Jimmy Barnes @ The Annandale,Sydney (27/06/10)

Thu 1st Jul, 2010 in Gig Reviews

For ten years now, The Annandale Hotel has been helping provide the soundtrack to our badass rock city. And as lovers of live music know all too well, for a venue to be around that long is certainly a cause for celebration.

It didn’t come as any surprise to find out that The Annandale is celebrating the only way they know how, by giving Sydney a string of top quality acts over two whole weeks. However, what did come as a surprise to many was that Jimmy Barnes would be performing a special one off show as part of those celebrations. Being once again able to see Barnsey in a boozer was obviously very tempting for many of us, tickets were snatched up faster than you can say working class man.

Opening for Jimmy was eldest daughter Mahalia and her band, which included husband Ben on bass, and sister Elly-May Barnes on backing vocals and harmonies. Early in the set she played How strong is a woman a blues funk joint. Right from note one she had the soulful beauty in her voice of Lauryn Hill or India Arie , but accompanying that beauty is the sheer musical power to make you feel like you have just been head butted by Aretha.

Most songs in the set are from her debut LP, including Wasted and the more soul rock based Steppin’ in her I. Miller Shoes . Each song in the set sees the band flexing their musical muscles, with almost every track ending in a rapturous jam session that had the darkened bar feeling more like a southern states gospel church. Mahalia finished with huge versions of You Are My Sunshine and Proud Mary , bringing the set to a joyous close, and no doubt making the man who was to be on stage next extremely proud.

The headline set opened to the chords of Driving Wheels. To my ears, Jimmy’s voice was already finding hard to reach places on the vocal register before he had even reached the first chorus, but he was just getting started.

The band didn’t waste anytime at all, dropping straight into I’d Die To Be With You Tonight which was followed by Temptation . Jimmy then gave us a taste of what’s to come on his new record Rage and Ruin by playing the first single Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead . Mahalia and Elly-Mae’s backing vocals towards the end of this track were outstanding, providing a perfect counter point for their father’s voice, and together finding harmonies that can only exit that effortlessly between family members.

The family affair also stretched to the drum kit, where Barnes’ son Jackie held the sticks for the night. The band only needed to play the opening keys to the next song for the audience to explode in a storm of whistles and cheers, cause lets face it; if you don’t like Flame Trees you probably need new ears.

Jimmy brought the rockabilly next with Resurrection Shuffle then chased that with the slower tempo’ed Ride the night away . Another couple of solid cuts from the new record, God or Money and Turn it Around followed, the latter of the two especially standing out to me as a possible big sing-a-long track once it’s had a few spins on radio. Merry Go Round from Chisel’s seminal Breakfast at Sweethearts ended with an all in jam which also saw Jimmy playing guitar front and centre with Davey Lane of You am I, who was at his gun slinging best playing the lead for the set.

The band then embarked on a barrage of classics, Lay Down Your Guns , No Second Prize and Good Times . Back in Chisel mode Jimmy gave us You Got Nothin’ I Want , before another familiar piano intro sparked the audiences loudest collective voice for the night “Working hard to make a living…” as Jimmy and band launched into the unofficial Australian national anthem.

They took a quick but well deserved breather before returning for the encore. And the first song they played can also lay a claim to being the unofficial anthem of the country, Khe Sanh finished checking all the boxes on peoples “I hope he plays this” list, before Jimmy and the band said their goodbyes with Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) .

This was the first time I have been lucky enough to experience a full Jimmy Barnes set live, and to be able to have done it in such an intimate venue was nothing short of a privilege. The feeling in the crowd before, during and after the show, left me with absolutely no questions as to why Jimmy will more than likely have another number one album on his hands when the new one drops in August.

Check out the photos from the gig