AC/DC gets ‘Berlin-struck’ at Olympiastadion
AC/DC at Olympiastadion Berlin on June 30, 2025 | James Todd Miller, The Music Universe
The Power Up tour is in Europe with Brian Johnson and Angus Young back on stage together
The band that made music that defined a generation is back on tour. And multiple generations have chosen to “Power Up” with AC/DC as they trot across Europe with their beloved frontman Brian Johnson. As the only independent American publication on site, The Music Universe caught the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers in Berlin, at the historic Olympiastadion on Monday night (June 30th).
Lead singer Johnson—who took leave due to a punctured eardrum—triumphantly returned live with his band of nearly five decades in 2023, after returning to the group to work on 2018’s Power Up album in 2018, was in fine form all night. “Back in Black” and “Thunderstruck” were early bangers that showed Johnson’s unique warble is still in fighting shape.
Wearing a black Harley-Davidson mechanics shirt, Johnson told the crowd, “It’s been too long! But we’re gonna next…play some rock and roll and have a party.”
And party they did. The group blasted through 21 songs in just over two hours. This tour may support their new record, but they only did one song from it. Instead, crowd pleasers “ Hell’s Bells,” “Shoot to Thrill,” and “Sin City” took up the setlist.
It’s hard to understate how emotional it is to have Johnson back on stage. In 2016, he worried he’d have to give it up. Now, arms stretched as he beamed and walked sideways across the stage to the groove, the quit has been thusly rocked out of him. You’ll pry that mic from Johnson’s cold, dead hands.
With a catalogue of mostly hard rock, the bluesy “Have a Drink on Me” stood out. As did the thumping “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” the drums and bass cajoling the whole venue into a rock and roll stupor.
Another standout: Angus Young, his guitar shredding, and that fancy footwork. Wearing a red velvet iteration of his classic schoolboy uniform, he seemed almost ageless. He hit his licks while trotting up and down the stage’s runway in that signature, leggy way of his. He still moves with the swift, impish pitter-patter of a child who escaped his bedroom on Christmas to find Santa had left him a guitar he shouldn’t yet be playing. The others ceded the stage to him for an epic 15-minute solo toward the end of the main set, featuring hydraulics and red, yellow, white, & black confetti. It was a shining moment for the remaining Young brother and the human embodiment of the AC/DC legacy.
The crowd in Berlin was hungry for the music. At one point, during a break between songs, the crowd started chanting in Unison. Johnson said into the mic, “Yeah we like that shit.” And after “Thunderstruck,” he exclaimed, “We just got Berlin-struck!”
You can’t front or backload an AC/DC show with the most beloved songs because their whole body of work is part of pop culture. This means that the crowd at Northwest Stadium held on for dear life, rocking out all night long to every note. If this is the Highway to Hell, we’re all on it for life.
