High Voltage in Oslo AC/DC Electrify Bjerke Travbane

AC/DC - Bjerke Travbane Oslo - August 5th 2025

WORDS KJETIL GULBRANDSEN / IMAGES KENNETH SPORSHEIM

AC/DC

A sold-out Bjerke Travbane welcomed the aging legends of AC/DC, for what could easily be their last visit to this country. And even though their age is starting to show here and there, they still packed enough punch to create a proper rouser.

After a short break, and a few minutes late, the stadium lights dimmed, and you could hear the sound of a muscle car starting its engine. The introduction video showed the aforementioned car speeding past a couple of signs that said ‘Oslo’, before arriving at a stadium with a ‘Bjerke Race Track’ sign, and as the car drove through the tunnel and out towards the audience, the band took to the stage and dove into If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It). And from the very first song, I was positively surprised. Brian Johnson’s voice has been getting a lot of stick on social media for the past couple of months, but I reckon he sounded just fine (his age considered). From what I remember from the last time I saw them, at Valle Hovin in 2015, the performance this time didn’t fall short of what he delivered then. Since only he and Angus Young are left from the classic post-Bon Scott lineup, focus naturally falls on them, and some have even hinted that it can hardly be called AC/DC (8/10) anymore. Oh well, I guess everyone’s entitled to an opinion.

From song number two, the audience was already in party mode, perhaps not surprising since it was the title track from the second best-selling album of all time, Back in Black. And as usual when we’re talking about AC/DC setlists, they are mainly filled with the classics, plus a couple of tracks from whatever the latest release may be at that time. The first of these was Demon Fire, from PWR/UP, which has been around for five years already. We continued in the element of fire, with Shot Down in Flames getting the audience slightly more fired up than the aforementioned. And cheers were even louder for the next song, before they suddenly died down a bit as the band delivered a terrible start to superhit Thunderstruck. Angus fumbled the well-known guitar intro several times, and the tempo was so slow it seemed like they were playing in a quagmire. In addition, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young and bassist Chris Chaney were off-beat with the “Oh-oh-oh” part, and completely out of sync with the rest of what was going on in the song. They straightened it out eventually, and picked up the pace to a decent level as well, but this was the first sign that age might be starting to take its toll on the 70-year-old schoolboy from Glasgow. On Hell’s Bells they were also a bit out of sync with the giant bell that was traditionally lowered from the ceiling before the intro, but here too they managed to get into the groove rather quickly. And after the evening’s second and final new song Shot in the Dark, the perhaps most pleasant surprise of the evening, at least for yours truly, came. I have tried to avoid looking at any of their setlists ever since they started touring the PWR/UP album a little over a year ago, precisely to get that feeling, and so I was a really happy puppy when they started the title song from Stiff Upper Lip. A somewhat underrated album in my book, a great song, and one they hadn't played in 20 years before their comeback at the Power Trip festival in 2023. After that the hits came like, well, a hit parade: Highway to Hell (with the second loudest sing-along of the evening), Shoot to Thrill, Sin City, Dog Eat Dog, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. We're talking songs that have set the standard for how real hard rock should be done. And no, Brian Johnson doesn't sound like he did in 1980, 1990, or even 2000 for that matter. But for a 77 year old man whose vocal approach hasn't exactly made it any easier for him to age in the profession, I must say that he delivered exactly what you could expect. And unlike a certain German vocalist, also with frizzy hair, Johnson is not a geriatric statue on stage. And talking about movement; no, Angus doesn't jump as high anymore when he gives the sign to end each song, but he jumps just the same. On every. Single. Song. So we’ll forgive them for lowering the tempo on a couple of the songs, so that his fingers can keep up. In any case, the joy of playing is still there to a very high degree, and that always rubs off on the audience.

50 years have passed since the first two albums were released in Australia, and the title track from the debut album High Voltage, which wasn’t released until the second album T.N.T., still sounds as fresh to this day. And then it was time for the second positive surprise of the evening; because since “the new guy” took over the microphone in 1980, the band has only played one of my favorite songs once, and that was for an in-studio VH1 concert. If you ignore the 22 concerts the band did with Axl Rose in 2016 that is, and maybe that was exactly what made them choose to keep it in there. So thanks for Riff Raff, Axl! The loudest sing-along of the evening, however, came during You Shook Me All Night Long, and right then you could tell by Johnson’s performance that they were approaching the end of the set. As is often the case with vocalists who reach a certain age, their breath doesn't always last as long and some melody lines tend to get a little fragmented. But that’s what you have the audience for, someone to lean on. And the audience they really helped out during the little love ditty Whole Lotta Rosie too, before the people's love for both Angus, and the concept of guitar solos, was put to a real test of patience during Let There Be Rock. I mean, I love guitar solos as much as the next rock enthusiast, and I know that this has been a staple in their set since the dawn of time, and I am also fully aware that I am rustling feathers here, but 20 minutes with guitar wanking is and will forever be too much. Even with confetti.

By the time the solo had calmed down, the stage lights had gone out, and the band had retreated for a quick breather, the clock was showing 10:52 PM and we were starting to get a little anxious about whether the band would make it through their entire set. Because this municipality can be extremely rigid when it comes to the curfew for nighttime silence, and there were still two more songs that HAD to be included. But, after only a short time they launched into the first encore, namely T.N.T. The audience was screaming their hearts out, and whatever doubts they might have had before the concert were completely erased. At least based on the reaction and smiles of everyone around us, all the masses we saw on the big screen, and everyone we talked to afterwards. At the very end, the band, as usual, finished with For Those About to Rock, and if it turns out that this was the last AC/DC concert on Norwegian soil, there is only one thing to say: “AC/DC, we salute you!” Thank you for 50 years of some of the greatest hard rock ever created, and for several good concert memories! And should you find it in your hearts to squeeze in another visit, we’ll be there!

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