AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson has spoken about the “despair” he felt when he was forced to leave the band’s 2016 tour due to hearing issues. In his new memoir, ‘The Lives Of Brian’, he says that he was unable to watch Axl Rose stand in for him on the remaining tour dates and, at the time, he “wouldn’t have minded” that much if he had died.Johnson was forced to step down from the 2016 tour after doctors told him that he risked losing his hearing entirely if he continued to perform. When that was announced, he said in a statement that he was hoping that medical treatment would eventually allow him to return to playing live and that while “the outcome is uncertain … my attitude is optimistic”.