July 27, 1979. After spending the 70s amassing a following in their native Australia and throughout Europe, AC/DC was ready to break through in America. Highway To Hell became that breakthrough, and Boston helped the band get there.
The title track to the album was AC/DC’s first Top 10 hit outside of Australia, and Highway To Hell would go on to be the band’s first million-seller. But the groundwork to this success was being laid stateside–right here in Boston, specifically–long before the album hit American shores in the summer of ’79.
The band embarked on a North American tour a year earlier that brought them to Boston in August of 1978. They headlined the Paradise, playing to a sold-out crowd. The gig was broadcast live on WBCN and has since been bootlegged to legendary status. This type of support–in cities like Boston with rabid rock fanbases–was what helped set the stage for AC/DC to finally break stateside.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that Highway To Hell was arguably the band’s most solid effort to date. Revisit the album here, then click here to be blown away by what the band would experience in the year to come.