By Domenica Goduto
LEGENDARY AC/DC Scots rocker Angus Young is planning to return to his roots in a Glasgow housing estate when his band plays at Hampden Park on Tuesday.
Young wants to visit the scheme at Cranhill in the city’s east end, where he lived before moving with his family to Australia in 1963 when the rock star was just eight years old.
In a weekend interview, Young joked about renaming the area “Angusland” and emblazoning his band’s distinctive “thunderflash” logo on the water tower overlooking the estate.
He said: “I might drive up to the water tower and put my flag up – it would be just like the Hollywood sign.”
Angus and his brother Malcolm founded the band and rose to global fame ten years after their father moved the family abroad in his quest to find work.
The band’s original lead singer, Ronald “Bon” Scott – who died in 1980 of alcohol poisoning – was also a Scottish immigrant, hailing originally from Kirriemuir, Angus.
Young attributed the band’s success in part to old-fashioned Scottish grit.
He said:”Our Scottish background gave us a good grounding – we had a kind of doggedness and determination.
“We kept at it and never let go of what we wanted to achieve.”
AC/DC are currently in the midst of their sell-out Black Ice world tour, described by Young as “our biggest tour yet”.
He said: “The longer you go, the more people want to see you.
“It’s been a long time since we played live, but it’s like swimming – once you’re in the water, it comes right back to you.”
Still, Young admits that he finds playing at Hampden Park intimidating, knowing that the grounds have previously witnessed the plays of such football heroes as Denis Law, Jim Baxter and Kenny Daglish.
He said: “Just thinking about those guys has got me scared, maybe I should learn how to do a little dribble with a ball and run up the park.
“It will be a proud moment to play on home soil in the national stadium.”
However, he admitted that touring at his age can be challenging: “I walk on stage and crawl off, it’s very physically demanding.
“But at 53, that’s what keeps me fit – that drive keeps me going.”
Young is known for dressing as what he calls “a little schoolboy devil” on stage, and says the persona helps him perform.
He said: “I still love putting the shorts, cap and school tie on before a show – it gives you that energy.
“I become not me but that guy in the school suit and that’s better in a way because I’d be standing up there feeling really shy otherwise.”
