Legendary rock band ‘loses founding member’ for huge 2024 comeback
AC/DC star Cliff Williams will not tour with the band this year, it has been claimed.
Bassist and backing vocalist Cliff, 74, who first joined the rock band in 1977, has already quit the band once – having taken a year off after their Rock or Bust World Tour ended in 2016.
But he might be hanging up his microphone once again if the American comedian Dean Delray, 51, is to be believed.
On Saturday, AC/DC super fan Dean took to X, formerly Twitter, where he told fans he’d been given the inside scoop on good authority.
He wrote, “Ok last night I heard from a very reliable source that AC/DC will be touring with a new Bass Player this year.
“I’m not gonna say who it is i’ll let AC/DC make that announcement but I will say this, 3 year ago I had Cliff Williams on my podcast and he would not be touring again.”
When the pair sat down for an interview in October 2020, Dean asked Cliff if vocalist Brian Johnson’s then-recent departure had prompted his desire to stop performing.
Cliff replied on the Let There Be Talk podcast: “It was before then. I spoke to Angus [Young] about it initially. I was at a point — and this is at the beginning of the ‘Rock Or Bust’ tour — that I just felt, for me, it was time to hang it up.
“I knew that I didn’t wanna keep doing these two-year tours, and I didn’t wanna hold them back, so I made them aware of the fact that this was gonna be my last go-round. It was a tough tour to finish.
“God bless Axl [Rose] for coming in and helping us out, finish it up. He did a great job. And at the end of that, I was definitely — that was it for me. Done — just done. That compounded the whole thing.”
Although AC/DC have not yet announced a 2024 tour, it has been alleged that a string of gigs are the works.
The rumours came as a result of Munich mayor Dieter Reiter accidentally revealing to a reporter that the band would play at the city’s Olympic Stadium on June 12.
Angus, Phil Rudd, Brian Johnson and Stevie Young complete the current line-up.
The Sun has contacted an AC/DC representative for comment.
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