Cold Chisel tour: Music legends celebrate 50 years with ‘Big Five-0’ tour

Ecstatic fans of Cold Chisel were quick to react after the legendary Aussie band announced what will be one of the most in-demand tours of the year. Here’s where to see them.

Kathy McCabeNational Music Writer

@McCabeRadar

3 min read

May 29, 2024 - 10:19AM

News Corp Australia Network

Cold Chisel reunite for 50th anniversary tour

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Ecstatic fans of Cold Chisel have taken to social media after the seminal Aussie rock band revealed they will reunite to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the Big Five-0 tour.

In what will be one of the most in-demand tours this year, the treasured rockers will perform in circus tents in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, wineries in regional hubs, arenas and a headlining set at the VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars.

Fans flooded the band’s official Facebook page with comments after the tour announcement, with one describing the reunion as “epic” and another saying seeing Cold Chisel perform live was her “biggest bucket list wish ever”.

Cold Chisel bandmates Phil Small, Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss, and Don Walker. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

One lifelong fan posted: “Cannot wait — seriously excited. Hope they do some Barnesy classics as well.”

Another posted on the band’s official Instagram account: “Omg! Have never been able to see them, dream may just come true! I’m more than excited! I will lose sleep just to get tickets.”

The last time the band performed in a Big Top tent for their An Evening with the Circus Animals shows in 1982, Jimmy Barnes closed the show singing Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) hanging on a trapeze below a motorbike as it raced above the audience on a tightrope.

Fans have told of their joy as Cold Chisel get set to reunite for a 50th anniversary tour. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“I was on the trapeze and a motorbike rode up over me and I was holding a bottle of vodka and singing at the same time. It was crazy,” Barnes said.

“It took a lot of drinking to get me up on that trapeze. It was part of the show … being in a band (then) was like being part of a touring circus.”

There will be no recreation of that stunt for the Big Five-0 tour. The older, wiser rocker is no Pink.

Yet it was Barnes’ near-death experience and health challenges in the past two years which fuelled his desire to play again with his band of brothers, four years after their Blood Moon tour.

Barnes and bandmates Don Walker, Ian Moss, Phil Small and drummer Charley Drayton, who replaced the late Steve Prestwich in 2011, have lost many of their “dear friends” in recent years and the iconic frontman didn’t want to miss the opportunity to play with his “favourite people in the world.”

“They’re my brothers, I grew up with them … they were the first real family I had,” Barnes said.

“We lost Steve … and it could happen to any of us at any time and we might never get to play again if we don’t seize the moment.”

Barnes returned to performing in March after requiring heart and back surgery to repair damage caused by a life-threatening infection.

He said the Chisel anniversary shows would be among a clutch of performances with the band while sober.

“Since I started thinking about this (tour) I’ve not drank anything.

“I want to savour every minute of this, not because I think it’s the last time but because I want to make it so important.

“It’s a celebration of probably one of the most important things in my life and … I want to be able to share and communicate with those guys like we did in our prime and in our heyday.”

The bandmates in 1982, the year the Circus Animals album was released. Picture: News Ltd

The band promise a greatest hits set to reward the loyalty of their legion of fans, and entertain a younger audience perhaps seeing them for the first time who have grown up with the Chisel soundtrack on long drives and family backyard barbecues.

Chisel’s revered songwriter Walker “convenes” the set list in consultation with his bandmates and trusted insiders.

“That’s a lot of songs. Nine albums’ worth. There’s a core list of songs that people who come to see us expect to hear and we get a kick out of playing, and then there are more obscure ones that one of us might suggest,” Walker said.

The tour run in October and November has been planned to recognise two significant sites of their early career, starting in Armidale where they based themselves in 1975 as Walker completed his university studies in physics and finishing in Adelaide where they formed.

Limited tickets will go on sale to members of Cold Chisel’s mailing list from noon (local times) on May 31 – sign up here. The general public sale will open at noon (local times) on June 4 via links at coldchisel.com.