Planning for the event is already underway through the council’s Future Melbourne Committee, which wants to mark the 50th anniversary of the band’s music video of It’s a Long Way To The Top filmed in early 1976, which saw the band play on the back of a flatbed truck driving down Melbourne’s Swanston Street.
Although AC/DC has not played in Australia since 2015, they have announced two dates (November 12 and 16) at the MCG as part of their POWER UP world tour. Arguably Australia’s most successful rock export, they have now sold more than 200 million albums globally and more than 100 million in United States alone.
Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Nick Reece described the move as “all about celebrating Australia’s most successful rock band” suggesting watching the band roll down Swanston Street would, ”lift your spirits immeasurably”.
The council wants to collaborate with the band’s management, the Victorian Government, corporate sponsors and the music industry for the event and has suggested some financing would come from the councillor discretionary fund for a city-wide tribute to maximise its cultural and economic benefits.
Reece invoked some of the band’s lyrics stating the event “will be dynamite; it will be TNT – it will be a great moment for our city” which he describes as “one of the rock ‘n’ roll capitals of the world”.
AC/DC was formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young in Sydney.
