The Largs Pier Hotel, Breakfast at Queenies, and By the C with Paul Kelly and Cold Chisel

Indeed it was! Cold Chisel Poster, Adelaide.

My partner, for her birthday, was gifted two tickets to see Cold Chisel on their Blood Moon Tour as it rolled through Adelaide at the beginning of 2020. As part of the gift she also was given two nights accommodation at the Largs Pier Hotel, Largs Bay, South Australia.

Amazingly she chose me to be her plus one on this mini break, and while I do like Cold Chisel, Paul Kelly was second on the bill, and kind of the bigger draw for me.

It probably seems a bit late to be writing about a weekender, mini holiday, my partner and I took to kick the new year off but the By the C beach concerts held around Australia seem to be an annual event presenting different national and international artists, so maybe something you might like to look into for your plans for next year.

The Largs Pier Hotel

Largs Pier Hotel - Photo Largs Pier Hotel Website.

I can't give you a full review of this hotel since we literally were only there in the evenings but it is an iconic, historic hotel (and actually a common stomping ground for early days Cold Chisel).

Right on the beach front, many people flock there just for the restaurant and the bar without ever staying. We randomly bumped into our neighbors, who had decided the Largs was a better place to hang on an extremely hot Friday.

Largs Beach and foreshore tends to be a little less busy than the more popular Semaphore, which is about a 20-30 minute walk along the beach (or foreshore), so it's a great spot to just chill and relax.

If you're planning a stay at the Largs Pier Hotel you will need to let them know if stairs aren't your thing. The main part of the hotel is a historic building so they're not allowed to install elevators to the upper floors but they do have ground floor rooms available in the newer part of the hotel.

We stayed in the historic section on the first floor. Our room was on the side of the hotel toward the back. In this part of the hotel you have access to a shared balcony that wraps around to the front of the hotel. From our room the balcony had a good view of the beach and Jetty Road, running down the side of the hotel.

The room itself was very spacious with all the basics, you'd expect of any standard hotel. Some of the rooms have a spa bath if that's what you're into. Ours did. It was quite okay but there was definitely space to install a bigger spa that would've matched the spaciousness of everything else.

Other than that it was a very nice room with a large flat screen TV, daily room service, and high speed wi-fi if that's something you need.

Breakfast at Queenies

Queenies Store - Photo Queenies FB Page.

We didn't end up eating at the hotel because we discovered Queenies Store, which is just over on Jetty Road, a short walk away (we spotted it from our balcony). They have an all day breakfast menu as well as a lunch menu.

I can't exactly tell you what we ate there in terms of the names of things but we enjoyed our late breakfast so much the first time that we went back for a late breakfast on our second day too.

The atmosphere was good and they're dog friendly for their outside tables (as is the Largs hotel) so don't be discouraged from trying the food if you've decided to bring your four legged friend to the beach too.

By the C, Paul Kelly & Cold Chisel

By the C's beach concert series is a great idea, if you're booking tickets to one of their concerts. For everyone else I imagine it's a huge inconvenience having a hugely popular beachfront and foreshore fenced off for 2-3 days to all but the paying concert goers.

That aside, we had a good time. The concert started around 2-2:30ish in the afternoon with several lesser known acts I've never heard of but I'm sure have a following among some of the attendees. The Teskey Brothers were a particular standout for us (and the girls in front of us, who one of was planning a future of being married to their lead singer if she could get an introduction).

Paul Kelly, Glenelg - Photo: K. Allen.

Paul Kelly's 45 minute set was solid, performing many of his hits as well as some newer songs I hadn't heard before (I'm a fan but I haven't really followed his music that closely in over a decade - since the internet killed buying physical CD's really). 

A nice surprise was Vika and Linda Bull on supporting vocals. Both sisters are amazing singers in their own right, and it was great that Vika was featured for one song too.

The main event was of course Cold Chisel with their set running for about 2 hours. 

By this stage the beach was literally so packed out that if you left your chair at all, finding your way back was next to impossible (in the dark). I struggled to find my way back after a bathroom break just before Paul Kelly's set, when there was still daylight.

Anyhow, as you would expect, they performed many of their biggest hits, which had the crowd standing and singing along. They also performed new songs because apparently, according to Jimmy Barnes, that's what they do when they perform in front of their home crowd.

While the new songs were still good, there was a new single I particularly liked called Bringing the Band Back Together, it gave a lot of people a chance to sit down for a bit. Quite a few of their fans have been there the whole five decades, sitting was clearly very welcome in between the classics.

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All in all it was a great weekend away. We were lucky that the day of the concert the weather was overcast and cooler after a scorcher the day before. No rain until the next day fortunately.

If you are just looking for a place to have a quiet weekend getaway with great food, the Largs Pier Hotel and Queenies Store is a great combination along with the beach and foreshore. The whole area is somewhere my partner and I try to get to whenever we can. I'd highly recommend it.