Sometimes the most iconic image at an AC/DC show isn’t happening onstage at all. It’s out there in the darkness—between songs, when the volume drops for just a heartbeat—where a sea of glowing red devil horns floats in anticipation. Thousands of tiny crimson beacons hovering in the black, each one attached to someone waiting for the next riff, the next memory, the next jolt of electricity. On the first of AC/DC’s two Perth nights at Optus Stadium, that image became the unofficial emblem of the evening: a congregation of all ages, all backgrounds, all stories, gathered after ten long years for the same reason—rock and roll.
The band hit like a sledgehammer from the opening blast of “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”—a song that is a simply timeless declaration that Rock and Roll will never die. After a decade away from Australian stages, AC/DC returned not as nostalgia merchants but as a living, breathing force. “Back in Black” rolled in with that familiar swagger, a reminder of just how embedded these riffs are in the DNA of generations. Some in the crowd had been toddlers last time the band toured. Some had been old then and were older now, but still rocking as hard. In that moment, the age gap collapsed entirely. Rock and roll, at its purest, doesn’t care how many years you’ve collected just that you are here, now, in the moment.
“Demon Fire” delivered a newer spark before the band dropped straight into “Shot Down in Flames”, and then the stadium erupted for “Thunderstruck.” No matter how many times you’ve heard it, that lightning-strike intro still sends a shock through the spine of any room, especially one filled with 60,000 raised fists and devil horns. “Have a Drink on Me” swaggered in with bluesy grit, then the bell tolled across the venue for “Hells Bells”, its ominous clang echoing around the rafters.
The band mixed eras with ease—“Shot in the Dark” brought modern bite, “Stiff Upper Lip” hit with its underrated groove, sounding better than ever tonight, and then came the immortal highway that every Australian can trace in their mind. “Highway to Hell” roared out like a national anthem, Angus duckwalking in communion with tens of thousands screaming every word. This was the song, if you had to pick one, that meant the world to this Perth crowd, and explains so well the mythology of the band and that all Australian’s have their own personal connection. When Brian mentions the band later in the set there’s a nod to Bon Scott and the legacy he created, and Brian just humbly notes himself as ‘a messenger’. It’s a moment that touches everyone here.
From there, the show became a parade of pure rock grit: “Shoot to Thrill”, “Sin City”, a raw and sprawling “Jailbreak”, and the sinister stomp of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” “High Voltage” and “Riff Raff” kept the energy burning fierce and bright. “You Shook Me All Night Long” turned the stadium into the world’s largest karaoke bar, and “Whole Lotta Rosie” proved once again why the band’s 70s catalog is untouchable. And then there was “Let There Be Rock”—a sermon delivered by Angus Young himself, tearing across the stage with the kind of ferocity that makes you wonder how the hell he still does it.
But the night wasn’t over. The encore hammered home the band’s mythos: “T.N.T.” detonated like an explosion finally released after years of pressure, and “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” closed the night with cannon fire that rattled the stadium, the city, and—judging by the smiles—the souls of everyone inside.
Beyond the spectacle, beyond the riffs and the volume and the decades of heritage, there was something else lingering in the air: lineage. AC/DC have become one of the last giants of a certain kind of rock and roll—loud, simple, powerful, unbroken. And standing in that crowd, watching kids perched on parents’ shoulders next to lifelong fans who’ve weathered every lineup and every album, the question hung there in the smoke: who takes up the mantle next? Maybe no one does. Maybe rock and roll isn’t a torch passed down but an energy rediscovered, generation after generation. Judging by the mix of faces lit by those devil horns, the music still transcends age, time, trend, and fashion.
And just like it began, the night ended in darkness—cannons smoking, Angus bowing, the final salute fading into the night. Then, as people caught their breath, the sea of red lights rose once more. Thousands of glowing horns pushing slowly toward the exits, drifting into the Perth night like embers from a rock and roll fire that refuses to die.
The most iconic image wasn’t onstage. It was us—united by rock and roll, ten years of waiting, a lifetime in the making, and still shining red in the dark.
Australian openers The Southern River Band and Amyl and the Sniffers set the tone perfectly, each bringing their different flavour of rock to AC/DC’s first night in Perth. The Southern River Band arrived with hometown swagger—quite literally from just down the rail line in Thornlie—and delivered a set steeped in that dirty, unadorned classic-rock grit that has always been part of AC/DC’s DNA. Their rising-star status feels more like a certainty than a promise, with big riffs, big personalities, and songs built to fill spaces far larger than the pubs they cut their teeth in. There’s a rugged charm to their musicianship, tight but unpretentious, and on a stage this size they looked right at home.
Then came Amyl and the Sniffers, who detonated onto the stage with explosive punk energy that instantly snapped the stadium awake. Their presence reinforces something long standing fans have always known about AC/DC: that they were always a band that defied labels. When they first hit the UK in the ’70s, punks as well as rockers embraced them, and tonight that lineage is alive again in Amyl’s feral, electrifying attack. They’re a different beast entirely from Southern River—ferocious, breathless, impossible to ignore—yet just as captivating. Together, the two bands showcased the breadth of modern Australian rock: one raw and ragged in the best possible way, the other sharp, wild and flammable. And neither looked remotely out of place sharing the biggest stage of the year.
AC/DC PHOTO GALLERY
