Legendary AC/DC Rock Bulgaria's Capital

Legendary rock musicians AC/DC had their first ever concert in Bulgaria Friday night. Photo by Balkan Entertainment

The legendary rock band AC/DC rocked Sofia Friday night with a 2-hour long performance before an audience of 60 000.

The concert was held at the National Stadium Vasil Levski in downtown Sofia with many fans joking May 14 must be now declared a national holiday in Bulgaria.

Those in attendance say the organization was perfect and the crowd very orderly.

The gates opened as early as 3 pm Friday. The band landed at Sofia airport at 7 pm, but the warming band – the Bulgarian “Konkurent” (Competitor), which was subject to harsh criticism right before the concert, attracted dismal interest.

The culmination of the show was brought by the solo performance of Angus Young.

The Sofia concert was the opening of the band's European tour that will include 17 more gigs in different European cities and the first ever in Bulgaria.

A special 75-meter stage was specially constructed for the event in just one week. The musicians arrived in the Bulgarian capital with a 'convoy' of 10 trucks with music equipment, 10 sleeping buses, a crew of 100 people and 600 bodyguards.

Security was tight while Friday evening traffic in downtown Sofia was brought to a standstill for hours, especially in the area surrounding the Vasil Levski National Stadium.

The Australian rock band was formed in 1973 by Glasgow-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered a pioneer of heavy metal they have always classified their music as rock and roll.

Their first album High Voltage was released in 1975 while the next one - For Those About to Rock We Salute You, was the first to reach number one in the United States. AC/DC declined in popularity soon after drummer Phil Rudd was fired in 1983 and was replaced by future Dio drummer Simon Wright, though the band resurged in the early 1990s. AC/DC most recent album, Black Ice, was released in October 2008 to become their biggest hit on the charts since For Those About to Rock.

As of 2008, AC/DC have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million albums in the United States.

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