We share some history, this town and I: Jimmy Barnes opens Cold Chisel Lane

One of SA’s favourite sons was on hand for a quiet ceremony in honour of the band he once fronted.

Adelaide’s favourite musical sons, Cold Chisel have been immortalised in a West End laneway.

Cold Chisel Lane, an idea first floated by the Sunday Mail and the Adelaide Music Collective in 2018, became a reality Saturday when frontman Jimmy Barnes declared the lane open in an intimate ceremony.

Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes in the newly named Cold Chisel Lane in the CBD. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Barnes said he was happy to see that the West End alleys – dangerous thoroughfares when he was a young man – were becoming lively entertainment precincts.

“We walked these streets after shows, and some of these streets down here were dangerous,” Barnes said.

“It’s nice to see that they’re turning them into places where people can now come and see some good Australian music and enjoy themselves.”

Barnes said Adelaide made him and the band into the performers that they are now.

“We played probably the best shows of our lives here because we were hungry, trying to scratch and claw our way into the music scene,” he said.

“Adelaide was always isolated, and you had to go to the eastern states to make it, but so many great bands came out of this town because of that isolation and because the audiences were so discerning here.”

As well as signage and the plaque, the laneway – which runs off Burnett Street – features a stunning text-based mural by renowned local artist James Dodd.