The Big Five-0 Cold Chisel The 50th Anniversary Tour
Event Info

News

Show Review – “Melbourne review wrap: Cold Chisel at Flemington Racecourse” – Michael Dwyer, The Age ★★★★★

Melbourne review wrap: Cold Chisel at Flemington Racecourse

Well, that was emotional.

I can’t speak for the other 9999 Cold Chisel fans who bellowed every word to Standing on the Outside like we’d assembled for rock ‘n’ roll church under the big top at Flemington. But the second song, Letter to Alan, put a lump in my throat and something in my eye that pretty much stayed there for two hours.

★★★★★

Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes perform with Cold Chisel at Flemington Racecourse on Friday night. MARTIN PHILBEY

There would be plenty of songs for us – Choir Girl, My Baby, Breakfast at Sweethearts and Forever Now all followed in a breathless rush. But this Letter was for them: for the memory of roadies Alan Dallow and Billy Rowe, killed 44 years ago in a car accident, a turn in the same cursed and miraculous road that delivered the band here.

Jimmy Barnes sang it with every atom of his visibly scarred body. Pianist Don Walker, guitarist Ian Moss, bassist Phil Small and “new” drummer Charley Drayton (since 2011) played like their lives were on the line. From there until the traditional closing slammer Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye), that was the deal. Play like there’s no tomorrow.

It’s possible to break down the elements that make Chisel, even at 50, one of the world’s great rock ‘n’ roll bands. First, add to Barnes’ paint- stripping delivery Moss’ sweet soul voice and unique feel as a blues player, best illustrated in the immense dynamic arcs of One Long Day and Bow River.

Ian Moss, Jimmy Barnes and Don Walker on work their magic. MARTIN PHILBEY

Second, from the larrikin dropkick of Cheap Wine to the bereft war vet of Khe Sanh, Walker’s songs – and plenty by his bandmates – comprise a panorama as rich and unflinchingly real as any Australian has written. As a band, they lay back like 4am jazzers in Plaza Hotel and swing like a rockabilly gate in a gale in Rising Sun.

It’s much harder to parse why it all means so much to 10,000 people making like the world’s most ecstatic pub choir in every second song. Maybe, like when Barnes relates a dream he had about late drummer Steve Prestwich, we’re all remembering old friends, here and gone, who we sang with way back then.

One song Prestwich co-wrote tells that story – about memories and loss, good times and good friends gone, and the impossibility of ever really going back – with such devastating beauty and eloquence that that thing in my eye acts up big time. Is Flame Trees the best song ever written? It is tonight. The fact that it’s almost certainly the last we’ll all spend together makes it almost unbearable.

Cold Chisel play at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday, October 26.

Published: Filed under: News

Cold Chisel review: superhuman vocals from Jimmy Barnes anchor immortal songs in triumphant tour opener – The Guardian

***** (5 Stars) – click here to read on The Guardian.

Group fires up chilly night before 10,000-strong crowd with blistering 24-song set that belies their decades as a fixture on Australia’s rock’n’roll landscape

Petersons Winery, Armidale

Andrew Stafford

Sun 6 Oct 2024 13.32 AEDT

Just two months after Jimmy Barnes had hip surgery, the group’s hallmark energy and attitude were on full display on the first official stop of their Big Five-O tour. Photograph: Robert Hambling

On the screens flanking the stage at Petersons Winery in Armidale, you can clearly see the scar at the top of Jimmy Barnes’ big barrel chest. It’s a visible legacy of the singer’s second round of open-heart surgery in December last year, after a serious bout of bacterial pneumonia nearly killed him.

Two months ago, he had a hip replacement that also left him fighting off an infection, which kept him tethered to a drip for weeks. You wouldn’t know it. Watching him tear through Cold Chisel’s 24-song set on the first official stop of their Big Five-0 tour, Barnes looks indestructible. At this rate, he’ll outlive all of us and Keith Richards combined.

They share some history, this town and Chisel, having solidified here in 1974 while primary songwriter Don Walker was completing a degree at the University of New England. Nearly 1,000 metres above sea level, a crowd of well over 10,000 (many of them grey nomads who have travelled from far and wide) huddles in the chilly night air.

‘Jimmy Barnes’s voice is superhuman, pitch-perfect, drawing from deep within himself and the bottomless well of the songs.’ 
Photograph: Robert Hambling

As usual, they open with Standing on the Outside. It’s a song about the impossibility of trying to get ahead when everything is stacked against you: “No amount of work’s gonna get me through the door.” It shakes and rattles like one of the great old 50s rockers, but its hard-bitten sentiment is unlikely to have ever been more relevant. The audience erupts.

Barnes – dressed, like most of his bandmates, in basic black – is in his element. Born a street fighter, he has five decades of ring generalship to draw on. He doesn’t waste an inch of the stage. And his voice is superhuman, pitch-perfect, drawing from deep within himself and the bottomless well of the songs.

When guitarist Ian Moss steps up to sing Choir Girl, followed by the lengthy One Long Day from Chisel’s 1978 debut, it’s a reminder of this band’s exceptional vocal firepower. Moss, a magnificent singer in his own right, could have fronted any band in the world, and like Barnes he sounds in better voice than ever.

Guitarist and vocalist Ian Moss tears up the Cold Chisel repertoire. 
Photograph: Robert Hambling

But this band is a premiership-quality team. When The War Is Over and Forever Now follow each other in the set. Both of them were written by Steve Prestwich, the band’s drummer who died in 2011. These are two of Cold Chisel’s most poignant songs. Bassist Phil Small can lay claim to My Baby, their most straightforward and sincere detour into pop.

Barnes rips through Rising Sun, his celebratory paean to his wife Jane. A few songs later comes You Got Nothing I Want, his equally celebratory fuck-you to the American record company executive who sacked the band after hearing it. The song finished them in the US, but has become part of their legend in Australia, and it’s a story Barnes still tells with relish.

It’s Walker, though, who is Chisel’s gravitational force. Behind his keyboards, he keeps his head down, with a quiff of white hair you could see for miles. “Play that fuckin’ piano!” Barnes tells him, and he pounds it like Little Richard for the closing Goodbye (Astrid, Goodbye).

But before that comes the reggae shuffle of Breakfast at Sweethearts, a song so vividly drawn that you can smell the coffee. There’s the grimy blues of You Got to Move, which originally appeared on Walker’s solo album Lightning in a Clear Blue Sky. And, of course, there’s Khe Sanh, an Australian answer to John Prine’s strung-out Vietnam veteran Sam Stone.

‘Behind his keyboards, Don Watson keeps his head down, with a quiff of white hair you could see for miles.’ 
Photograph: Robert Hambling

As the years have gone by, Flame Trees has become a song even more tightly held by its audience. The lift in the bridge still makes my hair stand on end: “Do you remember, nothing stopped us on the field in our day?” It’s a lyric that implies so much, because all its boozy reverie determinedly averts its gaze from the elephant in the room.

Although it’s not acknowledged by the band, there’s a collective understanding that this could be the last time. Many years separate Cold Chisel tours now; Walker, the oldest member of the group, is 73. The audience spans generations, but it’s fair to say the majority have grown up, and grown old with them. If there’s a next time, we won’t all be here to see it.

But as Jimmy appears immortal, so too these songs – long since embedded in the national consciousness – will endure. Bow River ends the main set, Moss taking the first half of the song before Barnes swoops in behind him and tears it to shreds. The pair of them are grinning like loons, ecstatic, and they leave the audience emotionally spent.

Published: Filed under: News

EVENT INFORMATION – Petersons Wines , Armidale NSW Saturday October 5th 2024

Petersons Wines is a magnificent open-air venue located at 345 Dangarsleigh Rd, Armidale.

TRAFFIC / PARKING

Very limited parking is available on site and traffic delays of up to 60 minutes can be expected at bot the ingress and egress of the event.
The easiest way to and from this event is via bus shuttle. Edwards Coaches have a range of bus transfer locations. Please visit their website or this link for tickets: https://www.123tix.com.au/events/44795/red-hot-summer-tour-2024-edwards-coaches

BOX OFFICE / TICKETING

The Box Office is located at the concert entry point and will be open from 60 minutes prior to gates opening until the headline artist commences. Please have your ticket printed and ready for scanning at the gates, or alternatively have the barcode ready on your phone with the device brightness turned up.

TICKETING POLICY

The official ticketing agency for this event is Ticketmaster. The Red Hot Summer Tour takes no responsibility for tickets purchased outside of the official agencies. Tickets purchased through third parties such as Viagogo, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Ebay or other sites are done so at the customer’s own risk. Fraudulent tickets will not be honored.

Once a ticket purchase is completed there are no refunds or exchanges available. In purchasing a ticket to this event the purchaser acknowledges that any government mandates, public health orders or inability to attend due to illness or other changed circumstances does not render the purchaser eligibility for a refund or exchange.

ARTIST TIMES

Artist line up and playing times are subject to change.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

It is a condition of entry that all bags, chairs and personal belongings are presented to Security Staff for inspection. Patrons detected with contraband items such as alcohol will be refused entry without refund. Please also note that the event has a no pass out policy so please come prepared for the full day.

PERMITTED ITEMS

You may bring to this event: Camp Chair, Sealed Still Bottled Water ( not carbonated ), Snack Foods, Rain Poncho, Non Professional Camera ( No professional lenses or video cameras ).

PROHIBITED ITEMS

Items strictly prohibited from entry include: Alcohol, Soft Drink & Non Alcoholic Beverages apart from Still Sealed Water, Umbrellas, Cheese Knives, Glass, Glass Jars, Metal Cutlery, Shade Structures, Tents and Canopies, Pets, Offensive Clothing, MC Club Attire, Bicycles, Scooters, Trolleys, Pets.

SMOKING I VAPING

We ask that patrons wishing to smoke/ vape only do so in the designated smoking zones. Smoking outside of these areas is not permitted. Smoking zones are located either side of the venue.

FOOD & BEVERAGE

This event will have a large range of food and beverage outlets open for the duration of the day. A public bar will operate offering a range of Beer, Wine, Spirits and Non Alcoholic beverages.

MERCHANDISE

The Merchandising Truck will be located adjacent to the main bar and will feature a large range of official merchandise.

AGE RESTRICTIONS

This is an 18+ Event.

FIRST AID

First Aid will be on site for the event duration and is located adjacent to the main entry.

ACCESSIBLE VIEWING

An unreserved accessible viewing area is available to the left hand side of the stage approximately 60 metres from the stage front. This area is at ground level, and has bathroom facilities available.

PASS OUTS

As a condition of licensing there are no pass outs available. This means that if you exit the event you will not be able to re enter. Please come prepared for the day with this in mind.

WEATHER POLICY

This event is an open air concert that will proceed rain, hail or shine. In the very unlikely event of a cancellation, ticketholders will be advised by SMS, Email and social media. The event will only be cancelled if the site is deemed unsafe to proceed / continue. This decision will be made by Event Management, Venue Management and Emergency Services.

Published: Filed under: News

Limited Additional Tickets To Be Released For Cold Chisel’s ‘The Big Five-0 Tour’

Cold Chisel is pleased to announce that final production mapping has allowed some additional tickets to be released for sale today – Tuesday, 1 October – right before The Big Five-0 Tour kicks off. 

Nearly all dates for these eagerly anticipated shows originally sold out within minutes. Fans will now have one last chance to celebrate the band’s 50th Anniversary with a special set encompassing all their classic Australian hits.

This strictly limited ticket release includes the first official show this Saturday, 5 October at Petersons Winery in Armidale; both nights at Sandalford Wines, Swan Valley in WA (Saturday, 19 October and Sunday, 20 October) and Victoria Park in Ballarat (Saturday, November 9).  

Much smaller quantities will be available for all other dates except the Big Top Tent shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne which will remain sold out for the time being.

High demand is expected given the sales frenzy that occurred when The Big Five-O Tour was announced in May, so fans are advised to get in quick. 

If you are on a formal ticketing agency waitlist for a particular show, you will have first access from 9.00am local times on Tuesday, 1 October. All remaining tickets will then be released to the general public from midday today (local times) at the same prices paid by other ticket purchasers back in May

In addition to all the tickets mentioned above, Armidale residents will have dedicated access to an extra 500 tickets for this weekend’s local show at Petersons Winery. This separate release of extra tickets go on-sale this Wednesday, thanks to the local council, is only open to people who can prove residence in the following postcodes: 2350, 2365, 2358 and 2453. Maximum of 2 tickets per purchaser. Detailed information will be available at Visit Armidale and on Council’s social media platforms.

In support of The Big Five-0 Tour, Cold Chisel released 50 Years – The Best Of which went straight to #1 on the ARIA Album Chart giving the band their 6th #1 Album.

CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES + TICKET LINKS

COLD CHISEL “THE BIG FIVE-O”

TOUR DATES

Saturday, 5 October 2024
Petersons Winery, Armidale NSW
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: The Cruel Sea, Birds of Tokyo, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews

Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach QLD
Special guest: Karen Lee Andrews

Friday, 11 October 2024
The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park NSW
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Saturday, 12 October 2024
The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park NSW
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Tuesday, 15 October 2024
WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong NSW
Special guest: Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 19 October 2024
Sandalford Wines, Caversham WA
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: Birds of Tokyo, The Cruel Sea, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews

Sunday, 20 October 2024
Sandalford Wines, Caversham WA
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: Birds of Tokyo, The Cruel Sea, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews

Friday, 25 October 2024
Flemington Racecourse, Flemington VIC
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Saturday, 26 October 2024
Flemington Racecourse, Flemington VIC
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall QLD
Special guest: Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 2 November 2024
Victoria Park, Herston / Brisbane QLD
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Sunday, 3 November 2024
Victoria Park, Herston / Brisbane QLD
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews
SOLD OUT

Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Broadmeadow NSW
Special guest: Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 9 November 2024
Victoria Park, Ballarat VIC
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: The Cruel Sea, Birds of Tokyo, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews

Sunday, 10 November 2024
Mornington Racecourse, Mornington VIC
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: The Cruel Sea, Birds of Tokyo, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews


Wednesday, 13 November 2024
MyState Bank Arena, Glenorchy TAS
Special guest: Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 16 November 2024
QUDOS Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park NSW
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews

Sunday, 17 November 2024
VAILO Adelaide 500, Post Race Concert, Adelaide SA
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and The Superjesus
Limited tickets are still available from Ticketmaster

Friday, 22 November 2024
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne VIC
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 23 November 2024
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne VIC
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews

Thursday, 28 November 2024
Stage 88, Canberra ACT
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews

Saturday, 30 November 2024
Roche Estate, Hunter Valley NSW
Presented by Red Hot Summer Tour
Special guests: The Cruel Sea, Birds of Tokyo, The Superjesus and Karen Lee Andrews

Wednesday, 4 December 2024
QUDOS Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park NSW
Special guests: The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews

CLICK HERE FOR TICKET LINKS

Published: Filed under: News

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