News Flash AC/DC earn $175 for gig By Ron Hailes

Yes it's true after working for peanuts AC/DC have hit the big time. I guess you are now thinking he has got this wrong , doesn't he mean their ticket price is now $175? It probably is.

Well the truth is this story is a little old, you see I recently found one of prized possessions stored away. I booked AC/DC to do a gig around 1975 and the contract, that I still have to this day has them being paid $175 for a one hour show.

At this gig they were the first band on, whoever headlined that night probably got paid around $600.

In those days AC/DC were one of the hardest working bands in the country, they probably did an afternoon gig and one after my show. Gigs were about paying the bills and keeping the band in front of the punters who bought the albums.

The band members lived very frugally earning around $60 a week, living in a share house and staying in some pretty dodgy places on the road. Most bands worked at this level until their first big hit and a successful album, then it all changed.

Around the same time I was paying Skyhooks up to $1500 a show after "Living in the 70's" came out. Of course history tells us that the hard slog paid off for AC/DC and now I can't even imagine how much they would earn from a gig. 40,000 people paying $100 to $150, huge expenses of course, but somehow I think the bottom line is a little more than $175.


in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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I am a sometimes writer, stand up comic ,MC and Radio Presenter- these are my passions but I normally travel throughout SE Asia training sales and management staff in the Auto Industry

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