Cold Chisel are the musical equivalent of Victoria Bitter or TimTams – a legendary part of Australian life and culture, but rarely seen outside the mother country. While singer Jimmy Barnes, of whom I am a confirmed fan, has toured the UK many times over his long solo career, an equal part of their success was guitarist and secondary singer Ian Moss (though arguably the distinctively Australian songwriting genius of Don Walker was an even bigger factor in Chisel’s appeal).

He has been over a couple of times solo, but this was his first show with a full and one which piqued my curiosity. Despite reading on social media there had been small attendances on the rest of the UK tour, this one was sold out with the Aussie diaspora – less prominent than when I first moved to London in the early nineties- nevertheless still out in force.

There were two enjoyable support acts, both solo and acoustic, the first floppy haired Harry Slater who I remembered mid-set was briefly guitarist in Bad Touch and now fronts his own eponymous band. He was followed by Ewan MacFarlane, a bearded and tattooed Scottish singer songwriter. Though the acoustic format can be restricting, opener ‘Underneath Your Spell’ was superb even in this format, and other songs like ‘Validated’ and ‘All Those Years’ also impressed. He showed his sardonic humour by saying we were being invited to a complicated sing along before a wordless chant during ‘New Rage Hope Song’, in which favourable comparisons with Del Amitri were coming to mind.

Ian Moss came on stage in very casual manner, clutching a glass of red wine (though ignoring the old maxim ‘never mix grain and grape’, he sent for beers during the set) and in no nonsense fashion said he would begin with a couple of songs from ‘ Matchbook’, his debut solo album which was a massive late eighties hit down under, in ‘Such A Beautiful Thing’ which grew on me, and the classy, soulful ‘Out Of The Fire’ with prominent backing vocals from stylish bassist Zoe Hauptmann and Juanita Tippins.

‘If Another Day’ rocked with an up tempo urgency before ‘One Long Day’ was bluesier with a longer jam in which Ian traded off some Hammond organ wizardry from keyboard player and Jarvis Cocker-lookalike Clayton Doley.

It was the first, if not the best known, of a few Cold Chisel songs through the evening, mainly those where he had a connection as writer or singer (so no ‘Khe Sanh’). Two such, ‘My Baby’ and a ‘Choir Girl’ at a significantly slower tempo than the original, had people joining in.

The tour blurb was promoting a forthcoming album out in ‘Rivers Run Dry’, so I was surprised only to hear one song, namely ‘Nullabor Plain’ which rocked harder than I expected, with a hint of Springsteen. On ‘Hold On’ and the funk-tinged ‘Never Before’ he stretched out, again in tandem with Clayton, with some smooth and extremely high quality guitar work – he is not normally spoken of as a blues guitar hero, but would lose nothing in comparison.

As the atmosphere became more raucous, he closed with a couple of intelligently arranged and distinctively Australian slices of pop rock from ‘Matchbook’ in ‘Telephone Booth’ and ‘Tucker’s Daughter’, both unfamiliar to me until doing my homework for the gig, but massive hits back home.

Things got progressively looser on the encores that felt nearly as long as the main set, with ‘Mr Rain’ turning into a funky jam and a great cover of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ with a series of solo slots, including a stunning vocal one from Juanita. There could only be one encore though, in the Chisel classic probably most associated with him in ‘Bow River’, a nine minute version with the band stretching out in that distinctive Aussie pub rock tradition.

It was a fitting end to a gig every bit as good as excited fans had been telling me earlier in the evening, showing that he is a man of many talents, but all with an effortless understatement. Now, as a confirmed new fan, my mission is to source a copy of ‘Matchbook’.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)