In a recent Louder interview, Tom Morello shared his experience from the 2013-2014 tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. He shared how AC/DC’s Bon Scott inspired him for a show at the Australian leg of the tour and recalled:
“We were playing in Perth, the home of Bon Scott, and I visited his grave to pay my respects late one night. I was there, and I couldn’t find his grave. It’s a big cemetery, and Bon Scott’s grave does not have a spotlight on it.”
Explaining how he found the grave, he went on:
“And out of the darkness comes this motorbike, and there is me and a guy in a motorbike in the middle of a cemetery. And the fella’s got like a German World War Two helmet on and a T-shirt that says, ‘I don’t give a shit, but if I did, you’re the one I’d give it to.’ I was like, ‘That guy is probably gonna know where Bon Scott’s grave is.’ Sure enough, he did, and I paid my respects.”
Following his visit, the guitarist came up with the idea of bringing AC/DC and the E Street Band together through a cover. Springsteen accepted this offer, and Morello revealed what happened after that by saying:
“We began rehearsing ‘Highway To Hell ‘at soundcheck, and a few days later, we were playing a huge football stadium in Melbourne, and Eddie Vedder happened to be at the show; he was on a solo tour at the time.”
He also mentioned how Eddie Vedder became a part of the show and added:
“I knocked on Bruce’s dressing room door, and I got an idea of ‘what if here in the home where AC/DC is king, where the song ‘Highway To Hell’ is like the unofficial national anthem, what if we opened the show with ‘Highway To Hell’ with Eddie Vedder?’ And Bruce was like, ‘That sounds like a pretty good idea.’ So we did it, and it was an apex moment in the history of live rock’n’roll. I mean, if you think you’ve seen people lose their minds, you haven’t – unless you were there.”
Morello, Springsteen, and Vedder later collaborated again on a cover of ‘Highway to Hell’ for the Rage Against The Machine member’s 2021 solo album, ‘The Atlas Underground Fire.’ The guitarist released the track as the first single from the record and shared a statement about it that read:
“Our version of ‘Highway to Hell’ pays homage to AC/DC, but with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder, we bring this legendary song into the future. One of the greatest rock n’ roll songs of all time sung by two of the greatest rock n’ roll singers of all time.”
You can watch the 2014 performance and studio version of the cover in the videos below.
