AC/DC's Malcolm Young to be honoured at Whisky A Go Go

An Ultimate Jam Night at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles this week will raise money for an Alzheimer’s charity in honour of AC/DC’s former guitarist and songwritwer Malcolm Young.

Young retired from the band in 2014 after he struggled with the onset of dementia, prior to being admitted to full-time nursing care in Sydney, Australia.

The event takes place on November 15 (Tuesday) and will see a number of well-known artists, including former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright and Dio Disciples bassist Sean McNabb, covering the Australian band’s songs.

The show will be live broadcast worldwide via Zinna TV, and will raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association.

In 2014, former AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and guitarist Angus Young recalled witnessing the decline of Young’s health while they were on tour in 2008.

Johnson said: “It was tough. But you couldn’t say anything or do anything because it would have been like giving pity. You had to treat it like a normal day – so we did.”

Angus, Malcolm’s brother, added: “Sometimes you’d look and he’d be there – you’d have a really great day and he’d be Malcolm again. Other times his mind was going. But he still held it together.

“Some nights he played and you’d think, ‘Does he know where he is?’ But he got through.”

Dementia is a brain disease that appears in a number of forms, causing loss of memory and thinking functions, and leading to loss of body control. The most common variant is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for three-quarters of all cases. Very few forms of the condition can be cured.

Rock Icons: Malcolm Young by Joel O'Keeffe

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Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.