Bagpipers break world record with fiery tribute to AC/DC

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of bagpipers broke a new world record Wednesday by belting out AC/DC’s rock and roll classic “It’s a Long Way to the Top.”

Billed as “The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash”, the eclectic performance took place in Melbourne’s Federation Square on Swanston Street, which was the setting for the Australian hard rock band’s 1976 film clip in which they played the hit in the back of a truck traveling slowly through downtown traffic with music blaring from the speakers.

Federation Square is also just a short walk from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where AC/DC are scheduled to play their first Australian concert in a decade on Wednesday.

Guitarist Angus Young, 70, is the only member of the band to have played on the truck and is performing on the latest Australian tour.

I’m not sure what to do with it

Thousands of spectators packed the square to attempt the world record.

Many of the 374 pipers had to fight their way through the crowd to the stage area.

The oldest piper was 98 years old, organizers said.

Among the pipers were Les Kenfield and Kevin Conlon, two of the three members of the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums who played with AC/DC on the truck 49 years ago.

“At the time I didn’t realize how big this event is until now,” Kenfield told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “Now it’s one of the greatest things, probably the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Having been declared world record holders, the massed pipers played “Happy Birthday” on demand, followed by an impromptu “Amazing Grace” to a cheering crowd, many of whom used their phones to record the moment.

The Australian Book of Records, which has certified records since 2012, confirmed that 374 pipers collectively surpassed the record set by 333 pipers in Bulgaria in 2012.

The United Kingdom’s best-known Guinness World Records, which confirmed the Bulgarian record, told The News it had not been contacted to evaluate Melbourne’s record attempt.

Many of the enthusiastic spectators were wearing AC/DC t-shirts. When asked from the stage which of them would be attending the subsequent concert, many hands went up.

One AC/DC fan who didn’t see the record set was Keegan Kohler, 23, a self-employed electrician from Columbus, Ohio. He had been waiting outside the concert stadium since 4:50 a.m. to make sure he was the first to enter when the doors opened at 5:00 p.m. The bagpipe record was set nearby at 5:15 p.m.

Kohler had seen AC/DC perform their “Power Up Tour” this year in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Pittsburgh, but he hopes the experience will be better in the band’s home country. It will see two shows in Melbourne and one in the band’s hometown of Sydney.

“I think the Australian public is going to be much better than the American public,” he said. “I think there will be more happenings, more head banging, more excitement in the crowd.”

Kohler also reunited outside the stadium with Stephen Scott of Charlotte, North Carolina. The couple first met in line outside an AC/DC concert in Detroit.

Scott, a 33-year-old real estate agent, has seen the current tour several times in Europe and the United States and wanted to see the band perform in Australia.

“I’ve always talked about wanting to see them here. This is really the first opportunity to do it and maybe the last,” Scott said.

His fiancée Amber Thompson, a 31-year-old artist, said it was Scott’s idea to travel 10,000 miles for the concert.

“I enjoy him, but I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know him,” he said, referring to Scott, whom he described as the real fan.