Powderfinger & Silverchair Deny AC/DC Tour Reunion Rumour

It seems as though we can officially discount Aussie alt-rock legends Powderfinger as candidates on the list of projected tour supports being eyed off by legendary local rockers AC/DC for their forthcoming Rock Or Bust Australian tour, after the band's former bassist John Collins confirmed that the band members have not even been approached regarding a reformation.

"From my point of view, my management or agent has not spoken to me, and I was with Haugy [guitarist Ian Haug] last night — I was the one who told Haugy about it — so I would say it's a big fat lie, if you want my opinion," Collins told theMusic.com.au today.

"Whether the manager's been approached, [I couldn't say]… but it hasn't been flagged with the band, let's put it that way.

"I'm sure someone's probably thought of it, or talked to the management, but we haven't been approached. The band members have not been approached."

Further, even if they had been contacted by AC/DC's people, Collins maintains that it is exceedingly unlikely that the Powderfinger members would be open for another reunion (lest we forget the hiatus of 2005-2007 and the fact the band has technically already reunited once before).

"I don't think so, no; I think we've made ourselves pretty clear," Collins said.

Also making the jump to the "no dice" pile is Silverchair, whose most recent Facebook post came at the start of this month to promote frontman Daniel Johns' new solo album, Talk — the existence and timing of which also preclude any kind of reunion for the Chair, since Johns understandably would not be wanting to pull attention away from an eight-year build-up to his creative rebirth in order to revisit his old band's songs.

"All the guys are huge AC/DC fans but Daniel is completely engaged with his new solo album release this year, so Silverchair definitely won't be doing these shows," a representative from Johns' label told theMusic.com.au.

In light of this news, it would seem that Jet move to the front of the pack as the most likely of the posited names to be open to reuniting for AC/DC's tour. In addition to the outright denials offered by their fellow rumoured dream teams, also working in their favour is the fact that their Facebook page has once again seen sporadic activity, with a post being made yesterday that alluded to the story, accompanied with the caption, "Rumours???"

However, their page has seen regular posts — in fact, last year, a photo of the band was being put up every week — for some time, albeit it dropping off in recent times, with the most recent post before this latest tease being made in late March. It remains to be seen if this yields any fruit for AC/DC's tour, but for now it looks like — if there's any credence to the rumour at all — Jet are its last hope of coming to fruition, assuming the acts have been approached at all.

"The rumours appear to be just that: rumours," AC/DC's tour publicist, Kerry O'Brien, told theMusic.com.au.

"There is no support act confirmed."

There's a bit of time for AC/DC to sort it out, however; their Rock Or Bust tour kicks off at Sydney's ANZ Stadium Australia on Wednesday, 4 November. See theGuide or check The Music App for more information.