Axl Rose made his live debut with AC/DC on Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.
Stepping in to assist the band following a crisis caused by Brian Johnson’s deteriorating hearing, Rose was on board for the opening date of AC/DC’s European spring tour.
The 22-song set at Passeio Maritimo de Algés saw Rose seated at center stage with his left foot in a brace in a much smaller rig than that of the Dave Grohl-loaner throne that he used last month for Guns N’ Roses first reunion shows of 2016, after breaking his foot during his band’s club gig at The Troubadour in Los Angeles on April 1.
Opening with the title track to Rock Or Bust, the Lisbon show featured most of the standard setlist from the Australian band while including two official tour debuts from 1978’s Powerage: Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation – played for the first time since 2003 – and encore add Riff Raff, which was last performed in 1996.
Check out Classic Rock’s full review of the Lisbon concert here and see footage of the band’s performances of Rock Or Bust and Shoot To Thrill below.
Ahead of his debut, the singer revealed that it was he who reached out to AC/DC as news of Johnson’s departure made international headlines.
Rose explained: “I called the day I read about it in the news, that there was a situation going on with Brian’s hearing. I knew there was going to be a problem with having dates on sale and dates sold and stuff like that.
“So if I could help, and if I was able to do it, and they were interested, I’d love to help. And that’s how it started. I wasn’t looking at it like, ‘I’m singing for AC/DC.’ I was looking at it like, ‘If I can, and if they think I’m able to do it.”
AC/DC will continue their spring run this week with a May 10 stop in Seville, Spain and a May 13 show in Marseille, France.
AC/DC setlist Lisbon May 7, 2016
- Rock Or Bust
- Shoot To Thrill
- Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
- Back In Black
- Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
- Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation
- Thunderstruck
- High Voltage
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Train
- Hells Bells
- Givin’ The Dog A Bone
- Sin City
- You Shook Me All Night Long
- Shot Down In Flames
- Have A Drink On Me
- T.N.T.
- Whole Lotta Rosie
- Let There Be Rock
- Highway To Hell
- Riff Raff
- For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
AC/DC European tour dates with Axl Rose
May 10: Seville Estadio De La Cartuja, Spain
May 13: Marseille Stade Velodrome, France
May 16: Werchter Site, Belgium
May 19: Vienna Erns-Happel Stadium, Austria
May 22: Prague Letnany Airport, Czech Republic
May 26: Hamburg Volksparkstadion, Germany
May 29: Berne Stade De Suisse, Switzerland
Jun 01: Leipzig Red Bull Arena, Germany
Jun 04: London Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, UK
Jun 09: Manchester Etihad Stadium, UK
Jun 12: Aarhus Ceres Park, Denmark
AC/DC with Axl Rose: The First Review
