LIVE: JIMMY BARNES – Perth, 12 June 2024

LIVE: JIMMY BARNES – Perth, 12 June 2024
Supported by Taylor Sheridan, The Regal Theatre, Subiaco
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Luke Baker

It’s the first show of Barnesy’s Hell Of A Time tour, and Taylor Sheridan is beside himself at scoring the support slot. So much so, in fact, that standing up there on the big stage at Subiaco’s ornate and historic Regal Theatre he quickly confesses to a heavy dose of butterflies.

The country boy from rural Victoria has one hell of a vocal range, hitting notes most of us could only dream of, and he can write some decent tunes as well. He starts a bit too… well… nice, with his first songs suffering from a wishy washy delivery – but once his confidence builds, around the third or fourth track, he’s charismatic and engaging and has the audience 100% on his side.

Don’t Ever Change is a soulful love song written for his wife, his emotive voice really suiting the Stax/Motown soul style; I Don’t Dream Of You Any More is a different kind of love song, this one written for his late Grandmother and addressing memories of our loved ones fading in time; This Town is a stomping rocker sounding like much more than just one singer/songwriter and an acoustic guitar – this is how good he can be when he trusts himself and lets rip.

The crowd by now are sold on Sheridan, who’s touting his debut album, released last week. A cover of ABBA’s S.O.S. gets the whole crowd singing, as does final track Troubadour, and he’s justifiably pleased as punch to have succeeded in his “one job as a warmup act.”

Jimmy Barnes props himself on a stool centre stage while Hell Of A Time plays over the sound system, wisecracking with a gravelly chuckle that they used it as an intro tape because “we had too many songs for the set list.”

The first song proper is one of his defining tracks: Working Class Man, delivered here slightly slower and though not unplugged, certainly stripped back compared to how we’re used to it. It’s the same treatment afforded several classics tonight, including Cold Chisel favourites Forever Now and Flame Trees, and all to great effect.

The tour, however, celebrates the Flesh & Wood album, released a staggering thirty years ago last December, half of which was made up of duets. Tonight The Weight makes an appearance, Guilty – originally recorded with Joe Cocker, You Can’t Make Lone Without A Soul, Still Got A Long Way To Go – written for him by bro-in-law Diesel and sung as a duet with daughter E.J., as well as some others and a few unexpected extras.

Wife Jane takes the lead for the Roy Orbison and, later, Linda Ronstadt classic Blue Bayou, Barnes helping out on the chorus and teasing her affectionately; Two Hearts Collide also features E.J., and she’s a dab hand on the autoharp and mandolin at different points as well; new song Beyond The Riverbend is a personal offering about the Barnes’ property in New South Wales; and Jane plays bagpipes on a few tracks, including the Scottish traditional The Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond; while son Jackie holds down the rhythm on the drums as well, making it quite the family affair.

Despite heart surgery just a few months ago, Barnes is roaring. And I do mean roaring – we were expecting screaming instead of singing, but whether it’s because he’s healthier, or because of the stripped back nature of the music, he is in fine singing voice and sounds better than we’ve heard him in a long time.

There is banter aplenty: Jimmy and Jane joking throughout, while Jimmy tells some engaging stories like the raconteur he is – about the late Steve Prestwich coming to him in a dream to let him know the forthcoming Cold Chisel tour will be great; Joe Cocker necking wine in the studio having “given up the drink”; and more.

The expansive encore starts with lesser-known Chisel track Missing A Girl, Barnes revelling in giving it this treatment; the aforementioned The Weight, guitarists Michael Paynter and Danny Spencer, and Jackie Barnes each singing a verse; a gospel Spiritual that was impossible to sit still through; soul classic Dark End Of The Street, originally recorded by James Carr; and a ripping cover of the Willie Dixon track You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover, made famous by the great Bo Diddley, which Barnes first heard, he tells us, on a record owned by his big brother John ‘Swanee’ Swan. It’s a big blues rocker to finish the night on a high note, a real “strip the paint off the walls” track, to use his own words.

We’ve been seeing Barnesy live for almost forty-five years now, since his very first solo tour, and hand on heart, he’s sounding better now than he has done in at least half that time. Excellent. What will be most interesting will be how that reinvigorated singing voice translates to the more raucous Cold Chisel tour coming up in a couple of months. Fingers crossed we can hear Barnes singing rather than screaming, even with the louder rock sound going on.

Taylor Sheridan setlist:

We’re All Stars
Home Town Love
Don’t Ever Change
I Don’t Dream Of You Any More
This Town
S.O.S.
Troubadour

Jimmy Barnes setlist:

Working Class Man
It’ll Be Alright
Guilty
Still Got A Long Way To Go
Blue Bayou
You Can’t Make Love
Still On Your Side
Forever Now
The Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond
Brother Of Mine
Fade To Black
Two Hearts Collide
Just Beyond The Riverbend
Flame Trees

Missing A Girl
The Weight
Spritual name??
Dark End Of The Street
Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover

 

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