There’s nothing more Australian than hot sun, warm waves and Cold Chisel. The band’s classic songs like Khe Sanh, Flame Trees, Bow River, My Baby, Cheap Wine, Saturday Night and You Got Nothing I Want have become the soundtrack to our summers.
Since their legendary Last Stand way back in 1983, Cold Chisel has re-formed for just four national tours.
Now, for the first time ever, this iconic Australian band will be playing 14 very special outdoor shows in Australia and New Zealand during summer – including five unforgettable a day on the green events: All Saints Estate, Rutherglen, VIC on Tuesday January 7; Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley, VIC on Friday January 10; Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong, VIC on Saturday January 11; Heifer Station Wines, Orange, NSW on Saturday February 1; and Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, QLD on Saturday February 8. These will be the band’s only Victorian and Queensland shows on this tour.
a day on the green has long championed Australian music and is thrilled to welcome back one of the most iconic homegrown rock bands of all time – Cold Chisel.
Between New Year’s Eve and the second weekend of February, they’ll do gigs on the beach, gigs by the river and gigs in the bush. You’ve never seen anything like it before. You’ll never see anything like it again.
Pre-sale tickets go on sale on Wednesday October 16 at 2.00pm (local times), with general public tickets on sale from Monday October 21 at 11.00am (local times) from Ticketmaster.
It’s called the Blood Moon Tour 2020 – named after a rare lunar eclipse where the sun, earth and moon all briefly align before returning to their own orbits.
“You might get to see a blood moon once in your life,” explains the band’s main songwriter and piano player, Don Walker. “Apparently there’s going to be one just before dawn when we’re in Melbourne on this tour, but we didn’t actually know that when we chose the name. Maybe it’s a sign.”
Fittingly, the tour will boast a series of line-ups that are as rare and memorable as a Blood Moon.
In Geelong, Cold Chisel will be joined by Paul Kelly, Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt. At Rutherglen, Mount Cotton and Orange, the line-up includes Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt, with The Detonators also joining the bill at the Yarra Valley.
Every line-up is special. And the locations are all special too. Cold Chisel – who were known as Orange when they started out in 1973 – will even return to Orange, nearly 40 years since their last gigs there, for the first ever a day on the green event at the stunning Heifer Station Wines. Plus many other breathtaking locations around the country.
“We’ve only done four tours since the early ’80s so we need to make each of them count,” explains the band’s frontman, Jimmy Barnes. “We knew that if we were going to get the band back together for another full tour it would have to be something really special. We wanted great line-ups and unusual places so that people would remember these gigs for a long, long time.”
The band has announced that Foodbank will be supported in various ways throughout this tour including by way of special auction items and fundraising collections at each venue.
“Last year, Foodbank provided over 67 million meals to homeless people around Australia,” explains the band’s guitarist and vocalist, Ian Moss. “They did that by making use of good food and produce that would have gone to waste otherwise. We wish there wasn’t so much demand for their services but we’re pleased to do our bit to help them out.”
Since forming in Adelaide in 1973 and blasting onto the national scene in the late ’70s, Cold Chisel has created a uniquely Australian fusion of rockabilly, roughhouse soul, and blues. Between 1978 and 1983 the original line-up of Don Walker, Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss (guitar/vocals), Phil Small (bass) and Steve Prestwich (drums) recorded five studio albums that became Australian classics. 1978’s self-titled debut and 1979’s Breakfast At Sweethearts initially received little support from mainstream media but eventually went gold based on nonstop touring. 1980’s East was their huge commercial breakthrough and 1982’s Circus Animals saw them top the charts. However, by the time Twentieth Century was released in 1984 the band had already flamed out, making their unforgettable Last Stand in arenas around the country. In 1998 Cold Chisel reformed briefly for a chart-topping album and tour called The Last Wave Of Summer. An ‘unplugged’ style run of dates called Ringside followed five years later, then in 2011 the group was working on a new studio album that became No Plans when Steve Prestwich sadly died from complications during surgery for a brain tumour. Eventually Charley Drayton agreed to step in to help complete what Steve began and he’s played drums with the band ever since, including on the record-breaking Light The Nitro Tour and 2015’s platinum certified The Perfect Crime.
The band is currently putting the finishing touches to some more new music they recorded earlier this year with Charley and they plan to release at least some of it before the Blood Moon Tour. Further announcements will be made about that in the weeks or months ahead.
Over the course of their career Cold Chisel has sold almost 7 million albums across vinyl, cassette, CD, downloads and streaming. They’ve been inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame and received the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music. However, their greatest achievements are their songs. It’s a body of work that has defined and echoed who we are. For more than 40 years Cold Chisel has defied the odds, ignored the trends, and blazed their own trail. The band has endeared themselves to all sorts of Australians because their uncompromising attitude articulates our hopes, fears, alienation and humour, and because they are simply one of the most ferocious live rock ‘n’ roll outfits on earth.
Fans are reminded to only buy tickets by following the ticket links listed below. People who choose to ignore this clear advice and who instead use search engines like Google to find tickets typically get steered to unofficial reselling sites like Viagogo that often lead to rip-offs.
TOUR DATES
TUE 31 DECEMBER
Fremantle Park – Fremantle, WA, Australia
WED 1 JANUARY
Barnard Park – Busselton, WA, Australia
SAT 4 JANUARY
Glenelg Beach – Adelaide, SA, Australia
TUE 7 JANUARY
A Day On The Green
All Saints Estate – Wahgunyah, VIC, Australia
FRI 10 JANUARY
A Day On The Green
Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley – Coldstream, VIC, Australia
SAT 11 JANUARY
A Day On The Green
Mt Duneed Estate – Geelong, VIC, Australia
SAT 18 JANUARY
Hope Estate Winery – Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia
SUN 19 JANUARY
Scully Park – West Tamworth, NSW, Australia
FRI 24 JANUARY
Bankwest Stadium – Sydney, NSW, Australia
SAT 25 JANUARY
Stuart Park – Wollongong, NSW, Australia
THU 30 JANUARY
Stage 88 – Canberra, ACT, Australia
SAT 1 FEBRUARY
A Day On The Green
Heifer Station Wines – Orange, NSW, Australia
WED 5 FEBRUARY
Wharepai Domain – Tauranga, New Zealand
SAT 8 FEBRUARY
A Day On The Green
Sirromet Wines – Mount Cotton, QLD, Australia
All a day on the green event information: www.adayonthegreen.com.au
For all the national tour dates and latest information go to the official home of Cold Chisel’s Blood Moon Tour 2020 www.coldchisel.com
