Overview

• A savage bacterial infection after hip replacement in late 2023 led to Barnes’s second open-heart surgery and nearly cost him his life.
• He’s midway through his first solo Defiant Tour since the surgery and promises to keep performing until he drops with the same 110 per cent intensity.
• His album Defiant has become his record-breaking 16th No.1 on the ARIA charts, giving him two more chart-toppers than The Beatles.
• Barnes has invited the St Vincent’s Hospital surgeons and nurses who saved him to attend his concerts as a gesture of gratitude.
• After confronting multiple near-death episodes he says he’s used seven of his nine lives and is now prioritizing fitness and health to continue making music.