You’ve probably heard (quite literally if you were anywhere near the MCG for their first concert in Australia in a decade) that AC/DC are back in town as part of their POWER UP world tour. Ahead of the concert, which was picked up on the Richter scale, ABC Melbourne wanted to pay tribute to a special connection the band has with the city.

Coming up for 50 years ago, on February 23 1976, AC/DC recorded a film clip for It’s a Long Way to the Top (if You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) for Countdown. It featured the Rats of Tobruk Pipe band, and AC/DC on the back of a flatbed truck travelling on Swanston Street in Melbourne, with the bagpipers and a few spectators following along.  The video had a budget of $380 which was less than what AC/DC front man Bon Scott paid for his bagpipes to use for the recording of the song in the first place. They were $479.

That video is iconic. AC/DC don’t play It’s a Long Way live since Bon Scott’s death in 1980, so ABC Radio Melbourne Drive host Ali Moore put it to her audience that perhaps a group of bagpipers could congregate in Federation Square on the eve of the concert and play alongside the song in tribute to Australia’s most successful rock band.

If you read through the comments on the video above you’ll see that word of mouth spread about the idea until it become, could we break a world record for the most bagpipers congregated and playing at the same time?

The answer was yes.

There were bagpipers young and old, some who had even arrived from overseas, highland dancers, I’m sure I saw Double J‘s Dylan Lewis playing his own set and, as the moment arrived when the bagpipes were to begin, the crowd’s reaction gave goosebumps.

You can listen to the whole song and experience here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-drive/federation-square-acdc-bagpipes-world-record-attempt/106002688

The record, set in Bulgaria in 2012, was broken by 41. Joy, community spirit and music, led by ABC Radio Melbourne, people later will proudly say that they were there that day.