Fresh off Cold Chisel’s 50th anniversary tour, Jimmy Barnes is still refusing to slow down.
At 69, arguably Australia’s greatest-ever rocker is still commanding stages, topping charts, and, through a new documentary, opening up about the next chapter of his life.
Last night at St Kilda’s Astor Theatre, Barnesy walked the red carpet at the Melbourne International Film Festival for the premiere of Working Class Man, directed by Andrew Farrell.
The film follows on from 2018’s Working Class Boy, which chronicled the trauma of Barnes’ childhood after his family emigrated from Glasgow to Adelaide in the early ’60s.
“Ultimately it’s a celebration of 50 years of music and the road of learning my craft and how to sing,” Barnes told Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “In the first, we looked at how all my childhood trauma affected me and how I didn’t deal with life as a young man.”
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At his highest heights, Barnes admits he was also at his most self-destructive. “In this movie, a lot of it is about me looking back and facing the stuff I had to face so I could become a better human being. But I still like to think of it as a celebration of music, because music saved my life.”
Barnes’ legend is already cemented: over 12 million records sold worldwide, two ARIA Hall of Fame inductions (solo and with Cold Chisel), collaborations with Tina Turner and INXS, two No. 1 bestselling memoirs, and more No. 1 albums than any other Australian artist — 19 in total, eclipsing even the Beatles.
Yet on the red carpet, surrounded by family, friends, and famous faces like Kate Ceberano, Rachel Griffiths, and Sigrid Thornton, Barnes radiated gratitude. “I found my feet in the world because I had great support from a fabulous family. My kids, my wife Jane, was amazing,” he said, smiling.
That gratitude extends to his fans, who flocked to Cold Chisel’s anniversary tour. “There was a group of ladies at a Sydney show who all had walking frames. They started going to our shows in their late 40s, and they were 90 at that show,” Barnes recalled. “People came with their grandparents. There were people who’d never heard the band before and just thought it’d be a great idea. It was such a joyous occasion.”
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Of course, the road hasn’t been easy. Some of Barnes’ most defining moments — like Cold Chisel’s rebellious Circus Animals or his infamous 1981 Countdown Awards performance — were born from a mix of sheer brilliance and obnoxious defiance. That streak remains intact.
“You’ve always had this ‘me vs the world’ attitude,” I put to him as our time winds down.
“Yeah, that hasn’t really changed much,” Barnes grinned. “My last record was called DEFIANT. I’m like that — I’m pretty stubborn. For me it was like running my head up against a brick wall.
“It took me a long time, but I had to know myself before I could actually get on top of things.”
Even after a lifetime at the top, Barnes shows no signs of letting go. “I’m about to go out on the Working Class Man tour, the 40th anniversary of Working Class Man, which will be great. And Cold Chisel’s always bubbling in the background — I always want to get out and tour with them.”
Find out more about Working Class Man here.
