For an Australian rock band that has held on against all odds, look no further than Cold Chisel.
From late 2023 and into 2024, frontman Jimmy Barnes has been in and out of the hospital, first for a hip replacement and then for emergency open heart surgery followed by another hip operation.
Just a few months later, he has returned to his best level, in the middle of a national tour to commemorate the band’s 50th anniversary.
On Friday night, Cold Chisel played the first of two sold-out shows at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse, supported by The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews.
Singer Barnes, 68, was seen singing the group’s classic hits alongside bandmates Phil Small, Charley Drayton and Don Walker.
The band released 50 Years – The Best Of to commemorate The Big Five-0 Tour, the album that goes straight to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
But there’s also another number one for Barnes: his sixth book, Highways and Byways: Tall Tales and Short Stories from the Long Way Round.
Highways and Byways has made its debut on the bestseller lists at the top of the Australian biography/autobiography category.
On Friday night, Cold Chisel played the first of two sold-out shows at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse, supported by The Cruel Sea and Karen Lee Andrews.
“I’m thrilled to still be here and to have great fans and readers who continue to travel with me on the highways and byways,” Barnes said in a statement.
“I started writing about eight years ago and it has been a wonderful cathartic experience for me and my family, as well as an honor to see my stories help other families start conversations that could contribute to their healing.”
Barnes thanked her family, readers and editors at HarperCollins, and said the moment was important, too.
“For this to happen in the middle of The Big Five-0 tour with my brothers Cold Chisel is even more special,” he said.
Singer Jimmy Barnes, 68, was seen singing the group’s classic hits alongside bandmates Phil Small, Charley Drayton and Don Walker.
Barnes has been in and out of the hospital, first for a hip replacement and then for emergency open-heart surgery followed by another hip operation.
Barnes was forced to cancel two months of concerts in August after noticing pain in his side while performing in New Zealand, leading to urgent hip surgery.
He previously underwent open heart surgery to fend off a staph infection, which then returned and attacked his hip, leading to the latest shock surgery and a six-week recovery.
Last week, Barnes made his triumphant return to the stage following his health issues while performing with his band Cold Chisel at The Entertainment Quarter.
Cold Chisel’s 50th anniversary tour, dubbed ‘The Big Five-0’, has already sold more than 150,000 tickets across 16 shows, making it one of the most anticipated Australian tours of the year.
Barnes was forced to cancel two months of concerts in August after noticing pain in his side while performing in New Zealand, leading to urgent hip surgery.
His return to the stage comes just weeks after he was forced to postpone two months of shows while he recovered from urgent hip surgery.
In a heartfelt Facebook message at the time, Jimmy explained the unexpected need for surgery at the time and apologized to fans for the postponements.
‘I felt a twinge in my hip as I was leaving Dunedin, and at night the pain was unbearable. “The doctors are acting quickly, but I am expected to make a full recovery in six weeks,” he shared.
Fans offered overwhelming support and the rocker assured them that his postponed shows, which included dates in Wyong, Toowoomba, Thirroul and Sydney, would be rescheduled.
He canceled concerts in August after undergoing emergency surgery while spending more than six weeks recovering.
To help him recover from home, a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) was placed in a vein in his arm to deliver medications to the larger blood vessels around his heart.
In late September, Jimmy took to Instagram to celebrate removing his PICC catheter after a difficult six-week recovery.
“This meant I could leave the hospital and continue most of my recovery at home,” he said. It has been restrictive and liberating at the same time.
“This part of my recovery is now over and with the help of (doctors), nurses, physiotherapists, family, friends, you and my Jane, everything is on track.”
The unexpected hip pain was due to a persistent bacterial infection that previously attacked his heart and forced him to undergo open heart surgery.
Cold Chisel’s 50th anniversary tour, dubbed ‘The Big Five-0’, has already sold more than 150,000 tickets across 16 shows, making it one of the most anticipated Australian tours of the year.
Earlier, reflecting on the terrifying moment, he admitted telling his wife Jane he didn’t think he would survive while in Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.
‘I just had this horrible sick feeling because I had never felt so sick before. I thought I was gone,” he recently told 60Minutes.
Just hours before being admitted to the hospital, an ill Jimmy had taken the stage at a concert in memory of his late friend and promoter, Michael Gudinski.
He said he felt so bad he could barely remember the show and said he was sweating and had a fever backstage.
He was scheduled to fly abroad for another concert, but had to go to hospital when his health deteriorated.
Then a team of specialists discovered that his body was shutting down because an infection in his blood was causing endocarditis, a life-threatening inflammation of the heart.
When he was taken to the operating room for open heart surgery, his doctors said he only had hours to live.
In a marathon seven-hour surgery, doctors successfully replaced his damaged valves and repaired his heart.
He previously underwent open heart surgery (pictured in hospital) to fend off a staph infection, which then returned and attacked his hip, leading to the latest shock surgery and a six-week recovery.