{"id":2509940,"date":"2026-07-20T19:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2509940"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:48:14","slug":"for-madisonians-about-to-rock-ac-dc-salutes-you-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/for-madisonians-about-to-rock-ac-dc-salutes-you-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"For Madisonians about to rock, AC\/DC salutes you | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Food & Culture newsletter<\/a> for exclusive weekly insight.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Hazardous air quality and 80-degree heat could not keep AC\/DC fans away from Camp Randall Stadium on Sunday night. Hours before the show, Regent Street became a sea of black T-shirts as thousands gathered for the band\u2019s first Madison show in 25 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aussie rock legends returned \u2014 albeit a bit grayer \u2014 with a crowd-pleasing, two-hour-plus set featuring 21 songs and nearly every hit fans came to hear. Led by co-founding guitarist Angus Young and longtime vocalist Brian Johnson, alongside rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Matt Laug, the band showed it could still command a stadium more than 50 years into its career.<\/p>\n

The Camp Randall show was part of the North American leg of AC\/DC\u2019s \u201cPower Up\u201d tour, named after the band\u2019s 2020 album. With the band promoting the run as a chance to \u201cPower Up for the Last Time,\u201d many fans viewed Sunday\u2019s concert as a rare opportunity to see the rock icons in Madison again, perhaps for the final time.<\/p>\n

Madison resident Brad Jelinek remembers AC\/DC\u2019s last Madison performance \u201cgoing hard\u201d at the Kohl Center in 2001. This summer\u2019s show was an opportunity to relive that experience before the band hangs it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe they\u2019re still at it,\u201d Jelinek said. \u201cIt feels like this is kind of a send-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

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AC\/DC opened their set at Camp Randall with \u201cIf You Want Blood (You’ve Got It).\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite the 25-year gap, AC\/DC hits like \u201cBack In Black\u201d and \u201cThunderstruck\u201d have become fixtures at Camp Randall, echoing through the stadium as rallying cries for Badger fans on game days. AC\/DC\u2019s catalog is full of these ubiquitous, arena-ready rock anthems, built on Young\u2019s thunderous riffs and Johnson\u2019s singalong choruses, making the band’s music as perfect for a live setting as it is for radio and gameday affairs.<\/p>\n

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Devil horns were prominent during AC\/DC\u2019s set at Camp Randall on July 19. Many fans wore light up devil horn headbands and fans made the symbol for devil honrs with their hands as they rocked out.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s an enduring quality of the band\u2019s biggest songs that anyone can point to: even if you\u2019re not so familiar with the band, you\u2019ve most likely heard the songs, somewhere, and you can probably sing along.<\/p>\n

Before the show, one song kept coming up when fans were asked what they were most excited to hear: \u201cHighway to Hell.\u201d For concertgoers Anthony Feller and Mara Matovich, the chance to see a song they\u2019ve been familiar with for years in a stadium of fans was part of the appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone knows the songs, but it\u2019s a whole other experience to see them live,\u201d Matovich said.<\/p>\n

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Brian Johnson has been the lead singer for AC\/DC since 1980. He took over the role after Bon Scott died that same year.<\/p>\n

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The band wasted no time establishing the tone for the night, breaking into opener \u201cIf You Want Blood (You\u2019ve Got it)\u201d and \u201cBack In Black\u201d with the energy of a group far younger. Dressed in his trademark schoolboy uniform (shorts and knee socks) Young sprinted across the stage while Johnson stalked the catwalk, feeding off the crowd\u2019s enthusiasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The night hit another gear when Young\u2019s unmistakable \u201cThunderstruck\u201d riff echoed through Camp Randall five songs into the set. The latter portion of the show belonged to Young, who did his signature duck walk \u2014 low squat, guitar forward, as he charged across the stage on one foot \u2014 all while ripping into guitar solos that showcased the guitarist\u2019s enduring showmanship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Angus Young points to the sky at the end of a song as the crowd cheers during AC\/DC\u2019s stop at Camp Randall as part of their Power Up Tour.<\/p>\n

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He took to the elevated catwalk platform for \u201cLet There Be Rock,\u201d where he got cheeky, even using his tie to shred on his guitar chords at one point. While the extensive solo on \u201cLet There Be Rock\u201d tested the patience of some concertgoers, with a few fans beginning to file out before the encore, the band quickly regained momentum.<\/p>\n

AC\/DC returned to close with \u201cT.N.T.\u201d before ending the night fittingly with \u201cFor Those About to Rock (We Salute You),\u201d complete with a fireworks show and cannon fire. Even after more than two hours on stage, the band showed no signs of slowing down, a testament to the stamina they bring to these performances.<\/p>\n

Maybe Sunday\u2019s show was the last time AC\/DC will play in Madison. If so, Johnson made sure the show ended on a fitting send-off in his final message to the Madison fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you!\u201d he shouted. \u201cWe salute you, Madison.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brian Johnson sings to the crowd during the opening number for AC\/DC at Camp Randall.<\/p>\n

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At 71, Angus Young is the sole continuous member of AC\/DC. He was one of the band\u2019s founders back in 1973.<\/p>\n

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Two fans sport their light up devil horns as they wait for AC\/DC to take the stage at Camp Randall.<\/p>\n

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Brian Johnson passionately sang some of AC\/DC\u2019s biggest hits like \u201cBack in Black,\u201d the second song of the band\u2019s set at Camp Randall.<\/p>\n

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Brian Johnson and Angus Young rock out during \u201cBack in Black,\u201d one of AC\/DC\u2019s most famous songs.<\/p>\n

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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Food & Culture newsletter for exclusive weekly insight. Hazardous air quality and 80-degree heat could not keep AC\/DC fans away from Camp Randall Stadium on Sunday night. Hours before the show, Regent Street became a sea of black T-shirts as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2509941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2509940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/For-Madisonians-about-to-rock-ACDC-salutes-you-Entertainment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2509940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509942,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509940\/revisions\/2509942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2509941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2509940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2509940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2509940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}