Jimmy Barnes celebrates 40 years of Working Class Man with Australian tour joined by Icehouse, Ian Moss

West Australian

30-07-2025

Jimmy Barnes can't wait to 'blow Perth apart' with colossal rock anthems on his 40th anniversary tour of his iconic album For The Working Class Man, which set up his solo career.
The 69-year-old will journey across the country in November, stopping off in Geelong, Mount Cotton, the Hunter Valley, Hobart and Barossa Valley, before wrapping up in the Swan Valley at Sandalford Wines on February 7.
Barnesy will be playing his celebrated album from start to finish, something that hasn't been done since its release in December 1985.
'I'm really looking forward to revisiting some of these songs that helped shape my career,' he said.
'It was such a big record for me, and songs like Working Class Man and I'd Die To Be With You Tonight and Ride The Night Away, literally define my career. So this album is really close to my heart, and when I play it, and when I hear it, I can hear the progression and the growth and where I was heading and what I was trying to do.'
Joining him on the milestone tour is Icehouse, fellow Cold Chisel member Ian Moss and Kate Ceberano; a group of long-time friends and no one else he'd rather party with.
'(Iva and I) We were mates from day one. This bill we've put together isn't by accident. It's because we wanted to reconnect all these elements special to us at the time, and, was a great part of my history,' Barnes said.
Icehouse frontman Iva Davies mirrored the same sentiment, saying they were the 'new hot shots on the block' when CC was popping off.
'We were virtually unknown. So we were the apprentices,' Davies said.
'We were kind of wide-eyed and soaking it all in, you know, watching this amazingly frenetic front man, this incredible guitarist and Ian Moss, this amazing songwriter and Don Walker, and just manic crowds. And I'd never even been into a pub. So you can imagine what a shock that was for me to see people hurling each other around in a drunken state, enjoying this amazing music.'
Barnes said he expected long-time fans to be at the shows and looked forward to spending some of his summer at a Perth winery.
'Most of the punters coming along will be big fans of ours now, but there will be people in the audience who wouldn't have been around then, probably weren't born, and they're going to be hearing where we came from for the first time,' he said.
Barnes said coming to perform in WA again reminded him of the first gig he played here with CC and tackled the drive across the Nullarbor.
'It was like two or three days of driving, I remember spinning out once, and I think Phil was driving the car and fell asleep at the wheel and and I woke up doing about 180 kilometres an hour sideways. Luckily, we're in the Nullarbor. There were no trees, so we just stopped in the dust and pulled ourselves together and got back on the road.
'But from that day forward, it's been an incredible place for rock and roll. There's a great blues and jazz scene over there. There's a lot of really great music that has been nurtured in Perth. And so every time we go over there, we connect with it.
'The last few years, I've been going there have been some of the biggest and wildest crowds I've ever played to, and I sort of hate to say, I'm looking forward to blowing the f**king place apart.'
Davies, who endorsed the selection of the tour's outdoor venues, said he won't be leaving WA without a bottle of wine.
'Every time I come to Perth, I always come a day earlier than I really need to, just because I like being there.
'It's just a beautiful place. And for me, it's like going to another world. And that's why I go early and take it in and hang around afterwards as well.'
The album is packed with classics that continue to hold lasting significance in the DNA of Aussie music, with Working Class Man recently included in Triple J's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.
The tour comes after the rock icon stared death in the face following dramatic open heart surgery in late 2023 after being hospitalised with bacterial pneumonia.
He then had emergency surgery in August last year when the infection returned to his hip.
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