The Australian leg of AC/DC‘s Power Up tour kicked off Wednesday evening at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, marking the band’s first live appearance in their home country since 2015. To reward fans for their patience, the group dipped deep into their back catalog and dug out “Jailbreak” for the first time since 1991.
MORE: AC/DC’s First Australian Show in a Decade Proves They’re Far From Done
“Jailbreak” was first released as a single in England and Australia in 1976, and it appeared on the Australian edition of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but it wasn’t available in North America until 1984, when they released the ’74 Jailbreak EP. The song was a live favorite throughout the Bon Scott Era, and Brian Johnson started singing it on the band’s 1985 Flick of the Switch tour. But it hadn’t surfaced anywhere since November 16, 1991, when AC/DC wrapped up the Razor’s Edge world tour at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.
AC/DC are ostensibly on tour in support of Power Up, but they’re only playing two songs (“Demon Fire” and “Shot in the Dark”) from the 2020 LP. (They were unable to tour when it came out due to the pandemic.) The rest of the set comes from their extensive catalog. It’s a 21-song show with 12 tunes coming from the Bon Scott period, and the other nine coming from Brian Johnson’s era.
Prior to Power Up, it was unclear if AC/DC would ever tour with Johnson again due to the singer’s hearing problems. He had to step away from their 2016 tour per doctor’s orders. The group brought in Axl Rose to finish out the tour, stunning many longtime fans.
“When you run through the different scenarios, none of them were the best options,” guitarist Angus Young told Rolling Stone in 2020. “You think, ‘Should we cancel?’ Then we’d have the other pieces, the legal stuff and whatnot. We got suggestions from management. ‘Maybe if you try put something together that you might get …’ There was a list of people that might fill in. Out of the blue, Axl Rose contacted and said he could help out, which was very good.”
This wasn’t the ideal scenario for Johnson. “I didn’t feel too good myself about the whole thing,” he told Rolling Stone in 2020. “But that was then. With all bands and things, there are little bumps in the road.”
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But thanks to time away from the stage and a sophisticated new in-ear hearing device, Johnson was able to return to active AC/DC duty for the creation of Power Up. They finally kicked off the tour in May 2024 with a new lineup of the band that included drummer Matt Laug and bassist Chris Chaney.
They wrap up the 2025 leg on Dec. 18 in Brisbane and head to South America in February 2026. Another U.S. stadium leg begins July 11, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina. They’ll be joined by the Pretty Reckless at every show, wrapping up September 29 in Philadelphia.
From Rolling Stone US
