‘Are You Ready’: AC/DC Teases a Return

12 Feb 2024

Billboard

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AC/DC's social accounts are alive with hints of a concert tour.

AC/DC is about to rock, again.

The Rock Hall-inducted band teases something massive, by way of their social accounts.

After a glimpse at the Australian rockers’ iconic lightning bolt, a countdown to a snippet of “Are You Ready,” lifted from 1990’s The Razors Edge.

A storm is clearly brewing. Those signs of life could point to a tour, the warm-up for which was AC/DC’s performance October 2023 at Goldenvoice’s debut PowerTrip festival in Indio, California, their first in seven years.

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An AC/DC reunion is always a blockbuster moment.

The band’s 18th and most recent studio album, Power Up, blasted to the summit of the Billboard 200, for their third leader, and on the Official U.K. Albums Charts, for their fourth No. 1.

In their homeland, Power Up charged to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart for their sixth leader, setting a unique record as the only Australian group to have No. 1 albums in each of the past five decades.

Power Up welcomed back British frontman Brian Johnson, who had stepped aside while touring in 2016 due to hearing-loss issues (Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses filled in on 22 shows), and saw drummer Phil Rudd reunite with the group after a stint in rehab.

Angus Young and Co. didn’t tour in support of Power Up. Their seven-leg, 17-month-long stadium tour Rock or Bust tour wrapped up in September 2016 and remains the band’s last full-scale jaunt.

Formed in Sydney, the rockers were inducted into the inaugural ARIA Hall of Fame, saluted at a ceremony in 1988, alongside Dame Joan Sutherland, Johnny O’Keefe, Slim Dusty, Col Joye and Vanda & Young.Later, in 2003, AC/DC were elevated into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, during a ceremony in the U.S. with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler on induction duties.

A decade later, in 2013, Back In Black was entered into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, established by the Recording Academy to honor “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”

Produced by Mutt Lange, the record hasn’t lost any of its lustre. Earlier this year, its title track passed one billion streams on YT, joining an exclusive club of music videos from the 1980s. “Back In Black” is their second music video to reach the milestone, after “Thunderstruck” got there in November 2021.