AC/DC Plays a Short Gig at CBGB in 1977: Hear Metal Being Played on Punk's Hallowed Grounds

"Punk rock and heavy met­al were two gen­res that evolved over the '70s, but seemed to run par­al­lel to each oth­er, despite shar­ing com­mon fash­ion, sounds, and atti­tudes. But then there are moments in his­to­ry, where every­body plays togeth­er in the same sand­box. For exam­ple, the above remas­tered audio, which cap­tures the Aus­tralian band AC/DC on their first Amer­i­can tour, play­ing New York's CBGB, syn­ony­mous now with punk and new wave music."

"The date is August 24, 1977, and AC/DC were on a cross-coun­try trip that had tak­en in both club dates and are­nas, where they supported-yes, hard to believe, I know-REO Speed­wag­on. Their album Let There Be Rock had just dropped in June. The band would be in the States until the win­ter. This CBGB gig finds them on the same bill as Talk­ing Heads and the Dead Boys, accord­ing to a poster from the time."

A remastered audio recording captures AC/DC performing at CBGB in New York on August 24, 1977. The band was on their first American tour supporting the recently released Let There Be Rock and had been playing both clubs and arenas while backing REO Speedwagon on parts of the trip. The CBGB bill included Talking Heads and the Dead Boys, and a handful of photographs document the muggy New York summer and the crowd excitement. The set ran 15 minutes, notably three minutes longer than the Ramones' first CBGB set three years earlier. No video exists for the gig.

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