An unusual event will take place to mark the death of the vocalist Bon Scott of the band AC/DC who died 40 years ago.
Next year on March 1st 2020, 10 km of the Australian Canning Highway, the motorway frequently travelled by Scott in his youth, will close between Canning Bridge and Fremantle.
That’s to host the world’s longest festival stage. The rolling concert event will schedule 8 bands playing AC/DC covers which will include Amyl and the Sniffers, Shonen Knife and more.
This particular stretch of tarmac due to close is known as the real Highway To Hell, so named because a number of fatal crashes occurred along that spot and have since been indelibly printed in vinyl by the band’s iconic 1979 album.
The AC/DC video ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’, which featured the band playing on the back of a truck as it rode through Melbourne is the inspiration behind the event.
According to NME, this performance will be part of the 2020 Perth Festival, Iain Grandage, the artistic director told The Guardian about his plans for the show.
“The kicker was when we found out that the [festival closing] date was 40 years to the day,” he said of the anniversary of Scott’s ashes arriving at Fremantle Cemetery. “It was like, ‘We just have to do this’, despite the ridiculous size of it.”
The line-up for the event is impressive according to Grandage, “Covers feels like a dirty word. These will be more like creative responses.”
Other news of AC/DC from the start of the year includes Brian Johnson saying that he will “absolutely” tour again with AC/DC.
He had to pull away from the band in 2016 due to hearing loss. A new AC/DC and Eagles supergroup with Johnson and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh will be launched soon after they confirmed they had been working together in the studio.
