{"id":176714,"date":"2025-11-12T14:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/176714\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T14:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:29:11","slug":"bagpipers-blow-past-world-record-with-fiery-ac-dc-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/176714\/","title":{"rendered":"Bagpipers Blow Past World Record With Fiery AC\/DC Tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of bagpipers claimed a new world record<\/a> on Wednesday by belting out AC\/DC\u2019s<\/a> rock and roll classic \u201cIt\u2019s a Long Way to the Top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billed as \u201cThe Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash,\u201d the eclectic performance took place in Melbourne\u2019s Federation Square, on Swanston Street, which was the scene of the Australian hard rock band\u2019s 1976 film clip in which they played the hit on the back of a flatbed truck traveling slowly through downtown traffic with music blaring from speakers.<\/p>\n

Federation Square is also a short stroll from the Melbourne Cricket Ground where AC\/DC is scheduled to play their first Australian gig in a decade on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Guitarist Angus Young, 70, is the only band member who played on the truck and is performing on the latest Australian tour.<\/p>\n

\"MoreMore than 350 pipers performed AC\/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n Roll)” live, breaking the world record for the largest ever bagpipe ensemble.<\/p>\n

Asanka Ratnayake via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thousands of spectators crammed the square for the world record attempt.<\/p>\n

Many of the 374 pipers had to squeeze through the crowd to the stage area.<\/p>\n

The oldest piper was 98-years-old, organisers said.<\/p>\n

Among the bagpipers was Les Kenfield and Kevin Conlon, two of the three members of Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums who played with AC\/DC on the truck 49 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t strike you at the time how big this event is until now,\u201d Kenfield told Australian Broadcasting Corp. \u201cNow it\u2019s one of the greatest things \u2014 probably the greatest thing I\u2019ve ever done in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having been declared world record holders, the massed pipers played \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d on request, followed by an impromptu \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d to a cheering crowd, many using their phones to record the moment.<\/p>\n

The Australian Book of Records, which has been certifying records since 2012, confirmed that 374 pipers had together broken a record set by 333 pipers in Bulgaria in 2012.<\/p>\n

The U.K.\u2019s better known Guinness World Records<\/a>, which confirmed the Bulgarian record, told The Associated Press that it hadn\u2019t been approached to assess the Melbourne record attempt.<\/p>\n

Many of the enthusiastic spectators wore AC\/DC T-shirts. Asked from the stage who among them were going to the concert afterwards, many hands went up.<\/p>\n

One AC\/DC<\/a> fan who didn\u2019t 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 ensure he\u2019d be first in when the gates opened at 5 p.m. The bagpipes record was set nearby at 5:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Kohler had seen AC\/DC perform their \u201cPower Up Tour\u201d this year in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Pittsburgh, but expects the experience will be better in the band\u2019s home country. He will see two shows in Melbourne and one in the band\u2019s hometown of Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Aussie crowds are going to be way better than the U.S.,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be more eventful, more head banging, more excitement with the crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kohler also reacquainted himself outside the stadium with Stephen Scott, from Charlotte, North Carolina. The pair first met in a line outside an AC\/DC concert in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Scott, a 33-year-old real estate agent, has seen the current tour multiple times in Europe as well as the United States and wanted to see the band perform in Australia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve always talked about wanting to see them here. This is the first opportunity really to do it and maybe the last,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

His fianc\u00e9e Amber Thompson, a 31-year-old artist, said it was Scott\u2019s idea to travel 10,000 miles for the concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy it, but I probably wouldn\u2019t be here if I didn\u2019t know him,\u201d she said, referring to Scott, whom she described as the true fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of bagpipers claimed a new world record on Wednesday by belting out AC\/DC\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[93519,1128,18,117,19,17,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-176714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ac-dc","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-music"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115537206633695419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}