Barnesy takes Geelong back to 1985

JIMMY Barnes and some of his contemporaries took Geelong back to 1985 in an excellent concert stacked with talent on Saturday.

Barnes chose Mt Duneed Estate for the first date of his Working Class Man 40th Anniversary Tour, which also features Icehouse, Ian Moss and Kate Ceberano.

John Rooney opened proceedings and played to a big crowd, with most of the more than 10,000 attendees turning up early.

Ceberano followed, part of a trio that sounded much bigger and louder thanks to clever use of drum and keyboard loops.

Switching between keys and percussion, she played a breathless and eclectic “Australian Made” set that including her own hits (Brave, Bedroom Eyes), the hits from her younger days (Out of Mind  Out of Sight, I Hear Motion) in pubs – “You were there, I saw you there!” she quipped to the crowd at one point – and hits from today’s Aussie artists (Straight Lines, Chandelier, Joker & The Thief).

Barnes’ Cold Chisel bandmate Moss was next and the two had talked about their performances beforehand – Moss took just My Baby and Bow River from Cold Chisel’s extensive catalogue in his set of blues-tinged rock.

Icehouse delivered a set of all killer, no filler. Frontman Iva Davies obviously had a ball and enjoyed leading the band through bangers such as Electric Blue, Crazy and Great Southern Land as much as he did bantering with guitarist Paul Gildea.

“Hands up if you weren’t alive in 1978?” Davis asked the audience. “Oh lord,” he said as most hands went up, “that’s when I wrote this song.”

“Did they have pen and paper then?” Gildea snarked.

“No, I did it with goosequill and ink,” Davies shot back.

Top of the bill, Barnes was in fine voice and told stories throughout his set.

“”How the f*** are ya?” he greeted the roaring crowd. “Welcome to 1985! I remember it like yesterday… well, most of it like yesterday.”

He and his band played the 40-year-old album For The Working Class Man in roughly chronological order, saving the (almost) title track to the end.

“Enough of this new s***, let’s go back a few years,” he joked just before launching into Flame Trees, with the rest of the set comprising Barnes’ solo material (Too Much Ain’t Enough Love, Driving Wheels), Cold Chisel favourites (Khe Sanh, Merry Go-Round featuring Moss on guitar and vocals) and guest appearances (wife Jane on backing vocals and bagpipes, daughter Mahalia on concert closer Good Times).