By: Kathy McCabe
15th November, 1998
INXS made a triumphant return to the stage last night, performing for the first time since lead singer Michael Hutchence's death almost a year ago.
With Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes leading them in front of 70,000 people, the band took the floor at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in and emotional comeback.
The crowd called them on and then roared approval as Barnes leapt into a rendition of The Loved One, one of te band's early hits.
Jimmy Barnes had suggested the idea of INXS playing the encore after the man who made the concert possible, Mushroom boss Michael Gudinski, said he wanted to make the show a world beater.
"I wish Michael was here as well," Barnes told the crowd.
Barnes shared the lead vocal with brother in law Diesel for Good Times - the track he made a hit with Michael Hutchence and INXS in the late 1980's.
In the closing moments of the song, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Deni Hines, Deborah Conway, Kate Ceberano, Billy Thorpe, Mark Seymour and Tim Freedman took to the stage to close the show.
It had been a night of stars and star making.
© 1998 - The Sunday Telegraph