Watch 374 bagpipers in Melbourne smash world record playing AC/DC classic
The belted out 'It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)'
Last updated 12th Nov 2025
A gargantuan group of Australian bagpipers have set a new world record while performing AC/DC’s seminal 1975 song ‘It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)’.
374 pipers gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square on today (Wednesday 12th November) to play the AC/DC classic in unison while watched by thousands of onlookers.
The bagpipers smashed the world record for the biggest bagpipe ensemble, which was previously set by a crowd of 333 pipers in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia in 2012.
‘It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)’ featured bagpipes from late-great vocalist Bon Scott, and the accompanying music video, which was filmed on a shoestring $380 budget, saw AC/DC traverse Swanston Street in Melbourne on the back of a flatbed truck alongside the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band.
One of the pipers who appeared in AC/DC's music video half a century ago, 80-year-old Les Kenfield, was one of the 374 pipers who set the world record in Melbourne.
Kenfield and his band mates gave Bon Scott bagpiping lessons before AC/DC recorded ‘It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)’, and the octogenarian said on Wednesday: "(Bon was) the one who said, when we're doing the video would you guys like to come along and join in? I was one of them, and that's it.
"As it turns out, that song has become an iconic song worldwide for such a long time."
The successful world record attempt took place hours before AC/DC’s first Australian concert in a decade at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Watch the bagpipers smash the world record:
And here's AC/DC's 'It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)' music video: