Rock elders AC/DC back on road in 2016

AC/DC will open their latest tour on February 2 in Tacoma, Washington playing 20 dates across the United States, ending with an April 4 show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The rockers will then head to Europe, starting on May 7 in Lisbon and culminating on June 12 at a 46,000-capacity park in Aarhus, Denmark.

The tour follows a busy 2015 that featured 53 shows around the world including a headlining appearance at Coachella in California, one of the world's pre-eminent music festivals.

The band capped the year on Tuesday with a show before more than 30,000 fans in Auckland, New Zealand.

AC/DC, who also released an album last year following a six-year gap, returned without founding member Malcolm Young, who has retired due to dementia.

The band has also parted ways with drummer Phil Rudd, who was convicted in New Zealand of threatening to kill an employee.

Young's brother Angus remains the lead guitarist -- known, even at age 60, for sporting his signature schoolboy outfit.

Lead singer Brian Johnson, 68, said in an interview in September that AC/DC members were "constantly surprised and amazed at how we keep the success going."

"A good footballer, a good ice hockey player, they don't want to retire, but unfortunately sometimes there's a time when you have to call it quits," he told the Morning Sun newspaper in Michigan.

"So it's an ongoing thing with us; we never say no, and we never say never."