Project Description

JIMMY BARNES

+ Jet

+ Karen Lee Andrews

‘SHUTTING DOWN YOUR TOWN’ TOUR

@ Rod Laver Arena

12/10/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Alyssa Borda

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Karen Lee Andrews, a soul singer from Sydney who has appeared on The Voice in 2013 was the first act for the evening. She was absolutely amazing as a vocalist and performed a selection of songs that were both soulful yet groovy. She said ‘We are a Sydney band and would like to thank Jimmy Barnes, who has been so nice to us’.  She played an upbeat set and the standout track was ‘I’m Yours’ from her  EP Far From Paradise.

Next up was ARIA Award winning rock group and frontman Nic Cester took to the stage dressed in a dapper green suede jacket. They immediately rocked out to the seated crowd from the first song with ‘Roll Over DJ’, from their 8  x Platinum selling classic album ‘Get Born’.  One of my favorites ‘She’s A Genius’ was next followed by the bluesy ‘Come Around Again’.

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 Their fifth song of the evening was the brilliant ‘Seventeen’. I especially loved the melody, keyboard and drums on this one. Other highlights of the set included the guitar feedback on  ‘Bring It On Back’ and Cester was in fine form on ‘Look What Youv’e Done’ . At this point the crowd were on their feet singing with  phones in the air. Nic then extended his heartfelt thanks.

‘Thank you very much, it has been a difficult week, Chris has been in hospital, I would like to dedicate the rest of the set to my brother Chris’.

 ‘Get What You Need’ was next before their HUGE hit ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ with their distinctive guitar riff and tambourine intro.  ‘Make some noise Melbourne!!’  This led into ‘Cold Hard Bitch’ (the last song for the evening). Nic then hugs drummer who is filling in for Chris and thanks everyone, including Jimmy Barnes.

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ARIA Hall of Fame artist, Jimmy Barnes enters the stage to an ecstatic, upstanding  ovation from the Melbourne crowd, dressed head to toe in black and launches straight into ‘Driving Wheels’. ‘Bad Mood’ followed and then ‘Stolen Car’,with some amazing Jerry Lee Lewis piano solos. Jimmy was working up a sweat and definitely putting his heart and soul into his performance.

‘Ride The Night Away’ saw everyone clapping along and featured yet another strong piano solo. The Cold Chisel classic ‘Khe Sanh’ had the crowd going off singing along to the lyrics and there was some ripping guitar work from Ben Rodgers.

 He also mentioned his new well received LP ‘My Criminal Record’. The title track was classic Barnes with powerful lyrics and solid guitar and drumming. The hits kept coming with  ‘Lay Down Your Guns’ and ‘Boys Cry Out For War’  – what an incredible performance!

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  Jimmy then says ‘Thank you very much, I want to play a bit of blues now featuring Danny Spencer called ‘Too Much Ain’t Enough Love’. Rodger’s electric Fender really shined through this song.  ‘Lover Lover’ was up next – keeping the crowd happy and clapping along!

‘The next song I wrote is about how I grew up in Glasgow then in Adelaide. There was a lot of violence, a lot of poverty and domestic abuse It’s still happening everyday in Melbourne and Sydney that is the real crime here’. 

‘Money And Class’ followed with Barnes knocking it out of the park with his vocals. ‘Working Class Hero’ had the crowd in rapture with Jimmy shaking sweat off his head, which then goes flying into the audience!! ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ written by The Living End‘s Chris Cheney was another great song of the evening with some  heavy delivery from Clayton Doley. I also have to say the backing vocals were strong from the Barnes family of ladies including Mahalia, Jane, Elly May and EJ Barnes.

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  ‘Flame Trees’ had everyone out of their chairs and singing. It was simply amazing to witness this!  Bagpipes took centre stage on his fabulous new song ‘Shutting Down Our Town’, which was written by Troy Cassar-Daley and released this year. ‘I’d Die To Be With You Tonight’ showcased some outstanding drumming from Jackie Barnes and ‘Second Prize’ was an audience favourite that they knew so well.

The 1985 Australian classic ‘Working Class Man’ was perfect and loved by all!! The bassist, Michael Hegarty was fantastic on this song. By 10:40pm Jimmy Barnes was off the stage after thanking the crowd. Minutes later the band were back and the encore started with new track ‘Stargazer’ – another hit, with strong vocals with Jimmy standing underneath atmospheric magenta lighting.

He then says to the crowd ‘Can we go back to Plan A? Nic Cester is one of the best rock singers I have ever heard‘. The Jets frontman is called back on stage to sing yet another classic – ‘Good Times’. Both singers were rocking the stage and the audience had their hands in the air clapping along. A hard rock guitar solo then follows.

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Fittingly ‘Goodbye’ was the last song for the evening with some perfect organ playing by Lachlan Doley. Jimmy said his final farewell and thank you to everyone that attended. On a final note I was absolutely thrilled to see the working class legend Jimmy Barnes in concert for the first time! A true inspiration for our generation that should be admired for his hard work, longevity and contribution to the Australian music industry.

 

Check out Darren Chan‘s gallery of the show here

 

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