January 23, 2017 • No Comments •News

Jimmy Barnes announces
new ‘Stories & Songs’ shows 

Following a 2016 filled with firsts and new records, rock icon and bestselling author, Jimmy Barnes, is already gearing up for an even bigger 2017 with new regional shows added to the Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories & Songs tour in Mackay, Cairns, Darwin, Newcastle, Penrith and Geelong in response to fan requests.

Encore shows have also been added due to overwhelming demand in Sydney (Enmore Theatre) and Melbourne following sell out performances at the Sydney Opera House and Regent Theatre at the end of 2016.

After setting a record with his fifteenth #1 album back in June 2016 and making his debut as a published author in September, Barnes released his first ever spoken word recording in December.

The Working Class Boy audiobook was written and read by Jimmy Barnes and recorded at his home studio and is only available as a digital download from his website (ie: not from any other online stores) here. Click here to listen to a sample.

Since its release, the hard cover version of Working Class Boy has struck a profound chord with both critics and the Australian public. It spent seven weeks at #1 on the national Bookscan charts ending the 10-week reign of mega-authors JK Rowling and Andy Griffiths and was the No. 1 adult title in 2016.

The next shows on the Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories & Songs tour take Jimmy back to Tasmania for two sold out shows in Launceston as well as a Hobart date which is also close to selling out. From there Jimmy heads across the ditch for 10 shows in New Zealand

The ‘Stories & Songs’ shows see Jimmy Barnes, surrounded on stage by his children Mahalia and Jackie and son-in-law Ben Rodgers, bring the book to life, while baring his heart and soul. The shows have received unanimous rave reviews including:

Fans seeking tickets for Jimmy’s shows are reminded to only buy tickets from the official ticket agents listed at www.jimmybarnes.com/tour-dates/ so as to avoid “reselling” sites who typically advertise heavily online and often mislead consumers into paying much higher prices than necessary.

Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories & Songs has been nominated for Best Cabaret Production in the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards for Jimmy’s sold out performance at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.  In another first, Jimmy’s son, David Campbell, is also nominated making it the first time a father and son have been nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards in the same year.  The Sydney Theatre Awards are being held tonight at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre.

Appropriately the tour has been drawing attention to the great work of the Luke Batty Foundation (www.lukebattyfoundation.com.au). In addition to providing relevant information online and at all of his shows Jimmy also encourages everyone to support former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty’s campaign to end family violence by signing up at www.neveralone.com.au

Working Class Boy has certainly resonated deeply with Australians of all ages and backgrounds. The book is already onto it’s 4th reprint with Harper Collins Australia confirming that it is the biggest Australian non-fiction debut in the past five years, and the biggest in Harper Collins Australia’s history.

Tickets to all new shows go on general sale at 2.00pm local times on Tuesday, 31 January 2017.

Frontier Members pre-sale: Wednesday, 25 January from 2.00pm local times until Thursday 26 January at 2.00pm local times (or earlier if pre-sale allocation exhausted)

Ticketek Members pre-sale: Monday, 30 January from 2.00pm local times until Tuesday, 31 January at 2.00pm local times (or earlier if pre-sale allocation exhausted)

Please note that in keeping with the nature of this production, the show will be staged over two acts with a short interval. There will be no support band so Jimmy will be onstage from the advertised starting time at all shows.