A rumor of out of Australia suggests AC/DC may announce their retirement from recording and touring as early as Tuesday.
News Talk 3AW Melbourne reports a source tells the station’s entertainment reporter Peter Ford that the rock legends will announce the news on Tuesday, although a formal press event has not been revealed at press time.
"The suggestion being put to me is that that tour will not happen and we will never see AC/DC perform again or record again," Ford said. “The boys have a pact that they will not get anyone else in the group; nobody will be replaced and when somebody leaves, the group ends.”
"My information is that Malcolm Young, one of the founding members of the group, has in recent times returned to Australia to live with his family,” he added, “and for his own personal reasons he may not want to continue with the band."
In response to a rumored new album and 40th anniversary tour this year, singer Brian Johnson told 98.7 The Gater in West Palm Beach, Florida in February that “We’ve been denying anything because we weren’t sure. One of our boys was pretty ill, so we didn’t like to say anything. We’re very private about things like this and he’s a very proud man.But I think we’ll be going in the studio in May in Vancouver – which means we should be getting ready.”
“It’s been 40 years of the band’s existence, so I think we’re going to try to go 40 gigs to thank the fans for their undying loyalty,” Johnson continued. “Honestly, our fans are just the best in the world and we appreciate every one of them. So we have to go out even though we’re getting a bit long in the tooth. It’s been four years and I’m really looking forward to it.”
AC/DC’s last album was 2008’s “Black Ice.” The band’s three-year tour in support of the project remains the fourth-biggest grossing tour of all-time, having brought in more than $440m; the final date of the tour was at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain on June 28, 2010.
AC/DC was formed in Sydney, Australia in November of 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young; with few personnel changes over the years, the band has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million albums in the United States alone.
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