Former AC/DC drummer Chris Slade attending the Grammy

Getty Images has uploaded two photos of former AC/DC drummer Chris Slade attending the Grammy charities signings during the 57th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on February 6 in Los Angeles, California. Check out the pictures at GettyImages.com: Photo #1, Photo #2 (also featuring AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams).

AC/DC has not announced who will be behind the kit for its performance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, although it’s rumored that Slade has returned to the lineup.

Fans began speculating about Slade after he had to bow out of, of all things, a personal appearance at a California optometry practice last weekend.

The optometrist wrote on Facebook that the drummer had to cancel because of “big news regarding Slade and his career coming in [the] next several days.”
The Grammy Awards performance will mark AC/DC’s first appearance on national TV in 14 years and its first live performance since the December release of its new album, “Rock Or Bust”.

The band is also scheduled to headline California’s Coachella festival in April, with European and North American tours planned for later in the year.

As previously reported, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd‘s scheduled February 10 appearance in a New Zealand courtroom to address charges of “threatening to kill” and drug possession has been delayed until April because Rudd’s lawyer has quit the case. According to Stuff.co.nz, attorney Paul Mabey stepped away on what he described as “amicable” terms. He did not elaborate on his reasons for leaving, saying, “It’s just a professional decision that we have made.”

Rudd’s new lawyer is Craig Tuck, who has “appeared in some of New Zealand’s highest profile cases acting for entertainers,” according to LawAid.co.nz.

The move does not make it any more likely that Rudd could join AC/DC in time for its Grammy performance, since the band has already been rehearsing for the show and Rudd is required to stay near his Tauranga, New Zealand home for the duration of his case.