It may be a celebration of a uniquely Western Australian cult figure, but Highway To Hell – the Perth International Arts Festival’s closing gambit for 2020, which will see 10km of Perth’s Canning Highway closed this Sunday for a moving AC/DC covers concert – has attracted interest from bands all over the world.
“You can’t find anyone in the world, let alone Australia, who doesn’t know what AC/DC means,” says organiser Pete Stone of the event, which will feature eight slow-moving trucks topped with bands including Amyl and the Sniffers, Odette Mercy and Pigram Brothers. End of Fashion, Mojo Juju and the Jam Tarts will be playing at stages set up in along the way.
“We’ve had bands ringing us from the Canary Islands to Japan to California, you name it, prepared to fly themselves here to be a part of it. AC/DC’s reach is actually phenomenal; they discovered this formula early on and they just stayed true to it. I think there’s something about that that resonates with people, it’s like a constant known in your life.”
Bon Scott occupies a unique place in the popular culture psyche, betwixt and beyond that of even AC/DC’s global fame; the pub laureate – the lascivious, loquacious ratbag with a sensitive side – seems to speak to the battler in all of us. The event will run along a stretch of highway between the Fremantle home of his youth and the watering hole he frequented: the Raffles hotel. The event marks 40 years – to the day – since Bon Scott’s ashes were buried at Fremantle Cemetery; Metallica, Soundgarden and the Cult are among the luminaries who have visited the grave since.
The event is a logistical feat which will close not just the long stretch of a major city artery – two lanes for the trucks, the other two for the public – but the 120 side streets leading into it. While some may see it as a Bogan Barbecue, it would seem more fitting to call it a Fanfare For the Common Man.
The concept was hatched in late 2018 by newly minted artistic director Iain Grandage. Consultations involved three councils – Melville, Fremantle and East Fremantle – plus the state government and its relevant departments, Main Roads, Perth Transit Authority and the Western Australian Police. According to Stone, it was never a case of “why do it?” but “how it could be done”.
Stone says all concerned parties have “bent over backwards” amid the many approvals required to get this event – moving trucks and all – rolling down the road.
“If people think that local government has a reputation for not being flexible or quick to respond then this experience certainly shatters that view,” he notes. “They’ve all managed to see the big picture very clearly.”
“The Bon Scott story is a local story,” Stone adds. “It’s a Western Australian story which is a beautiful thing and a good connection with the community. The other thing is the reclamation of the highway for the day – there’s a whole lot of layers to it and that resonates as strongly with people as any element of the event.”
There is a wildness around the event that reflects the man himself. “There’s a risk around it but that’s exciting,” he says – an ethos that extends to the covers themselves. “It’s not about replicating what [AC/DC] have done; it’s about taking it to a new space, having fun with the whole Bon Scott masculinity myth and taking AC/DC tunes into a new realm.”
All-female group Jam Tarts, who will be playing at Tompkins Park, are thrilled to take part: “Bon Scott is pure, undilated 100% rock’n’roll,” says singer turned latter-day celebrity chef Anna Gare.
Southern River Band are one of the truck-bound musicians who will be playing. “Bon Scott is freedom, an outlaw holding a microphone in place of a gun, in a world none too welcoming,” frontman Callum Kramer says. “If there’s gonna be something to shut half the highway down for, I can’t think of anything better than AC/DC.”
End Of Fashion’s Justin Burford feels the same way. “Bon Scott is as Aussie as meat pies and as West Aussie as bad merging. We’re proud to be a part of any event that has the potential for wreaking havoc and chaos on this scale, and I bet Bon is pissing himself laughing at the whole thing from wherever he is now.”
• Highway To Hell closes down Perth’s Canning Highway on Sunday 1 March from 3pm. Full details here.
