Live: Cold Chisel w/ Grinspoon 15th December 2015 @ Qantas Credit Union Centre
On the 15th of December 1983, legendary Aussie rockers Cold Chisel performed the final of their three “Last Stand” farewell concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Exactly 32 years later a reunited Cold Chisel played the first of three concerts at the same concert arena. This time around, it is not the band but the venue making its Last Stand, as it’s about to get torn down.
This three night stand marks the end of an extensive national Chisel tour that kicked off at the start of October. On select dates like this night the band were accompanied by Grinspoon.
The grunge-punk rockers seemed a weird choice to open for Cold Chisel, mainly due to singer Phil Jamieson’s performance. It is a friggin’ honour to be opening up for Cold Chisel, a chance that most Aussie bands would give everything for, yet Jamieson couldn’t be bothered to show any excitement.
The foursome did display some energy during up-tempo tracks like ‘Just Ace’ and ‘More Than You Are’ (with a guest performance from Unwritten Law-singer Scott Russo) but appeared rather lethargic while playing their hit single ‘Chemical Heart’.
The difference with the headliners couldn’t be bigger: after more than a thousand gigs Cold Chisel are still hungry, enthusiastic and deeply grateful to be there. From opening track ‘Standing on the Outside’ on it straight away became clear that band and audience were equally excited to be there.
While Jimmy Barnes sounded like he was struggling a bit during the NRL Grand Final in October, here he came out firing on all cylinders from the get-go. It seemed impossible that the 59-year old rocker would keep his trademark screeching, shouting and shrieking up for the whole gig, but he didn’t miss any high notes anywhere during the whole night.
With his typical hobbling from left to right onstage the larrikin front man may resemble one of the Gumbys from Monty Python, yet he is also a great performer who can deliver each line of a song in a deeply meaningful way. This became particularly obvious halfway through the set during the old gem of a ballad that is ‘Four Walls’. The singer delivered the simple but moving lines “Four walls, washbasin, prison bed” with the conviction of someone who just got out of prison.
Of course one of the many remarkable aspects of Cold Chisel is that the band has not one but two gifted singers, as guitarist Ian Moss also sings a fair share of the songs. With his cleaner voice and slightly broader range he may actually be a more accomplished singer than Barnesy.
However most of all Moss is one of Australia’s finest rock guitarists. Although he is tremendously skilled, he does not show off; for this modest rocker technique is not the purpose, but just the means to find the right notes every single time.
Behind Barnes and Moss there is the steady rhythm section of Phil Small on bass and Charley Drayton replacing the late Steve Prestwich on drums. And of course there is the quiet conductor on keyboards, Don Walker, the man who wrote most of these timeless tunes now embedded in a nation’s psyche.
The audience consisted of multiple generations who all grew up with these songs and belted along with them word for word. Highlight of the gig was when crowd and band together took it up a notch during the modulating bridge of ‘Flame Trees’ (“Do you remember, nothing stopped us on the field, in our day-ay-ay”) which resulted in the loudest singalong of the night.
Obviously there was unashamed nostalgia throughout the night, with Barnes often reflecting on the legendary 1983 concerts. He mentioned how some people told him they even bought the same seats as they had 32 years ago.
The singer also pointed out how every song in their middle set was played in 1983, and the emphasis was definitely on the old stuff with only three (!) out of 27 songs on the whole setlist released after that year. As a result there was no room for modern classics like ‘HQ454 Monroe’ from 2011’s No Plans or ‘All Hell Broke Lucy’ from this year’s The Perfect Crime.
A new song that did make it to the setlist was ‘Long Dark Road’, and when Barnes announced the track as “one of the new album” there were immediately droves of people getting up out of their seats to head for the bar. New single ‘Lost’ was saved for the encore, and as it sounds as good as anything the band ever recorded, it blended right in with all the classics.
When after two and a half hours the band finished with ‘Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)’ it was Goodbye to the entertainment center, but not goodbye to Cold Chisel. They are perhaps a better band now than they were in 1983, definitely not as drunk, and with not as much internal conflict. Barnesy and Co seem to have enough energy and drive for at least one more album and tour, if not more.
Photos taken from the show at Rod Laver Arena 19th November, full gallery here.
