The day bagpipers stormed Fed Square ... with a little help from AC/DC
They came to set a new world record. And with the help of Accadacca’s Long Way to the Top, the kilted musicians got there.
The day bagpipers stormed Fed Square ... with a little help from AC/DC
AC/DC’s first Australian tour in a decade – and who knows, possibly their last – was a genuine cultural moment for Melbourne.
There were the two big nights at the MCG in November, in which Angus Young proved beyond all doubt that a 70-year-old schoolboy is still one of the very best shredders in the business. There was a spin-off free gig at Federation Square for support act Amyl and the Sniffers, which ought to have been a victory lap for the all-conquering hometown heroes, fresh off a Grammy nomination. But, instead, it made headlines for all the wrong reasons when hundreds of people rushed the fences, sparking fears of a crowd crush, and the gig was cancelled before the band could take the stage.
Hundreds of pipers were piping in Melbourne’s Federation Square to break a world record in honour of AC/DC.Credit: Justin McManus
Still, they managed to enhance their local legend status by donating their fee for the show to pay for drinks at seven rock’n’roll friendly pubs around town.
A couple of days before that, though, Federation Square (in collaboration with the ABC and City of Melbourne) successfully staged one of the more spectacular and heartwarming events of the year, as hundreds of bagpipers played along to It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’Roll).
They were attempting to set a new world record for a massed performance on one of music’s most, er, divisive instruments. The previous record was 333 players, set in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2012. Organisers claim they had 374 players at Federation Square, and a new record was duly set.
Thousands more watched on as the pipers – representing a vast range of age, gender and ethnicities, but most wearing the kilts, waistcoats, white shirts and ties of their associated bands – played in unison (mostly) the bagpipe sections of the song.
A more Melbourne moment you would struggle to find.
Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young founded AC/DC in Sydney, and recorded the song there in December 1975, but Long Way will forever be associated with our city. For starters, the band had relocated here in 1974, with former Fremantle rocker Bon Scott now on lead vocals. They lived in a share house at 6 Lansdowne Road, St Kilda East, along with a couple of their roadies, and the place became notorious as a wild party hangout.