Jimmy Barnes speaks of facing his worst fears ahead of Cairns performance

Jimmy Barnes has spoken about facing one of his greatest fears, ahead of his upcoming performance in Cairns.

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JIMMY Barnes can scare the proverbial out of any living creature with his signature rock scream.

But it wasn’t going to help him when he came face-to-face with sharks on a recent working holiday to the Maldives.

Since Barnes penned his best-selling memoirs, Working Class Boy and Working Class Man, he has continued his quest to face his greatest fears.

And that includes taking up surfing and swimming with sharks.

“I never thought about surfing because I’m terrified of sharks. And I just went diving with them. It was incredible,” he said.

“It’s selfish but liberating that at this point in my career I get to say ‘Yes, I’ll do it’ but I’m bringing my kids and my grandkids. That’s the benefits of being around for 45 years.”

Family is everything to the rock’n’roll survivor. And part of the road circus which takes off this week around the country for his Shutting Down Your Town tour.

The tour, in support of his history-making No. 1 album My Criminal Record, features son Jackie on drums, with wife Jane and daughters Elly May and EJ on backing vocals.

Daughter Mahalia has helped design the production and manage the tour and will join the family on stage at several concerts.

The No. 1 success of My Criminal Record has prompted Barnes to re-examine his hits from Working Class Man to Lay Down Your Guns and restore them to their original versions for this tour.

Jimmy Barnes will play Munro Martin Parklands on Saturday from 6pm.

Visit ticketlink.com.au

Originally published as Jimmy Barnes speaks of facing his worst fears ahead of Cairns performance