Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Man: Stories and Songs – Spark Arena May 11, 2018

The heart of Ocka-rock, Jimmy Barnes, filled Spark Arena last night with more than just the sonic power of his scream. It was his spoken voice that was heard, recounting an honest, brutal and harrowing life story; one of surviving poverty, abuse, violence, alcoholism and addiction. There was blood on the floor and trailing out the gates as we left.

Disclaimer: I’m a huge fan of Don Walker’s songwriting and LOVE Cold Chisel as they were part of my teenage DNA. I also use ‘Barnsie’ as a poster boy for vocal technique when I teach. His body anchoring is superb and the commitment to the sound as supported by the musculature of the body, nothing short of awe-inspiring. However, I’m not a fan of his solo work as Working Class Man was just too ‘conservative white male’ for my more outrageous tastes.

It should be noted, that he IS a ‘working class hero’. His is a tale of the redemptive and healing power of love – the unfaltering support from Jane (his wife since 1979) and an ever-expanding family (His son Jackie played drums and son-in-law Ben Rogers was on bass). Despite his best attempts to sabotage his musical career with fights, drugs, alcohol and wild behaviour, he has been blessed with more number one records in Oz than The Beatles.

For over three hours, Barnes paced the stage recounting stories. There was archival footage (videos like that of Khe Sahn he’d commentate) but only ten songs played live. His fantastic four-piece band needed WAY more time in the spotlight, especially Clayton Daley with his back to the audience on piano, and Danny Spencer guitar. Julian Lee’s review for his recent Christchurch gig ended by saying “I have the utmost respect for Barnes. But mate, play some songs” from a review entitled ‘Working Class Man: Jimmy Barnes leaves audience waiting for the good times’.

I did feel as if he wasn’t speaking to me, he was speaking to ‘his people’ that is, blokes. (My Plus 1, for example, was profoundly moved by the parallels with his own life).

The first autobiography Working Class Boy, written on his therapist’s advice as a way of working through the demons, dealt with his early life up until jumping into a truck with Cold Chisel in 1974. The second book Working Class Man (and current concert tour) picked up where the last page left off.

Apparently, Working Class Boy: Stories and Songs had been hard to digest from the audience’s perspective – so much raw anger recounting a life of injustice upon injustice as a child.

Last night appealed to ‘everyman’ rather than the more intellectual and reflective style of Paul Kelly’s 100 Songs and ‘How to make Gravy’. The reason for this may be that Barnes hasn’t got the same command of lyrical expression and revelation in songwriting as Kelly has. His catharsis came from writing memoirs instead.

Barnes’s message was loud and clear: we have to talk about our pain and trauma, especially men. Australasian ‘bloke’ culture (of suppression, ‘manning up’ and silencing) has fuelled and perpetuated an epidemic of suicide, violence, abuse and depression.

We heard of how the excessive rock and roll lifestyle, compounded by his ‘family of origin’ issues, led him to rock bottom and having to face his addictions and behaviour square on. Incidentally, an Auckland hotel was the “scene of the crime” of his attempted suicide whilst on tour with Chisel round 2011.

Addiction and mental health are two areas I work very deeply in and around, especially within the creative and disability communities. So, I was happy this material was being covered and brought into the open. Preaching to his target audience, I don’t know that they were too happy about this, being mostly pissed and restless.

The night was full of quotable intel. Re: his vocal warm-up technique of just screaming, he said “I don’t fuckin’ la la la la la”. Saying his voice was like a Mac truck, hard to get started, then almost impossible to stop.

It was fascinating to hear of the formative years for ‘Chizzy’: starting out with Led Zep covers and then developing a following through smashing the booze barns night after night. Barnes said his philosophy in performance was to “Deliver everything we had and leave the stage with nothing left in the tank”. This made me crave live performance even more!

He admitted to creating and conjuring chaos wherever he went so that “Nobody would notice how out-of-it I was”. The self-awareness that sobriety and therapy brought allowed Barnes to admit to and understand the voices repeatedly saying things like “People like me don’t deserve to be happy” and drill down into changing that perspective.

After an intermission, the next song was the first single form Bodyswerve No Second Prize. He explained “When I left Cold Chisel, I had no Plan B”.

He spoke of his double life: not wanting audiences to know what “a pussy” he was with his family and not wanting his family to know what an animal he was on and off-stage. He was out of control and “afraid of everything”.

Interesting factoids: Van Halen, Deep Purple and Little Feat all asked him to join as lead singer. John Farnham is a cheap brandy drinking, cigar smoking ‘animal’…. Who knew?

The drug binging stories became reminiscent of AA and NA meetings where an almost competitive aspect emerges comparing quantities of drugs and alcohol consumed.

Post open-heart surgery and collapsing/hospitalisation for stomach ulcers, coupled with the loss of so many of his friends and fellow musicians made him wake up to causality: “Blokes don’t like to talk about their shit.” Stating “The most courageous thing I’ve ever done in my life is ask for help”. Especially, when the status quo is for any kind of vulnerability to be met with “Harden up Tinkerbell”.

Barnes’s memoirs have helped him “get this shit out of my system” and by example, helped others to start to deal with their shit “You have to change yourself if you want to change anything around you”.

It was really brave of him to bring these messages to his audience: the binge-drinking mainstream, and squarely talk about “alcoholism and depression not just effecting you, but everyone around you”.

A spot of editing wouldn’t go amiss as I feel as if there’s really no need for me to read his memoirs now. But it sure as hell makes you crave the music.

Caitlin Smith

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk:

Setlist:

1. Happy Together (The Turtles)
2. Northbound Train (Cold Chisel)
3. Wild Thing (The Troggs)
4. Rising Sun (Cold Chisel)
5. Ghost Town
6. No Second Prize
7. Lay Down Your Guns
8. Working Class Hero – John Lennon
9. A Better Time, A Better Place
10. Working Class Man
11. (Encore: a new song)?