And most stayed standing for the rest of the night.

Cold Chisel were back in town.

Thursday night's one-off Canberra gig was a high-energy, fast-paced rock show from Australia's ultimate pub band.

Jimmy Barnes reminded everyone that no one screams in tune like he does.

The perfect front man for such an iconic Aussie band, Barnesy engaged the audience right from the get-go and kept their attention for the entire duration.

He looked pleased to be back in the capital – Barnesy even reminded everyone that he met his wife in Canberra – and he looked every moment like he was having fun.

His voice was in excellent form and there was no sign of the back trouble that has dogged him in recent times. He covered the stage as enthusiastically as Mick Jagger.

Ian Moss was on fire as he switched from one guitar to another throughout the night, thrashing the strings with impressive chops and mesmerising the crowd with his rock anthem licks.

Is there any greater rock guitarist in Australia than Mossy?

While Barnesy and Mossy commanded the stage, Phil Small – in all his quiet coolness – kept the pace with authoritative bass riffs and controlled rhythms.

New drummer Charley Drayton was exciting to watch. Talent and energy skyrocketing.

And all the while the enigmatic Don Walker sat perched high at the back of the stage, looking very much like the puppet master he is, and mastering the keyboards like Lurch on the organ.

This was a night of great hits. A Chisel best-of show.

Saturday Night, Cheap Wine, Bow River, Flame Trees and the mighty Khe Sanh to mention just a few.

They all attracted raptures from the crowd.

But it was more than a greatest hits gig.

Chisel road-tested a few new songs (even curiously ended the night on unfamiliar territory) as well as digging deep into some relatively obscure songs from their back catalogue.

They threw up a mix of hard rock, old-time rock n' roll, rockabilly and of course their brilliant rock classics.

Add in some outstanding harmonica from Dave Blight and stunning saxophone from Andy Bickers and the night could not have been better.

It was a long, two-set concert. Chisel kept giving to the appreciative audience.

A tribute to their late former drummer Steve Prestwich was a poignant moment.

Breakfast at Sweethearts never sounded better.

When the War is Over would have been enough in itself as an encore.

But the songs kept coming and Chisel kept coming back on stage to delight the crowd even more.

Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.