AC/DC made a bang with their return to Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday night (11/12) that not only made a blip on the richter scale, but also inspired a world record from their fans.

Although the legendary rockers led by guitarist Angus Young and singer Brian Johnson are from Sydney and Newcastle, respectively, Melbourne has warmly embraced the group over the years.

In 2004, the city leaders unanimously voted to rename one of its streets "AC/DC Lane." When the mayor revealed the sign, he said "as the song says, there is a highway to hell, but this is a laneway to heaven. Let us rock."

And on cue, a group of bagpipers played the melody from the group's hit, "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" whose 1976 music video was shot Swanston Street in Melbourne.

Therefore since the city of over 5 million cannot claim the hard rock legends as their own via birthright, they do have bragging rights about the video of that tune.

Now The Garden City has a new feather to put in its cap, as prior to the group's two-night stand at the 80,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Grounds, 374 bagpipers were assembled to perform "It's a Long Way to the Top...," breaking the previous record by 41.

One of the record-breakers was 98 years-old.

What's interesting is the band has not played the tune live since Bon Scott, their original singer (and the one in the video), died in 1979. And even in the late '70s they didn't put it on the setlist much.

After performing it a bunch in '76, they played it once in Sydney in '77, once in San Francisco in '78, and for a final time in London in '79 -- then never again.

The song, though means a great deal to their fans, and especially to those who grew up on the early albums of the hard rockers.

Metallica, for example, plays a recording of the song at the start of their show to pump both themselves and the crowd up, and have been doing so since 2020.

While Angus, his nephew Stevie Young (rhythm guitar), Brian, drummer Matt Laug (formerly Slash’s Snakepit and Alice Cooper), and bassist Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction, Alanis Morissette), did not play the bagpipe banger, they did dust off a gem that hadn't been performed live in 34 years: the badass "Jailbreak."

The band has had the most curious relationship with the tune with the rebellious theme and meaty riff. It was the lead single of their second Australian release, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976), coming out even before the now-classic title track.

It, too, had a music video, which was also shot in Melbourne. But in the wake of the smash success of Back in Black (1980), when Atlantic decided to put out an international (re-)release for the album, they replaced a number of tunes for others, and "Jailbreak" was sent back in the hole.

It wasn't until 1984, after their 1983 LP, Flick of the Switch, bombed, the record company decided to repackage "Jailbreak" as an EP and give the fans one last taste of Bon.

The tune that was performed live 20 times in '76 and 39 times in '77, wasn't allowed to receive any visitors until '85, '86. '88 and '91, where it was one of the highlights of those tours.

But then it must have broken parole or something because back to the pokey it went. Until last week.

And if you notice, it was paired alongside it's old pal, "Dirty Deeds" - as it was Sunday (11/16).

Was this the one-two punch that caused the nervous shakedown? Perhaps.

According to Australia's ABC News, the music emanating from AC/DC's first concert in Melbourne in a decade could be heard 6.2 miles away (10 kilometers).

More importantly the Seismology Research Centre in Richmond, about 3.5 Km from the MCG, was able to register the rock in the 2-5 hertz range.

"The sound waves that people were experiencing nearby and feeling something through their bodies, that's the equivalent to what our seismographs feel," its chief scientist, Adam Pascale told ABC.

While that may be impressive, and it's nice to list AC/DC alongside Metallica and Travis Scott as being able to make the earth move. According to Mr. Pascale, no one was able to shake it off as strong as Taylor Swift (with Sabrina Carpenter opening) when she had her Eras Tour down under last year.

AC/DC still has some chances to rock some foundations. Their Power Up tour has several more dates in Aussieland, followed with by a 2026 World Tour.

Get tix on the AC/DC website.

Power Up Tour 2025-26

11/21 Accor Stadium, Sydney, Australia
11/25 Accor Stadium, Sydney, Australia
11/30 bp Adelaide Grand Final, Adelaide, Australia
12/04 Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia
12/08 Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia
12/14 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
12/18 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia 2/24 Estádio do MorumBIS, São Paulo, Brazil
2/28 Estádio do MorumBIS, São Paulo, Brazil
3/04 Estádio do MorumBIS, São Paulo, Brazil
3/11 Parque Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile
3/15 Parque Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile
3/23 Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3/27 Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3/31 Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina 4/07 Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, Mexico
4/11 Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, Mexico
4/15 Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, Mexico 7/11 Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
7/15 Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
7/19 Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI
7/24 Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
7/28 Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, CO 8/01 Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV
8/05 Levi's Stadium, San Francisco, CA
8/09 Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Canada
8/13 BC Place, Vancouver, Canada
8/27 Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
8/31 NRG Stadium, Houston, TX 9/04 Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, IN
9/08 The Dome at America's Center, St. Louis, MO
9/12 Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Canada
9/16 Rogers Stadium, Toronto, Canada
9/25 MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
9/29 Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA