Hundreds of AC/DC fans paid tribute to wild rocker Bon Scott on Saturday with a birthday bash in the Angus town where he grew up.
Scott survived a stint in a boys home and a three-day coma following a drunken motorbike accident before auditioning to be AC/DC’s singer.
He would have been 71 at the weekend and 400 fans raised a glass to their hellraising hero and turned up the noise at Kirriemuir Town Hall.
Bon’s Birthday Bash featured a headline set from Scotland’s newest and only female fronted AC/DC tribute band Her Way to Hell with support from the Mandrakes and Tusk.
The Glasgow-based band was set up to pay homage to bourbon-swigging Scott.
Singer Laura McFettridge said it was a “real honour” to be asked to play.
The event was organised by community organisation DD8 Music which also puts on the annual BonFest which attracts visitors from far and wide.
DD8 Music development worker Graham Galloway said: “Why do I think Bon is still as popular after all these years?
“He just had that spark – that dash of charisma.
“He was just a true rock star in the old fashioned sense.
“But he was also a down to earth guy – he was the kind of person you could imagine going for a drink with.
“He just had that everyman persona and I think that’s why so many people connected with him.
“He was also such a fantastic lyricist and you still speak to people to this day who are blown away by his lyrics.
“He was just brilliant.”
Fans from across the UK attended the birthday bash which also brought visitors from Germany where AC/DC still enjoy a particularly strong fan base.
Born Ronald Belford Scott in Forfar in 1946, he lived in Kirriemuir until 1952, when his family moved to Australia.
Once there he became part of one of music’s biggest success stories after joining Glasgow-born brothers Angus and Malcolm Young in their band, AC/DC.
On February 19 1980, aged 33, Scott passed out after a night of heavy drinking in a London club and was left to sleep in a Renault 5 owned by former friend and neighbour Alistair Kinnear.
The following morning, Kinnear found Scott lifeless and alerted the authorities.
Scott’s body was taken to nearby King’s College Hospital.
The coroner concluded that the vocalist had died due to acute alcohol poisoning.
