AC/DC to release ultimate career-spanning box set

By M&C News Oct 12, 2007, 15:18 GMT

Columbia Records will release Plug Me In - the ultimate career-spanning DVD box set of live performances, interviews and more from AC/DC, the world's most electrifying rock & roll band - on Tuesday, October 16.

The first AC/DC release since the band came to Columbia Records earlier this year, the AC/DC Plug Me In DVD collection brings together for the very first time an astonishing five hours of definitive live concert and television performances - many of them previously unavailable -- chronicling the on-going career (now in its fourth decade!) of a groundbreaking rock & roll powerhouse whose music transcends the test of time.

"AC/DC has delivered the most dynamic Rock & Roll music in the world," said Steve Barnett, Chairman, Columbia Records. "Columbia is honored to be releasing this definitive career-spanning retrospective featuring many of AC/DC's finest filmed performances."

Disc One of the AC/DC Plug Me In DVD collection begins with a performance of "High Voltage" performed in October 1975 on Australia's "King of Pop Awards" show. The first disc of Plug Me In is devoted to the band's formative years (1975-1979) with original lead singer, the late Bon Scott capturing the group in its full early glory with more than 20 performances including rare black & white video footage of the notorious St. Albans High School concert on March 3, 1976; the very first UK television appearance in July 1976; pristine live full-color stereo concert performances from Glasgow and Essex University in 1978; and three songs - including the very first public performance of "Highway To Hell" - from Netherlands television in 1979.

Bonus material on Disc One includes a Bon Scott interview from November 1977; extraordinary band interviews from 1976; and four songs recorded live in Nice on December 15, 1979, one of Bon Scott's last concerts with the band before his tragic death on February 19, 1980.

Disc Two of the AC/DC Plug Me In DVD collection covers the band's second great epoch: the Brian Johnson era which began with the release of "Back In Black" in 1980 and continues to this day. In addition to more than 20 performances drawn from three decades of concerts around the world - including an extremely rare Japanese television appearance from February 1981, blistering 80s and 90s sets from Detroit to Moscow, incredible footage from 1996's "Ballbreaker" tour (including the "Beavis & Butthead" intro), and 21st century barnburners in Paris, Munich, and Toronto - Plug Me In includes a fantastic array of bonus material including the AC/DC Donnington interview on the "Old Grey Whistle Test" (August 1984) and AC/DC's in-concert performance of "Rock Me Baby" with the Rolling Stones.

A deluxe collector's edition of Plug Me In - containing a third DVD of 21 additional rare performances spanning both the Bon Scot and Brian Johnson eras as well as a treasure trove of facsimile reproductions of authentic AC/DC memorabilia - will also be available for a limited time beginning Tuesday, October 16.

The AC/DC Plug Me In DVD box set is both a Holy Grail for aficionados of AC/DC as well as an ideal and comprehensive introduction to the music and history of a pioneering band that continues to define the electrifying possibilities of rock & roll.

Formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young (still the most formidable electric guitar team in rock), AC/DC released its first album, "High Voltage," in 1975. The group has gone on to sell nearly 70 million albums in the U.S. alone, making AC/DC one of the five best-selling bands in American music history.

The "Back In Black" album has achieved RIAA "Double Diamond" status, for sales in excess of 21 million copies in the United States, and is the U.S.'s fifth largest-selling album ever. AC/DC was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.