This month, Aussie rock band Cold Chisel bring their 50th-anniversary tour to NZ for three shows. Photo: Michael Rowland / ABC News Breakfast
Across the ditch, Cold Chisel have been serving up classic hits with a side of good vibes on their 50th anniversary tour.
This month, the iconic Aussie rock band bring the celebration to Aotearoa with three shows supported by Icehouse, Bic Runga and Everclear.
Despite now being "elderly rockers", Cold Chisel's members are happier than ever within themselves, guitarist and founding Ian Moss tells RNZ's Summer Times.
"The band's gotten on the best we've ever gotten on with each other, and in turn, that goodwill is poured back into the performance."
Although Cold Chisel's The Big Five-O tour has been physically demanding for 69-year-old Moss, he says the band members are not slacking off in any way and like to run as "a pretty slick machine".
"We carefully think about the balance between great melodic tunes and sing-alongs, and then the songs where we get to cut loose a bit as players and musicians."
Their biggest problem, he says, is having so many hits to get through in their set. The 14 songs they "just have to play" include 'Bow River', 'Choir Girl', 'Flame Trees' and of course the anthemic 1978 single 'Khe Sanh'.
Ian Moss is a founding member of the Australian rock band Cold Chisel. Photo: Supplied
When Cold Chisel got together in Adelaide in 1973, Moss says he and his bandmates never dreamed they would become so successful.
"When we first started doing this we thought we'd have fun for a couple of years and travel around the country and party and play music before we settle down and get a real job."
Moss, now regarded as one of the best guitarists to come out of Australia, is happy to see his 21-year-old son Julian also going "gung ho" as a musician - but in his own way.
"He's got a guitar style that's got me going 'How do you do that?' It's great. I'm glad he's not just trying to copy me. He's definitely doing his own thing. He's doing all this chord work I'd be useless at."
Moss, who had a solo hit in 1989 with 'Tucker's Daughter', fondly remembers receiving warm Kiwi hospitality when Cold Chisel played around New Zealand in the '70s and '80s.
"In those days, we would go back to whatever motel or hotel we were staying at and they would keep the bar open. The hospitality is amazing. They just kept the bar open until we finished, which was quite often dawn. It was just a lovely party atmosphere and the hospitality was incredible.
"You wouldn't have ever seen that in Australia. That's certainly a Kiwi thing, that warmness. Kiwis can be a bit more open and friendly like that."
Cold Chisel have a week off while they are in Aotearoa this time and Moss is looking forward to some sightseeing, including checking out Queenstown for the first time when they play at Gibbston Valley Winery.
"It's just such a beautiful country. I'm looking forward to seeing the countryside and doing a bit of driving around."
Cold Chisel's 2025 NZ summer concert tour:
- Saturday 18 January - Gibbston Valley Winery, Queenstown
- Saturday 25 January - Taupō Amphitheatre, Taupō
- Sunday 26 January (Auckland Anniversary Weekend) - Whitianga Waterways, Whitianga
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