AC/DC and Judas Priest both turned in notable sets Saturday at Power Trip, the three-day hard rock festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California venue that’s the site of Coachella.
AC/DC’s 24-song set was their first performance since September 20th, 2016, the last show Axl Rose fronted as a temporary replacement for singer Brian Johnson, who’d stepped away from the band after their February 28th show that year due to hearing problems that doctors told him could lead to permanent deafness. Johnson has since recovered and is back with the band.
Saturday’s show also marked the AC/DC debut of American drummer Matt Laug, who has played with Slash’s Snakepit and Alice Cooper, as the latest replacement for mainstay Phil Rudd.
AC/DC kicked things off with ”If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It),” which they’d never used to open a concert before, and played ”Demon Fire” and ”Shot in the Dark” off 2020s Power Up album live for the first time. The show also featured the first performance in two decades of ”Stiff Upper Lip” and Johnson’s first public live version of the Bon-Scott-era song ”Riff Raff.”
Judas Priest, who filled in for Ozzy Osbourne who wasn’t able to perform due to health ailments, turned in an 18-song set that was most notable for its final three encore numbers — ”Metal God,” “Breaking the Law” and ”Living After Midnight” — during which they were joined by original guitarist Glenn Tipton, who’s still officially a band member but rarely plays with them live due to his Parkinson’s disease. There’s fan shot video of their full set, as well as AC/DC’s on YouTube.
Prior to Priest’s set, a graphic was flashed on the screen announcing that their new album, The Invincible Shield, will be released on March 8th of next year, with the first single, “Panic Attack,” reportedly coming this Friday.
Power Trip sets on Friday by Iron Maiden and Guns n’ Roses were well-received, too, just less newsworthy, as they basically did the sets they’ve been doing at their recent shows.
