Hundreds of bagpipers have made history in Melbourne’s Fed Square, breaking the world record for the largest ever bagpipe ensemble.
A crowd of thousands gathered in the CBD to watch 374 bagpipers play along to AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll), shattering the world record.
The previous record was held by 333 bagpipers, who gathered at Sofia, Bulgaria in May 2012.
For a few hours on Wednesday afternoon, Fed Square became a sea of tartan, as pipers from across the city came to contribute their pipes to the world record attempt.
The new world record came nearly 50 years after the filming of AC/DC’s iconic music video for It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll), which took place nearby.
The music video, filmed along Swanston Street in Melbourne’s CBD, featured lead singer Bon Scott playing alongside bagpipers from the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band.
One of the pipers in the AC/DC video is Les Kenfield, who first joined the Rats of Tobruk in 1970.
Despite having played alongside one of Australia’s greatest ever rock bands, he admitted he had jitters before the big performance on Wednesday.
“I always get nervous when I have to perform for the public, I can’t help it,” Mr Kenfield said.
He said he hoped the world record would serve as a jolt in the arm for the piping community and revive interest in the art form.
“Piping is really a dying art, young kids don’t really want to play, [whether] it’s too difficult or whatever reasons,” he said.
“We’re getting old. In my band, if everyone over 70 resigned, there would be no band left.”
