The Final Live Performance Of Bon Scott With AC/DC
via motormouse_bonscott_tributo/Instagram
Less Than A Month Before His Death
The start of 1980 looked promising for AC/DC and they were more than ready for worldwide domination. They were riding high on the success of Highway to Hell which broke into the top 100, peaking at #17 on the US Billboard 200. And so early in the year, they were already laying the groundwork for the follow-up, Back in Black.
Among those who attended AC/DC’s make-up show at the Gaumont in Southampton, UK on January 27, 1980 (it was originally set on December 18, 1979 but was moved), no one knew it was going to be Bon Scott’s last live performance. At this point, they weren’t just popular in their native Australia. They were, in fact, establishing themselves as one of the greatest hard rock acts of the era in other parts of the globe.
On February 7th, they appeared on the BBC Music Show Top of the Pops lip-syncing to Touch Too Much. And three days later, they went to Madrid to appear on the popular Spanish TV program Aplauso where they powered through their set with people barely noticing them lip-syncing.
Less than two weeks later, on February 19, 1980, Scott was found dead in a Renault 5. He was brought to King’s College Hospital in Camberwell but was pronounced dead on arrival. He was 33 years old.