! Priest!"

The cane was gone, and Halford was in black motorcycle leather to sing along to the whiplash riffs of 1981's "Heading Out to the Highway." Later, "Turbo Lover" began with guitarist Ritchie Faulkner clapping a beat to get the crowd going. Guitarist-producer Andy Sneap stepped forward for a spaced-out solo, and the crowd shouted the chorus without being coached as Halford walked in front of them, waving his finger like a conductor. "Firepower," from the band's last album in 2018, inspired one of the first mosh pits of the weekend.

During the encore, after Halford arrived in classic biker attire on a roaring chopper for "Hell Bent for Leather," came their set's emotional high point: a rare appearance by longtime guitarist Glenn Tipton, who no longer tours with the band because of Parkinson's disease. Together, they closed out with a hit parade of "Metal Gods," "Breaking the Law" and their catchiest anthem, "Living After Midnight." Halford leaned in close during one of Tipton's solos, cheering him onward. By now Halford was in a floor-length denim battle vest covered in patches, the ultimate cheerleader for his metal genre.

Unlike the previous night, when fans left for food, drink or a bathroom break between the two bands, a large number of fans stayed put after Priest was done. No one wanted to give up their place for AC/DC, performing their first live gig since 2016. The day's army of anxious fans in new or vintage AC/DC T-shirts was apparent from the parking lot to the pit, as were the blinking red devil's horns available for purchase on-site that lit up the massive crowd to the horizon.

"How cool is this? Let's get rockin' and rollin'!" grunted singer Brian Johnson.

From the first song, "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)," to the closing "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)," AC/DC were back at full earth-shaking power, commanding the stage as one of the great and distinctive hard rock bands, built on songs and riffs that define a genre, and that somehow remain as immediate as when the band began in the Seventies. With a wall of Marshall amp cabinets behind them, Angus Young fired off bolts of electricity on lead guitar in his schoolboy uniform and tie, hopping and skipping up the catwalk.

Even on the lesser-known songs, the riffs, hooks and Johnson's growling goodtime vocals always delivered, even with the absence of late rhythm guitarist and riff master Malcolm Young. The crackling "Demon Fire" from 2020's Power Up album, released at the height of COVID-19, kept the formula alive and largely unchanged for a new decade. The 24-song set was also filled with radio hits from across their career. "All Night Long" was big and soaring, while "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" had a nastier edge, as Johnson approximated the original eccentric Bon Scott vocal. On "Shoot to Thrill," the singer acted out every syllable like the greatest balls-out raconteur in your favorite pub.

"Come on, sing it with me!" Johnson yelled with a grunt and a cackle from the catwalk, as a churning guitar began "Highway to Hell." Angus chanted the opening " Oi! Oi! Oi! " to begin "T.N.T." and Johnson growled ecstatically: "I'm dirty, mean and mighty unclean/I'm a wanted man/Public enemy No. 1/Understand?"

While there were fireballs and canon fire and fiery images on the big screen, the real power mostly resided in the songs, which had fans across the polo fields dancing and shouting along. AC/DC were done by midnight. Johnson thanked the crowd, looking overjoyed and pumping his arms excitedly before running off the stage.

The final night of Power Trip brought together two modern but very different versions of heavy music. Like Metallica, TOOL is fully capable of filling massive venues by themselves, with their own obsessive following. That only added to the rare nature of Power Trip as a gathering of metal tribes. Also notable was that TOOL was the youngest act in the lineup, starting merely three decades ago in 1990.

Their festival set began with two songs from the album 10,000 Days , slowly building things up from the shadows with the scraping of guitar strings and thundering beats of "Jambi," as singer Maynard James Keenan crouched on a shadowy perch, anxiously pacing in place, like a fighter ready to throw down. "The Pot" followed with crisp, growling guitar, as images of otherworldly architecture and life forms splashed across the screen.

"Good evening, Power Trip," said Keenan, barely lit but with his spiky mohawk wig visible in silhouette. "You all look great, and smell delicious."

Soon came the title song from the band's most recent album of epic-length tracks, Fear Inoculum , beginning the 10-minute piece with a mysteriously stretched ringing sound that drifted over the polo fields. In a voice soulful and meditative, Keenan sang cryptically from the near-dark: "Contagion, I exhale you/Naive I opened up to you/Venom in mania."

"Rosetta Stoned" was a rarely played deep cut recently reintroduced into the touring setlist, and at Power Trip it was built up in layers of relentless beats and deep rhythm from drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor, and guitar from Adam Jones that was as noisy and wild-eyed as an Ornette Coleman jazz solo. Keenan's voice soared, with a scream near the finish, pacing in a circle like a caged animal, as the big screen showed murky scenes of underwater horror and tortured life forms. While the band offered a sample of their shorter hits from the Nineties ("Ænema" and "Stinkfist"), even the later epics seemed to go by quickly in a 12-song set.

They played no encore (the only band not to). With their mind-expanding set of epic songs behind them, TOOL said their goodbyes at human scale. Jones brought out one of his kids onstage, and Carey had his long-haired son toss out a small drum-head. It would make for a prize memento from a show to remember.

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The Pretty Reckless to Support AC/DC on 2024 PWR Up European Tour

Taylor Momsen and the Pretty Reckless will support AC/DC on the "Hells Bells" band's upcoming 2024 European tour . The news was announced on Monday morning (March 25) when AC/DC shared a poster for their first Euro swing in eight years, which will feature the "Only Love Can Save Me Now" band serving as the only opener on all 24 dates of the stadium outing slated to kick off on May 17 at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

"It's f–king AC/DC. That's it," the band says when asked to describe their excitement about hitting the road with the "Dirty Deeds" icons.

AC/DC's first European tour in nearly a decade will find the band playing with a line-up featuring singer Brian Johnson, guitarist Angus Young, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney replacing longtime bassist Cliff Williams; Williams retired from the band at the conclusion of their 2016  Rock  or Bust tour, returning to the fold briefly for the 2020  Power Up  album. Johnson was temporarily replaced by Guns ‘N Roses singer Axl Rose in 2016 due to Johnson's battle with hearing loss issues.

The AC/DC tour will hit Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland before touching down at London's Wembley Stadium for a pair of shows on July 3 and 7, then moving on to Germany, Slovakia and Paris and winding down at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland on August 17. The European tour is the first run of gigs since AC/CD's long-awaited return to the stage at last year's all-star hard rock Power Trip Festival in Indio, California.

See the Pretty Reckless announcement and the AC/DC 2024 European tour dates below.

AC/DC 2024 European summer tour dates :

May 17 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany @ Veltins Arena

May 21 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany @ Veltins Arena

May 25 – Reggio Emilia, Italy @ RCF Arena

May 29 – Seville, Spain @ La Cartuja Stadium

June 5 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Johan Cruyff Arena

June 9 – Munich, Germany @ Olympic Stadium

June 12 – Munich, Germany @ Olympic Stadium

June 16 – Dresden, Germany @ Messe

June 23 – Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel Stadium

June 26 – Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel Stadium

June 29 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Letzigrund Stadium

July 3 – London, England @ Wembley Stadium

July 7 – London, England @ Wembley Stadium

July 13 – Hockenheim, Germany @ Ring

July 17 – Stuttgart, Germany @ Wasen

July 21 – Bratislava, Slovakia @ Old Airport

July 27 – Nuremberg, Germany @ Zeppelinfeld

July 31 – Hannover, Germany @ Messe

August 9 – Dessel, Belgium @ Festivalpark Stenehei 

August 13 – Paris, France @ Hippodrome ParisLongchamp

August 17 – Dublin, Ireland @ Croke Park

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