Legendary Australian rock band Cold Chisel launched their highly anticipated “Big Five-O” 50th Anniversary Tour in Armidale last night, returning to a city that holds deep significance for the band.
Nearly 50 years ago, in 1974, Cold Chisel relocated from Adelaide to Armidale while keyboardist Don Walker was studying at the University of New England (UNE). That early move ensured the band kept their momentum, and last night, it all came full circle as Cold Chisel delivered a powerful performance at Peterson’s Winery, kicking off the tour in spectacular style.
Sharing the stage were some of Australia’s most acclaimed acts, including Karen Lee Andrews, The Superjesus, Birds of Tokyo, and The Cruel Sea.
Adding to the excitement, the band surprised fans with a secret warm-up show under the name “The Barking Spiders” in Wollongong just three days before the Armidale concert.
Armidale was buzzing in the lead-up to the concert, and Armidale Regional Council played a key role in ensuring that local fans had a chance to attend. After the first release of tickets sold out quickly, Council secured a special release of 500 additional tickets for residents in postcodes 2350, 2365, 2358, and 2453.
UNE also stepped in to accommodate concertgoers, offering student housing to ticket holders to make it easier for out-of-towners to attend, local businesses extended their normal trading to accommodate the influx of people, and Edwards ran bus services to the event.
The decision to host the event at Petersen’s Winery was criticised initially because the venue had cancelled a long-held booking for a wedding to make way for the concert. Today, it is being questioned because they were not capable of organising effective transport to get everybody back to town after the event.
Many have reported high confusion and disorganisation for the exit from the venue , with it taking many hours to get home. The gig wrapped up around 9.30pm, but the lack of transport and organisation meant you could have walked the nine kilometres back to Armidale in less time, some reporting they didn’t get home until midnight.
“Whatever the stupidest exit from an event you’ve had, this was worse. The departure shemozzle changed this event from a 4/5 to a 2/5. What a debacle,” one concert-goer wrote on Facebook.
“I’m not sure who were the actual organisers of the music concert at winery today but whoever you are you are an absolute disgrace, to have over 8 thousand odd people trying to vacate the site with no organisation and people placed in very dangerous conditions, this was a absolute joke and you are an embarrassment to our town,” said another.
“A great concert and day ruined by the debacle of the bus situation,” said a third.
Cold Chisel will head to the Gold Coast for a performance at the Convention & Exhibition Centre on October 8, followed by a Sydney show at the Entertainment Quarter on October 11. The band will continue their nationwide tour with stops in Wollongong, Caversham, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, and more, before wrapping up with a final performance at the VALO Adelaide 500 on November 17.
Top image: Cold Chisel on stage at Petersen’s winery last night. Photo: Robert Hambling; Cold Chisel Facebook page)
Note: an earlier version of the story stated an approximate finish time of the concert as 9pm, it has been corrected to 9.30pm; and there was an error in the photographer’s name. Apologies for these minor errors.
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