Mahalia Barnes has sung Cold Chisel songs before — she's the stunt singer for the band when her dad Jimmy is busy. But now she's stepping out on her own to front a full-blown 1983 Aussie rock pub experience.

The show, called Highway to Hell: The Rock 'n' Roll Circus, is part of the Wynnum Fringe 2026. It runs from June 25 to 28 inside the Augathella Spiegeltent on Bay Terrace. The tent is a Belgian-made performance venue that was salvaged from Augathella in central Queensland and brought to Brisbane last year.

Barnes will share the stage with Wes Carr, the Australian Idol winner who co-wrote the 2015 Cold Chisel song 'Lost'. The pair first met when they were kids — Carr was a backup dancer for Barnes' childhood band, the Tin Lids, who released three albums between 1990 and 1994.

The band backing them includes members of Thirsty Merc, Pseudo Echo, and the Jimmy Barnes Band. On top of that, circus performers Katrina Louise and Melon the Human will add acrobatics. Guitarist Andrea Krakovska is also an aerialist and will play riffs while hanging from the ceiling.

There's even an onstage bar serving schooners of XXXX, so the audience can feel like they're in a real pub. "I basically want the audience to feel like they're in the pub the whole time," said Wynnum Fringe director Tom Oliver, "and this is potentially the best pub band they've ever seen."

Oliver got the idea at the Edinburgh Festival last year when he watched AC/DC at Murrayfield Stadium. "I was sitting there with 69,999 other people watching Angus Young hop down this catwalk, and all of these Aussie songs were being sung back to this band on the other side of the world," he said. "There's an era of Aussie rock 'n' roll that I think is timeless."

The playlist covers AC/DC, Cold Chisel, INXS, Midnight Oil, Divinyls, The Angels, and Stevie Wright. Barnes grew up around many of those artists. "I have spent time with the Midnight Oil guys. We've grown up family friends with Mark McEntee from Divinyls – you can't be a female singer in this country and not revere Chrissy Amphlett," she said.

She also remembers Michael Hutchence from INXS. "Michael was a big part of my childhood. I just remember him being fun and kind and gentle, I feel very privileged to have had him in my life."

One of her favourite stories involves Hutchence. "I was probably about 12 years old. We were living over in Europe and Michael was dating Helena Christensen, the supermodel. We got to hang out with Michael and Helena, and randomly we went out on a boat in the Riviera – on Simon Le Bon's boat! A crazy rock star story."

Barnes said the show is important because so many of those artists have died. "I'm incredibly privileged to have that history and connection to the Aussie rock world, but unfortunately, we've lost a lot of them, and I think that's even more reason why we need to be celebrating this."

The Wynnum Fringe runs from June 25 to July 12, with more than 55 shows across music, comedy, circus, cabaret, and family entertainment.