Young, gifted . . . and back

AC/DC guitar hero Angus returns to city of his birth IF there's one man who knows why Glasgow rocks, it's Tom Russell. The Rock Radio DJ has sold records, spun discs and stood among beer-soaked crowds at gigs across the city for more than 30 years.

AC/DC guitar hero Angus returns to city of his birth

IF there's one man who knows why Glasgow rocks, it's Tom Russell. The Rock Radio DJ has sold records, spun discs and stood among beer-soaked crowds at gigs across the city for more than 30 years.

And on the day of AC/DC's sell-out concert at Hampden, he thinks he has found the reason why Glasgow is Scotland's capital of rock.

"There are a few reasons, but one of the major ones is the people of Glasgow," says Tom. "It's the city's working-class roots. Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham - all these cities are either home to people who love rock and have great venues, or have produced great bands.

"Birmingham produced the likes of Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest.

"And from Glasgow, well, two things really stand-out - the Apollo and AC/DC."

AC/DC from Glasgow? It isn't a surprise for diehard fans of the band, but for the rest of us who presumed they were just a bunch of crazy old rockers from Down Under, uncovering the fact that Angus and Malcolm Young, the two brothers behind it all, spent their formative years living in a council flat in Cranhill comes as a bit of a shock.

The news that arguably their finest moment came in 1978, playing at the legendary Apollo in Renfield Street, is less of a surprise.

After a two-hour show the band slipped off backstage and returned dressed in Scotland football strips with a football.

The crowd went crazy and the band started playing chords from old Scottish ditties.

Tom was there. "It has to be one of my favourite concerts of all time," he says.

"It was the first time I had ever seen someone playing with a wireless guitar - Angus played his guitar on the shoulders of the other band members. The show was incredible."

Tonight's Hampden gig is set to be equally spectacular.

Just one of 43 dates worldwide, all tickets for the show - costing upwards of £60 - were snapped up within 75 minutes.

"AC/DC really do have superfans," says Tom.

"Jim MacNee is one of them. He's an artist and a fan and contacted me a couple of months ago, saying he would love to do a painting for the band and could I present it to them when they arrive here.

"I said 'sure' but I wasn't really expecting anything.

"But on Friday Jim arrived at the studio with a painting for Angus and Malcolm - a landscape of Cranhill with the big water tower in a position from the flats they grew up in.

"He had searched through old interviews and went up to Cranhill to find the location."

It is extreme. But then how many bands have been the subject of debate in the country's most important auditorium - the Scottish Parliament?

In December, SNP MSP Christine Grahame lodged a parliamentary motion at Holyrood called AC/DC We Salute You.

It called for the band's Scottish roots to be recognised - the band's first singer, the late, great Bon Scott, came from Kirriemuir, Angus.

Tonight there will be no debate about the importance of AC/DC from the 60,000 lucky fans who got hold of the most desirable voting forms of all - tickets.