One of the biggest decisions Jimmy Barnes has to make these days is what to put in his set-list. Actually, that is probably his second biggest decision. Deciding what to leave out would be an even harder choice.
Barnsey has been carving the architecture for the Aussie rock sound since that first Cold Chisel album in 1978. Here we are more than 30 years on and now everyone has a favourite Barnes / Cold Chisel song … and he simply cannot do them all.
That being said, you pretty much cannot lose at a Jimmy Barnes gig. It's all hit, no shit.
Luckily, we can still see an artist of the caliber of Jimmy Barnes in close-up decent venue. Barnesy made his debut appearance at the new Michael Gudinski and Frank Stavala nightclub Trak in Toorak on Friday night.
The show was a sample bag of an extremely successful career. The nod to Jimmy's first group Cold Chisel came with the recent (its only 12 years old) 'The Things I Love In You', 'Flame Trees', 'Merry Go Round', 'You Got Nothing I Want' and 'Khe Sahn'.
The new songs came with three from the forthcoming from the upcoming album 'Rage and Ruin' with the single 'Before The Devil Knows You're Dead' early in the set then a double dose midway. After last year's number one 'The Rhythm and the Blues' album, expect another big debut soon for the new record. It must be hard stuff slotting in new music when your old songs are all classics. The three tracks from 'Rage and Ruin' slotted in easily alongside the one we knew.
Barnesy must have a soft spot for his 1999 album 'Love & Fear'. He played three from that one.
As usual, Jimmy had a band whose members read like a Special Operations Unit. Davey Lane (You Am I, The Pictures) was on guitar, Charlie Owen (Tex, Don and Charlie, Tex Perkins) on guitar,
A special mention must go to keyboard player Tony Featherstone who performed his last show with Jimmy on Friday.
Here is the setlist from Jimmy Barnes live at Trak, Toorak, Friday June 25, 2010:
Driving Wheels (from Freight Train Height, 1987)
I'd Die To Be With You Tonight (from For The Working Class Man, 1985)
Temptation (from Love & Fear, 1999)
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (from Rage and Ruin, 2010)
Things I Love In You (from The Last Wave of Summer, 1998)
Flame Trees (from Twentieth Century, 1984)
Love & Hate (from Love and Fear, 1999)
Time Will Tell (from Love and Fear, 1999)
Resurrection Shuffle (Ashton, Gardner and Dyke cover)
Ride The Night Away (from For The Working Class Man, 1985)
God Or Money (from Rage and Ruin, 2010)
Turn It Around (from Rage and Ruin, 2010)
Merry Go Round (from Breakfast At Sweethearts, 1979)
I'm Still On Your Side (from Freight Train Height, 1987)
Lay Down Your Guns (from Two Fires, 1990)
No Second Prize (from For Bodyswerve, 1984)
Good Times (single with INXS, 1986)
You Got Nothin I Want (from Circus Animals, 1982)
Working Class Man (from For The Working Class Man, 1985)
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Red Hot (from The Rhythm and the Blues, 2009)
Khe Sahn (from Cold Chisel, 1978)
