AC/DC's PHIL RUDD Confirmed For March 2026 'Full Metal Orchestra' Concert In New Zealand

Following a sold-out debut at Auckland's Spark Arena in July of this year and an explosive show at Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch just last month, Duco Touring, Liberty Stage and presenting partner Mānuka Phuel have unveiled the next evolution of the Full Metal Orchestra phenomenon: Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra Rock Festival, set to take place on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at Bowl of Brooklands in Brooklands, a suburb of New Plymouth, in the Taranaki region of the western North Island of New Zealand.

Stepping beyond the arena format, Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra Rock Festival evolves into a full-scale outdoor rock festival, a high-octane collision of orchestral power, pyro-driven spectacle, and Aotearoa's heaviest hitters. After electrifying audiences nationwide, this next chapter delivers the most ambitious staging yet, uniting a full orchestra, a powerhouse five-piece band, striking visuals, and a lineup built to shake the Bowl into the night.

A lineup for the ages, Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra Rock Festival is set to be the biggest iteration yet. Leading the charge is Full Metal Orchestra, featuring ex-AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd, former SHIHAD frontman Jon Toogood, THE COME TOGETHER BAND, Milan Borich, Jennie Skulander and Seamus Johnson all combining to deliver earth-shattering renditions of classics from METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH, AC/DC, TOOL, VAN HALEN and more. They'll be backed by full live sets from DEVILSKIN, BLINDSPOTT and more, as well as a DJ set from Kane Hawkins.

"The response to Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra has been beyond anything we anticipated," says David Higgins, founder, Duco Events. "Turning this into a full rock festival was the natural progression and there’s no better place to debut it than the Bowl. This will be a milestone moment for New Zealand live music."

Alex McDonald, co-creator of Mānuka Phuel, adds: "Mānuka Phuel is delighted to be partnering once again with FMO to bring Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra Rock Festival to Taranaki next March. The shows in Auckland and Christchurch this year were nothing short of spectacular. We're excited to be scaling up — bringing the show outdoors, festival style, with New Zealand's best rock acts, it’s going to be a night to remember."

With its natural amphitheatre and storied history of legendary outdoor concerts, the Bowl of Brooklands provides the perfect backdrop for Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra Rock Festival's biggest and boldest outing yet. Thanks to the support of New Plymouth District Council and Venture Taranaki, the festival debuts at this iconic venue with world-class production, an explosive orchestral-meets-rock spectacle, and a lineup stacked with some of Aotearoa's most formidable live acts. Fans are urged to secure tickets early, this is set to be one of 2026's standout events, and a Bowl of Brooklands takeover like no other.

General public tickets go on sale on Thursday, December 18 at 10 a.m. from fullmetalorchestra.com.

The now-71-year-old Rudd told Stuff eight months ago about Full Metal Orchestra's July 2025 performance: "It's going to be massive, fueled, we'll take off the roof…you wait. It's going to be thumping, boom boom, bang. It's exciting, like nothing else I've ever done, putting the best raw banging rock songs with a classical orchestra."

Full Metal Orchestra's July 2025 concert marked Rudd's first public performance since November 2024 when he played AC/DC's classic song "T.N.T." with a local party act in New Zealand.

In a recent interview with New Zealand's Stuff, Rudd addressed the fact that he laid down the drum tracks on AC/DC's latest album, 2020's "Power Up", but is not part of the accompanying tour.

"There was a time when I thought it was the end of my world," he told Stuff. "I only knew life with AC/DC. Those people I thought loved me like a brother, they haven't even picked up the phone."

Referencing AC/DC's late frontman Bon Scott, who died in 1980 from alcohol poisoning, Rudd added: "But to me AC/DC was always Bon. My favorite album is 'Highway To Hell'. My favorite song — his song 'Touch Too Much'."

"When Bon died, even in AC/DC I felt alone," Phil explained. "But I was never alone. The people who like the music, it always humbles me, but makes me happy too.

"People always ask me if I will play with AC/DC again," he continued. "The only people I would do it for would be the fans. And for Bon. I would do it for Bon."

In a November 2023 interview with New Zealand's Stuff, Rudd said that he was unable to join his AC/DC bandmates at the Power Trip festival in California that year, but that he was "look[ing] forward to playing with them again in the future."

Sitting behind the drum kit for AC/DC's appearance at Power Trip in October 2023, on the spring/summer 2024 European tour, the spring 2025 North American tour and the summer 2025 European tour was Matt Laug. The 57-year-old Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer. In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.

When AC/DC announced in September 2023 that Laug would play drums for the band at Power Trip, it offered no explanation for the absence of Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.

Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Chris Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".

Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

During an appearance on a November 2020 episode of Dean Delray's "Let There Be Talk" podcast, Rudd confirmed that the seed for his return to AC/DC was planted at the funeral of AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017. Rudd, singer Brian Johnson and bassist Cliff Williams all attended the ceremony. At the time, the three musicians were considered former members of AC/DC, with Johnson and Williams both having left in 2016 for health reasons, while Rudd was sidelined in 2015 with various legal issues.

"Angus and I had a good chat at Mal's funeral and caught up," Rudd recalled. "[After I played on the 'Rock Or Bust' record] there was crazy shit going on, but since then, I'd got my shit together and put a little band together, I went to Europe and was doing a bit of playing and stuff and did [a solo] album. The guys knew I was still playing, so when I caught up with Angus at the funeral, we were sort of chatting away and somehow, he just sort of [asked me] if I was up for [doing a new AC/DC] album. And he started writing the next day. He went in the studio and started writing straight away."

Angus told Rolling Stone that it was indeed Malcolm's funeral that helped heal old wounds.

"[Phil] was there and in good shape," the guitarist said. "He was keeping himself well together. He was getting therapy and sorting himself out. It was really good."

Johnson added that he and the rest of AC/DC welcomed Rudd with open arms. "I speak for all the boys with Phil," he said. "We defend Phil to the hilt. What happened up there, that's not the Phil we know. That was just something else. He's really looking brilliant now and doing everything great."