AC/DC Toast Of The Town Following Benefit Concert Performance

Canadian Press reports that Australian rockers AC/DC were the toast of the town Thursday following their blistering and much-lauded performance at Toronto's massive SARS benefit concert headlined by the legendary ROLLING STONES, with many reviewers calling them the true stars of the show. "We'll put that one in the back pocket," guitarist Angus Young, arguably the best-known member of the band with his school-boy shorts, said with a laugh from a downtown hotel suite.

As they lounged in the posh Four Seasons hotel on Thursday, the band matched every stereotype one might apply to a weathered metal band who've seen it all, spouting plenty of dirty jokes, expletives and clouds of cigarette smoke.

They also lit up with genuine appreciation for the hordes of people who rocked to their music the night before.

"That's why at the end we said: 'We salute ya.' I mean, Jesus, it was a long day for them, wasn't it?" said lead singer Brian Johnson, wearing his signature cap and sitting back in his chair to roll a cigarette.

A crush of 450,000 people descended on the grounds of an abandoned military base Wednesday to attend the massive concert that also featured acts including RUSH, THE GUESS WHO, SAM ROBERTS and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE.

But it was AC/DC's first guitar chords that electrified the weary crowd, which erupted in wild cheers of appreciation for the band that's been making music since the early 1970s.

"It was real full thrust last night they pushed it to that," Malcolm Young, Angus's older brother, said of the crowd. Read more.