AC/DC‘s first Australian concert in a decade was so powerful, it set off earthquake detection equipment.
- READ MORE: AC/DC – ‘Power Up’ review: Australian rock icons stick to their guns on rollicking 17th album
Wednesday (November 12), saw AC/DC kick off their first hometown tour in 10 years, performing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. The show – which was a long time coming for fans – proved to be a thunderous performance in more ways than one, as reports now claim that the concert was so big, seismic vibrations were recorded on earthquake equipment.
Per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Adam Pascale, chief scientist at the Seismology Research Centre, said vibrations within the two to five hertz range were registered at their Richmond office, about three-and-a-half kilometres from the concert venue.
Pascale explained that while the loud music from the show is a large factor into the vibrations recorded, it wasn’t the only thing that contributed to the recordings.
“The sound waves that people were experiencing nearby and feeling something through their bodies, that’s the equivalent to what our seismographs feel. We’re picking up the ground motion, we’re not picking up the sound from the air.”
He continued: “So you’ve got speakers on the ground pumping out vibrations and that gets transmitted through the ground, but also the crowd jumping up and down is feeding energy into the ground.”
“If everyone’s sort of bouncing in unison, it tends to amplify the signal so we can pick it up a little bit better,” Pascale said. “Whereas, if it’s sort of just general crowd motion, like even at the grand final at the MCG, we can still pick that up.”
A resident living 10 kilometres away from the ABC that the show was so loud, they could hear the concert, while two others from Hawthorn – a suburb away from the MCG – said they could hear the show as well.
AC/DC’s return to Australia for the first time in a decade saw them roll out all the hits including ‘Back In Black’, ‘Thunderstruck’, ‘Shoot To Thrill’ and more, as well as the return of ‘Jailbreak’ for the first time in 34 years.
AC/DC’s remaining ‘PWR UP’ Australian tour dates are:
NOVEMBER
16 – Melbourne – Melbourne Cricket Ground
21 – Sydney – Accord Stadium
25 – Sydney – Accord Stadium
30 – Adelaide – bp Adelaide Grand Final
DECEMBER
04 – Perth – Optus Stadium
08 – Perth – Optus Stadium
14 – Brisbane – Suncorp Stadium
18 – Brisbane – Suncorp Stadium
The ‘PWR UP’ tour takes its name from AC/DC’s 2020 album of the same name (‘Power Up’), their 17th studio record. In a four-star review of the album, NME wrote: “By the time things wrap up on ‘Code Red’, which sees the band firing on all cylinders, it becomes clear that their steadfast refusal to adapt or change is no bad thing. While far from a reinvention of the wheel, ‘Power Up’ is a joyous celebration of the unbridled heavy rock that has served them well for almost 50 years and, we can hope, a unifying cry for the future.”
