by Andrew Pelechaty
A versatile performer of rock, soul/R&B, and acoustic music for over 50 years, Jimmy Barnes has embraced the retro vibe with his 40th anniversary For the Working Class Man tour, which finished on Friday night (April 10) at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
As the Barnes family band walked out, the audience watched a collection of news clips and concert footage from the ‘80s, commemorating the album that launched Barnes’ solo career after Cold Chisel had split up, with hits like ‘Working Class Man’, ‘I’d Die to Be With You Tonight’, ‘Ride the Night Away’, and ‘No Second Prize’.
Barnes ran through all 12 songs from the album (and 24 songs in total), though he shifted ‘Working Class Man’ around for the sake of balance as it was the obvious crowd pleaser. Even though most Barnsey fans have heard the song countless times over the last 40 years, the audience still stood up and sung along to every word. And, of course, ‘Khe Sanh’ was just as popular: there can’t be a Barnes/Chisel show without that song somewhere.
There were also lesser-known tracks such as ‘American Heartbeat’ (which Barnes told the audience he was reluctant to record until he was told it was about the heartbeat of American soul/R&B), ‘Thick Skinned’, ‘Vision’ (with his wife Jane Barnes on bagpipes), ‘Paradise’ and ‘Without Your Love’ (the slowest song in a high-energy set).
The rest of the show was a selection of other solo hits, some classic Chisel songs (Ian Moss joining Jimmy for ‘Merry-Go-Round’, Jimmy’s granddaughter Ruby Rodgers joining him on ‘Flame Trees’), and his covers of ‘Good Times’ and ‘Resurrection Shuffle’. There were also recent songs ‘Shutting Down Our Town’ and ‘That’s What You Do for Love’, the underrated ‘Last Frontier’, and ‘Too Much Ain’t Enough Love’ (with Jimmy’s daughter Mahalia Barnes). The four-song encore finished with the traditional Chisel closer ‘Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)’.
While he may be approaching his 70th birthday, Jimmy’s singing and screaming was as good as ever. Considering his recent health issues, Jimmy is still going strong and could keep touring and making new music for as long as he wants to.
