Angus Young on Axl Rose in AC/DC: ‘He’s Doing Very Well’
Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has been performing live with AC/DC for over two weeks now as the band works on finishing their European run. Reactions from fans and fellow musicians have been mixed, but what matters most is what the band thinks of Rose up front and founder Angus Young has given his resounding endorsement.
"He's doing very well," Young began telling NDR.de in a recent interview. "And it's very good that… I mean, under the situation that we had, it was very good that he volunteered and said, 'Hey, if I can help, let me try.' So he's been very good. And he had to learn a lot of songs very quickly, and he's done a great job." Since Rose has occupied the frontman slot, AC/DC have dusted off a number of classics, one being "Touch Too Much," which was played for the first time in nearly 40 years.
"He's done a fabulous job," said bassist Cliff Williams of Axl, adding that the singer is on the mend regarding his broken foot. Williams continued, "He's almost out of his chair now. He's mobile, and he's enjoying himself. It's been really good." Young quickly added, "His leg's repairing, so each show we've been doing he's been getting up and moving around a lot more. So it adds more to the show."
Young also hit on the generations of fans that are turning up at AC/DC's shows, ranging from fans from the '70s to the younger ones born in the new millennium. With this pretext, Young discussed the band's future plans, stating, "We were committed to finishing this tour, so that's been our main goal, and Axl helping us. I know he's very excited; he keeps saying, can he do more? But we don't really know at the end how we will [continue from this point]. But we wanna get this tour, which we committed to doing, we want to finish it."
While the future of AC/DC hangs in the balance, many have begun to speculate that Young will consider retiring the band. Drummer Chris Slade, however, insists “Angus is definitely NOT thinking of retiring..." Brian Johnson remains out of the band as he battles severe hearing issues, though he has met with an expert in the field regarding a new technological breakthrough.
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