Barnes opens up about childhood abuse
Rock and roll singers have bared their souls on stage before, but nothing like Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes has done in his latest show.
In February, Barnes will tour New Zealand with his show, Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories & Songs, an intimate show where the Australian rock icon sharing stories about the events and songs that shaped his life.
The tour was born out of the response he had received to his childhood memoir Working Class Boy released last year, Barnes said. ‘‘When the book came out I realised that the stories that I told, my stories, resonated with a lot of people.’’
While promoting the book and doing signings in book stores, people would come up to him and slip him notes asking for help.
Barnes knew he was not in a position to help directly, so thought the best thing he could do was talk about it.
‘‘It’s not something most will talk about. This is something that thrives in the dark.’’
While the process of writing the book was cathartic, transferring the stories from the memoir to the stage was a really mixed bag, Barnes said.
Every night on stage he relives the difficult moments in his life, he said.
‘‘There’s stuff I’ve talked about for three weeks that doesn’t bother me, then suddenly because of the emotional state that I’m in, or particular way the audience is feeling, I’ll talk about the same issue and it will suddenly strike a chord with me and I’ll be choked up that I can’t speak.’’
The fact he is taking the stories to the stage, stories he had not shared with even those close to him, was a weird concept, he said.
‘‘If this tour, if this book starts a conversation, then I’m happy.’’
Most of the people in the audience can relate to the stories in one way or another, he said.
There were so many people living below the poverty line and many people living with domestic violence and abuse in Australia and New Zealand, Barnes said.
‘‘I’m not saying everyone has drunken parents or was abused, but we see a lot of this whether we know people or whether we live through some of it ourselves.’’
While he didn’t abuse his children, they watched him try to drink himself to death, Barnes said.
‘‘That’s my own form of abuse. That was the wrong thing to put my kids through.’’
Barnes approaches each night of the tour with a set list of titles he wants to talk about it, but the show changes from night to night, he said. ‘‘Some nights there will be certain issues that get a lot of attention depending on how I feel and how I’m reacting with an audience.’’
The show will see Barnes sharing stories and singing songs drawn from his earliest years.
The songs are the anchor points of the show, Barnes said.
‘‘Each of these topics leads me to a song which sort of is the release valve for the pressure that builds up through the stories.’’
While a lot of what he talks about is very challenging, the show has been well received.
‘‘The confrontation is what makes it connect with the people.’’
There’s a lot of ups and downs, and some people are going to be shocked, but there is also going to be a lot of laughs, Barnes said.
Jimmy Barnes’ Working Class Boy Tour kicks off at Invercargill’s Civic Theatre on Waitangi Day, before heading to Dunedin’s Regent Theatre (February 7), Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal (February 8), Wellington’s St James Theatre (February 11), Napier’s Pettigrew Green Arena (February 12), New Plymouth’s TSB Showplace (February 14), Tauranga’s ASB Baypark Arena (February 16), Hamilton’s Claudelands Arena (February 17) and Auckland’s Civic Theatre (February 18). For more information, see jimmybarnes.com