AC/DC in Edinburgh: the last time I saw them in Edinburgh, my ticket cost just £4

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For those about to rock … I salute you!

The news that AC/DC are coming to Murrayfield Stadium for a gig later this year certainly pricked up my ears. I’m waiting with baited breath on ticket prices and then mentally preparing myself for the refresh-itis that will surely follow the moment the box office opens and we find ourselves in that hellish online queue.

I’ve only seen the band play live once, and that was back in 1982 when tickets cost just £4. Today’s generation of gig-goers cannot comprehend how little we paid to see some of the biggest bands on stage - £6 to see Springsteen, £4.50 to see the Rolling Stones, both at the Playhouse in its days as a brilliant live music venue. Contrast that with the £75 per seat I shelled out this week to see Alice Cooper at the same venue ...

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AC/DC appeared at the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh, on October 11, 1982 as part of their tour to promote the ‘For Those About To Rock’ album. My mate and I must have got the last seats on sale as we were in the very back row of the balcony, looking down on a see of denim covered in patches. I recall sticking out like a sore thumb as we’d rushed from work in the days when collar and ties were mandatory in the office - I drew the line at tying my tie round my head and ripping open my shirt. No-one needed to see my pasty teen torso.

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young. Picture: Getty ImagesAC/DC guitarist Angus Young. Picture: Getty Images
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young. Picture: Getty Images

I was deep into heavy rock back then, but it was the ‘Back In Black’ album that really got me into the band. The Bon Scott eras kinda passed me by as I got into Rainbow, Whitesnake and then took a left turn into Frank Zappa and all manner of weird ‘60s psychedelia – Iron Butterfly anyone? – thanks to weekend trips to the much missed Ezy Rider Record Store up in Forrest Road.

Back In Black had me hooked from the first strike of the funeral bell, and several of its tracks certainly shook the walls of our house as I cranked up the volume on my bedroom stereo, so when the band rolled into town the following year, it was a must-see show.

Fragments of the gig remain, but none more so than the encore and For Those About To Rock as the band unveiled two giant canons on stage. I swear when Brian Johnson yelled ‘fire!’ the impact of the explosion knocked me back into my seat.

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Listening to the album again all these years on, and it still rocks, while on my YouTube go-to list is footage of the band playing an insane gig in a stadium in River Plate in Argentina. The footage of the entire pitch jumping is gobsmacking - and terrifying. I’ve been in crowds like that and you simply go with the flow - at Ingliston to see Queen circa 1982, my mate and I were swept up and deposited about 40 feet nearer the stage. - but nothing close to matching that extraordinary energy. Come Friday’s sale, this old rocker will be bidding for a seat…

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