Thunderstruck rings in 2027 at Live at Hub City Vinyl

America's AC/DC Tribute plays downtown Hagerstown on New Year's Day night, its first area date since 2023.

Some people will spend New Year's Day on the couch. Others will be on East Baltimore Street hearing "Highway to Hell" up close. Thunderstruck: America's AC/DC Tribute plays Live at Hub City Vinyl in Hagerstown on Friday, Jan. 1, 2027, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $38 to $53 through Eventbrite.

The show was announced Oct. 19. It's the band's first date in the Frederick and Western Maryland area since May 20, 2023, when it played The Event Center at Hollywood Casino. That was a casino ballroom. This is a very different room.

Live at Hub City Vinyl is the stage side of Hub City Vinyl, the record shop at 28 East Baltimore Street in the downtown Arts and Entertainment District. Hagerstown Magazine described how it works: the shop occupies a former auto dealership, and the owners carved out space in the building for a live music room with a professional stage. By day it's a record store. Thursday through Sunday nights, it becomes a venue.

An AC/DC tribute in a record-shop music room is about as rock and roll as New Year's Day gets.

AC/DC's catalog was built for arenas, and a tribute act in a room this close gets nearer to the band's raw feel than most big-stage nostalgia shows can. Thunderstruck bills itself as delivering "The Spirit of AC/DC" and taking fans on a nostalgia road trip through the band's discography. In practice, that means the hits, played loud, in a room where you can see the guitarist's fingers.

The band works a steady touring circuit. Recent listings have it at the Milton Theatre in Delaware and on the City Winery calendar, which shows the kind of theater-and-club route a good tribute act can build. For Hub City Vinyl, it's a New Year's booking that fits the room's mix of regional touring bands and tribute nights. Recent calendars have included High Noon's Lynyrd Skynyrd and Southern rock tribute next to originals like The Steel Wheels and Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers.

Practical notes: according to Eventbrite, doors are at 7 p.m. and the show runs about two hours, so you'll be out by 10. The show is listed for ages 12 and up.

A new year usually starts quietly. If you'd rather not, downtown Hagerstown has a better plan.

Sources: JamBase: Thunderstruck: America's AC/DC Tribute at Live at Hub City Vinyl (jambase.com); Eventbrite: Thunderstruck: America's AC/DC Tribute, Jan 1, 2027 (eventbrite.com); Live at Hub City Vinyl (liveathubcityvinyl.com); Hagerstown Magazine: Turn Up the Volume (hagerstownmagazine.com); Visit Maryland: Live at Hub City Vinyl (visitmaryland.org); Visit Southern Delaware: Thunderstruck: America's AC/DC Tribute (Milton Theatre) (visitsoutherndelaware.com); City Winery: Thunderstruck: America's AC/DC Tribute (tickets.citywinery.com); Visit Hagerstown: The Steel Wheels (visithagerstown.com); Visit Hagerstown: High Noon: A Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd & Southern Rock (visithagerstown.com); Visit Hagerstown: Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers (visithagerstown.com)