Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose shines in new job as frontman for rock legends AC/DC

Replacing a frontman in a successful band is no easy feat.

Take J.D. Fortune, a Canadian who became the lead for Australian rock group INXS, chosen by the band in a reality show competition called Rock Star: INXS in the late '00s. 

Or Gary Cherone, who joined hard rock outfit Van Halen in the late '90s after the band's manager invited him to audition in the midst of a botched reunion with original singer David Lee Roth. Cherone was spotted in a group called Extreme, who were just about to break up. 

Both Fortune and Cherone are no longer playing with those bands. 

Replacing band members is fortunately something that AC/DC have been good at: Brian Johnson replaced Bon Scott after his tragic death in 1980, cementing his place with a stellar debut in the band's seventh album, Back In Black.

Now a dream collaboration has come to the fore, with Guns and Roses front man Axl Rose taking over the lead singer role after Johnson's shock retirement from touring due to a hearing loss risk. 

The Rose-fronted AC/DC made their debut in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday -- quickly impressing critics and earning rave reviews.

Albeit Rose remained seated for the performance due to a broken foot, his signature voice was still "in great shape," according to Rolling Stone's Mark Sutherland. "It was clear that, musically at least, the GN'R man is a great fit for AC/DC."

Rose may have missed a few cues, and didn't know whether to go with his famous Guns N' Roses howl or adopt a "rasp" similar to Johnson's while belting out the band's tunes, but "the Lisbon performance hinted at the new union's potential to be one of the touring hits of the summer," he wrote.

It was a "triumph," wrote The Guardian's Michael Hann, highlighting that the Scott-era AC/DC songs were the ones Rose delivered perfectly at the gig. 

Hann however noted that Rose paid too much reverence when performing Johnson-era songs, suggesting that Rose was concerned about not instilling his own personality on those songs due to the manner in which he took Johnson's role.

"For this show, with this much at stake, you expect him to be the cheerleader for AC/DC, but he refuses to take the role," he wrote.

The Telegraph's Catherine Gee was enthusiastic in her praise for the new frontman, writing that Rose "nailed those vocals."

"For two hours he hit every note and sent it to the heavens. As the first person other than Johnson to sing lead for AC/DC since the death of original frontman Bon Scott in 1980, he did a bang-up job," she wrote.

As AC/DC have proven before, they make replacing a band member look easy. 

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