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 reformed for just four national tours, but they almost always played indoors and those gigs didn’t happen over the holidays.
Now, for the first time ever, this legendary Australian band will be playing 14 very special outdoor shows in Australia and New Zealand during summer. 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.
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 Sydney, Cold Chisel will be joined by the mighty Hoodoo Gurus. Paul Kelly will be welcomed on four shows including Tamworth where he will be joined by country music icons Kasey Chambers and Troy Cassar-Daley. Both WA shows will feature a “Best Of The West” line-up that includes hometown heroes like Birds Of Tokyo, Jebediah and Gyroscope while other guests to appear on at least one show include The Teskey Brothers, Busby Marou and The Detonators. Beloved Kiwi band The Mutton Birds will reform just for the New Zealand gig while Birds of Tokyo will feature on seven different gigs and Magic Dirt on six. Every line-up is special.
And the locations are all special too. They include Glenelg Beach in Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly’s old hometown of Adelaide; the huge Mt Duneed Estate off Victoria’s Surf Coast, the opening concert at Bankwest Stadium on the Parramatta River (with Hoodoo Gurus) and New Year’s Eve down beside the ocean in Fremantle. Cold Chisel will even return to Orange, nearly 40 years since their last gigs there, for the first ever A Day On The Green in Orange.
“We’ve only done four tours since the early 80’s 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 on the tour. “Last year Foodbank provided over 67 million meals to homeless people around Australia”, explains 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.”
BLOOD MOON TOUR 2020
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
Fremantle Park, Fremantle WA
‘BEST OF THE WEST’
With Birds of Tokyo, Jebediah, Gyroscope, Carla Geneve and The Southern River Band
Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Barnard Park, Busselton WA
‘BEST OF THE WEST’
With Birds of Tokyo, Jebediah, Gyroscope, Carla Geneve and The Southern River Band
Saturday, 4 January 2020
Glenelg Beach, Adelaide SA
With Paul Kelly, The Teskey Brothers, The Detonators and Tim Prestwich Band
Tuesday, 7 January 2020
All Saints Estate, Rutherglen VIC
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt
Friday, 10 January 2020 [SOLD OUT]
Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley VIC
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Birds of Tokyo, Magic Dirt and The Detonators
Saturday, 11 January 2020 [SOLD OUT]
Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong VIC
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Paul Kelly, Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt
Saturday, 18 January 2020
Hope Estate, Hunter Valley NSW
With Birds of Tokyo and Busby Marou
Sunday, 19 January 2020
Scully Park, Tamworth NSW
‘THE BIGGEST MUSIC EVENT TAMWORTH HAS EVER SEEN’
With Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley and Charlie Collins
Friday, 24 January 2020
Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta, Sydney NSW
With Hoodoo Gurus, Birds of Tokyo and Busby Marou
Saturday, 25 January 2020
Stuart Park, Wollongong NSW
With Birds of Tokyo, Magic Dirt, Busby Marou and 19Twenty
Thursday, 30 January 2020
Stage 88, Canberra ACT
With Paul Kelly and Magic Dirt
Saturday, 1 February 2020 [SOLD OUT]
Heifer Station Wines, Orange NSW
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt
Wednesday, 5 February 2020
Wharepai Domain Tauranga, NZ
With special guests The Mutton Birds and The Bads and introducing Sit Down in Front
Saturday, 8 February 2020 [SOLD OUT]
Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton QLD
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt
Sunday, 9 February 2020
Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton QLD
A DAY ON THE GREEN
With Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt