Look, Melbourne’s seen some pretty chaotic scenes over the years… footy riots, surprise laneway raves, peak coffee snobbery… but nothing could’ve prepared Federation Square for the deafening wall of honks that was 374 bagpipers blasting AC/DC in unison.
Last Wednesday arvo, The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash lived up to its name (and then some), assembling nearly 400 pipers to belt out the band’s tartan-tinged anthem ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)’, right near the spot where Bon Scott and co. filmed their iconic 1976 flatbed-truck clip.
Bagpipers claim world record with AC/DC’s ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’
And yep, actual bagpipers who performed in that OG video were there too.
Les Kenfield and Kevin Conlon (two-thirds of the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums who jammed with AC/DC back in the day) returned to relive the glory 49 years later, this time in front of thousands of gleefully confused onlookers.
“It didn’t strike you at the time how big this event is until now,” Kenfield told the ABC. “Now it’s one of the greatest things – probably the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Honestly? Fair.
The mass piping effort didn’t just rattle some eardrums – it set a new world record, dethroning Bulgaria’s previous tally of 333 bagpipers from 2012.
But beyond the Guinness glory, Kenfield hopes the spectacle throws a bit of much-needed spotlight back on the bagpipe community. The harsh truth: pipers are, uh… ageing out. Fast.
“Piping is really a dying art,” he said. “If everyone over 70 resigned from my band, there would be no band left.”
The event was wrangled by Campbell Wilson, senior pipe major of the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band, who admitted the biggest challenge wasn’t logistics – it was tuning. Because, of course, “bagpipes are essentially four instruments in one.” Four. Per person. Multiply that by 374 and pray to the audio gods.
AC/DC’s rock classic remains one of the greatest uses of bagpipes in rock history, so honestly, if anyone was going to smash a musical world record with the Scottish death-flute, it was us.
You can revisit the OG flatbed-truck video and check out footage from the Bagpipe Bash above.
Meanwhile, AC/DC themselves are here in the country right now, headlining stadiums with a show that has literally registered on the Richter Scale.
Further Reading
AC/DC Just Rocked Melbourne So Hard, They Literally Showed Up On the Richter Scale
AC/DC Expand 2025 Australian Tour With Second (And Final) Shows In All Cities
Dua Lipa Covers AC/DC On Opening Night Of Australian Tour In Melbourne
