Imagine 20,000 Australians singing along to every word of ‘Choir Girl’ or ‘Flame Trees’. Yeah, not that unusual right. But what about ‘Getting’ The Band Back Together’, a new song from the new Cold Chisel album. Now that was a surprise.
Cold Chisel performed the biggest show of their ‘Blood Moon’ tour at the Mt Duneed Winery in Geelong on Saturday (11 January 2020). The tour, named after their new album, features four new songs in the set and this audience had no trouble singing along with the single totally contradicting the ‘old bands should never play new songs’ mentality.
But Cold Chisel aren’t just any “old band”. They are outright Aussie Rock Royalty. They hold the record for most number one albums and in their day in Australia there were as big as AC/DC (you could argue bigger).
On the end of the decade ARIA chart, 30-40 year old Cold Chisel songs made up the second biggest selling Australian album of the 2010s. (30-40 year old INXS songs were the biggest Aussie seller of the decade). WTF? That’s not how the natural line of succession of meant to happen.
Live, all of the above makes sense. The Cold Chisel formula is obvious when you see this band perform. That seamless changeover of Ian Moss’s soulful vocals into Jimmy’s rock voice. The poet words of Don Walker and underlay of his keyboards. Ian’s spine-chilling guitar solos, the rhythm section of co-founder Phil Small on bass with recent recruit Charley Drayton on drums. Chisel works because the individual parts all have a unique component of the big picture.
This band went out on top in 1984. ‘Ordinary’ never made it into their resume. What started out good became great and with time has now evolved into brilliant.
The setlist itself is musical document of rock history. As a portrait of Australian culture Cold Chisel takes a whole life’s loneliness, wraps it up is some tenderness, sends it off to some emptiness, with all there love.
Cold Chisel setlist Sydney, 28 December, 2019
Standing On The Outside (from East, 1980)
Wild Colonial Boy (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Choirgirl (from East, 1980)
Rising Sun (from East, 1980)
My Baby (from East, 1980)
All for You (from No Plans, 2012)
Four Walls (from East, 1980)
Drive (from Blood Moon, 2019)
Gettin’ The Band Back Together (from Blood Moon, 2019)
Forever Now (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Land of Hope (from Blood Moon, 2019)
HQ454 Monroe (from No Plans, 2012)
Killing Time (from Blood Moon, 2019)
Saturday Night (from Twentieth Century, 1984)
Shipping Steel (from Breakfast at Sweethearts, 1979)
You Got Nothing I Want (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Merry-Go-Round (from Breakfast at Sweethearts, 1979)
Khe Sanh (from Cold Chisel, 1978)
Flame Trees (from Twentieth Century, 1984)
Bow River (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Encore:
When the War Is Over (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Cheap Wine (from East, 1980)
The Perfect Crime (from The Perfect Crime, 2015)
Houndog (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Encore 2:
Breakfast at Sweethearts (from Breakfast at Sweethearts, 1979)
Letter to Alan (from Circus Animals, 1982)
COLD CHISEL TOUR DATES
Jan 18, Pokolbin, Hope Estate
Jan 19, Tamworth, Scully Park
Jan 24, Sydney, Bankwest Stadium
Jan 25, Wollongong, Stuart Park
Jan 30, Canberra, Stage 88
Feb 1 Heifer Station Wines, Orange, NSW
Feb 5, Tauranga and Wharepai Domains, Tauranga, New Zealand
Feb 8 Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, QLD
Feb 9 Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, QLD
All remaining tickets on sale now from Ticketmaster
www.ticketmaster.com.au & 136 100
All event information www.adayonthegreen.com.au
For all the national tour dates and latest information go to the official home of Cold Chisel’s Blood Moon Tour 2020 www.coldchisel.com
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