Australian's #1 Pub Band - Cold Chisel

Part of truly experiencing Australia is to get to know it's culture and as all American's will agree a large part of that is about the music.

So when I learned that Cold Chisel (think U2, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis) were reuniting for the first time in years as part of the Telstra V8 Supercar Streetcar Racing Event, I thought - what a great opportunity to see some fast, cool cars (ok, those of you that know me, know I don't know much about cars - I was going to check out the guys that go to see the fast, cool cars) and immerse myself in some of the most popular, Australian pop songs.

Tens of thousands of fans came to hear Cold Chisel and most wanted to listen with a beer in their hand. There's a call out to Gareth to mark the fact that Peter actually stood in line for nearly an hour for a beer.



Now the reason Cold Chisel is like U2 and Bruce Springsteen is because many of their songs have a message (e.g., one of their most popular songs is about Australian war vets returning from Vietnam), some are very soulful ("Looking from the outside, looking in") and the lead singer Jimmy Barnes had this habit of being a wildman, who had a bad drinking habit (he supposedly drank during his performances from a large flask that was known to have vodka) to the point where he became an alcoholic and had to stop singing. Also, one of Barnes' songs had a crime/prison theme and was titled "Four Walls" which is akin to Elvis and his "jailhouse rock" days.



I'd purchased a Best of Cold Chisel CD weeks before the concert and listened to it in the car for weeks so I'd be familiar with songs at the concert. I learned that my friends and the general fan favorite is "Khe san" which is about Australan vets returning from Vietnam. My personal favorite is "Saturday Night" because the lyrics talk about having how Sunday's a new day and how even just a little light helps you see things on the forward path better, plus it had a nice saxophone piece, the concert was on a Saturday nice and it was the end of a memorable and fun day!