AC/DC headlines the first night of Coachella

AC/DC's Friday night performance at Coachella came with some baggage.

Less than a year ago, co-founder Malcolm Young officially left the band, and less than a few months ago, drummer Phil Rudd was charged with possession of methamphetamine and cannabis. Add that to the persistent confusion over AC/DC's presence as this year's headliner, and it's clear the Australian heavy rock band had big shoes to fill for the Coachella audience this year.

Their performance on Friday started with a bang. Angus Young came onstage with a signature red velvet schoolboy outfit, and the band appeared ready to fulfill a mission: make these young'uns know who they were. But maybe that mission was misguided; I stood amongst twenty-somethings who sang all the words to "Dirty Deeds" and who knew just what to do when the guitar riffs came on. Horned-hands were thrown in the air, heads were banged, and the crowd shouted at all the right times.

The band started with an enormous amount of energy — Johnson shook his fists and belted over the microphone with the same vocal intensity he has maintained for the past few decades. Angus Young followed suit, taking guitar solos at any and every opportunity in an attempt to stun and impress his crowd with the quickness of his fingers. People were indeed impressed, and Young fed off the energy of the crowd.

AC/DC played a few songs from their latest album interspersed among classics like "Back in Black" and "Dirty Deeds." Yet besides for the new songs, the youthful crowd recited the lyrics, or at least agreed to take part in the rock 'n' roll replica happening before them.

The concert, theoretically, should have peaked at "Shook Me All Night Long," their heavy rock anthem. By then, the crowd had diminished, but that didn't affect the crowd's enthusiasm. The song played and people sang, just the way they would have twenty years ago. Believe it or not: phones were rarely part of the equation.

But the show's climax didn't occur until Young disappeared in the middle of a guitar solo, only to appear shirtless, slowly rising above the crowd while continuing his guitar solo in a storm of confetti. Regardless of whether or not you wanted to see 60 year-old Young shirtless did not matter, because the moment was one that only a legendary rock band like AC/DC could create.

AC/DC came back onstage for an encore after an hour and a half set, kicking off the encore with "Highway to Hell," and finishing with "For Those About to Rock."

Young can still shred, Johnson can still sing, and AC/DC can still put on a spectacular rock show — even one that excites young music fans.