Jimmy Barnes and Cold Chisel’s Vailo Adelaide 500 concert, Australian tour almost didn’t happen

Cold Chisel is set to rock this weekend’s Vailo Adelaide 500 – but one band member says they almost failed to get to the finish line.

Ian Moss has revealed Cold Chisel’s 50th anniversary tour was in serious jeopardy following Jimmy Barnes’s health struggles this year.

The band’s longtime guitarist says Barnes’s hip operation in August – just months after he underwent open heart surgery – left the rocker in a race against time to get ready for their sold-out reunion tour, which comes to the VAILO Adelaide 500 this month.

“I was nervous as hell,” Moss told The Sunday Mail.

“This tour was all set up, it was this big juggernaut on which a lot of work had been done, there were a lot of expenses... then he got the staph infection in the hip and it was nerve racking from there.

“They were saying – worst case scenario – they might have to break the hip and if that was the case, he’d be out for a year. We’d have to say goodbye to the tour.”

Barnes admitted he was unsure if he’d make it back in time.

“It was touch and go for a wee while there but I was determined to get back on my feet. I worked hard on my training and it has paid off,” he said.

After his recent hip surgery, Jimmy Barnes is seen recovery in hospital.

Barnes posted an Instagram video of himself being tethered to a drip during his long recovery.

Cold Chisel’s frontman is now “better than ever” on stage, according to Moss, though it’s likely the former Adelaide rocker will need more surgery after their latest run of shows.

“Unfortunately with his hip replacement, that was a temporary fix so at the end of the tour, he has to go through it all again, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Moss said.

“The physio straps up his thigh and hip each night. But it’s not affecting him, you just wouldn’t know watching him, the way he struts around the stage and the power and range of his voice. He’s as good as he ever was.”

To tune up for the Big Five-0 tour, Barnes and his Chisel bandmates Don Walker, Ian Moss, Phil Small and Charley Drayton completed 11 days of intense rehearsals to get “match fit”.

“We’re not getting any younger so that’s important. When you put that much work into rehearsals, you end up with a pretty slick show,” Moss said.

Cold Chisel’s Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes performing in Brisbane on October 30, 2024. Photo Steve Pohlner

Cold Chisel will perform at the VAILO Adelaide 500 in November. Pics: Supplied.

Now the legendary band is ready to return to their spiritual home, Adelaide, for the closing night concert at the V8 Supercars event on November 17.

Barnes, 68, said it’s “always good to come back home” and play in the city where they launched their career back in 1973.

“This time is really special for us. Who would have thought that we would be lucky enough, and tough enough to be still playing the music we love fifty years down the track,” he said.

“Playing at the VAILO Adelaide 500 is the perfect vehicle, no pun intended, for us. The town is in party mode for the races and so are we.”

While the group might be slowing down off stage, Moss said he firmly believes there’s plenty of life left in Cold Chisel.

“I don’t think these will be our last appearances. I just feel it in my bones, we’re not done with yet,” he said.

Originally published as Jimmy Barnes and Cold Chisel’s Vailo Adelaide 500 concert, Australian tour almost didn’t happen