The Melbourne Zoo is currently running it’s “Twilights at the Zoo” series which features a stellar line up of guests over the coming months.
Icehouse were on the bill for Saturday 25th of January; and due to popular demand and a sold-out show, a second date was announced for the following day (Sunday 26th of January) and it too sold out. And it is no wonder why. Icehouse is an Australian household name. Their hits from the 80’s and 90’s are still popular to this day and still receive extensive radio air play. Icehouse songs are known as Aussie classics.
Supporting Icehouse for this show was the band Even, an indie rock band with three members – Ashley Naylor, Matthew Cotter and Wally Kempton. The guys formed in 1994 and have released seven albums in their time on the music scene. It was clear from the response of the crowd to their set that they had many a fan in the crowd. It was the perfect way to warm up the crowd for the main act.
When Icehouse came on to the stage the band members were met with cheers and clapping. Michael Painter and Glenn Reither took to the keyboards, Paul Wheeler headed to the drums, Paul Gildea picked up his electric guitar and Steve Bull his bass. Iva Davies then walked out on to the stage to a huge round of applause and cheers. The guys jumped straight into their first song “Icehouse” off the album with the same name. This song was released in 1982 and is still a well-known hit for the band.
After the band finished this slower paced song, they jumped straight into their song “Walls” which was their third single off their album “Icehouse”. With a more upbeat tempo, the crowd started dancing and singing the lyrics to this popular hit.
At the end of “Walls”, Iva took a moment to say hello to the crowd and that he was impressed with the turn out commenting he could see people as far as the eye could see. Iva scanned the front row and spotted some younger kids. He asked one little boy how old he was. The boy replied he was 9 years old. Iva then warned Paul Gildea to watch his potty mouth for the night as there were a lot of younger people in the audience!
The band then jumped into their next two songs “Hey Little Girl” and an absolute crowd favourite “Electric Blue”.
After “Electric Blue”, Iva took another opportunity to talk to the crowd about how we have entered a new year and a new decade. Iva reminisced on the past decade and spoke of all the wonderfully talented musicians we had lost over the years. He gave a special mention to Greedy Smith of Mental as Anything whose passing was very recent on December 2nd last year and spoke of him fondly. He then said there was another artist that we had lost in the last decade who he had done an Icehouse song with. People in the crowd starting cheering and Iva said, “I think some of you know who I am talking about”. He then introduced “Love in Motion” which he did a version of with the late Chrissy Amphlett of the Divinyls. While the band played the song, on the two large screens either side of the stage, some footage played of the video clip of the song.
Iva then introduced Michael Painter and got him to come down from the back of the stage off the keyboard and to grab a guitar and to join him for the next song “Touch the fire”.
The next song the crowd was in for a special treat indeed. Iva announced they were going to do something that has never been done before. He invited a special guest onto the stage, his son Evan Davies. Evan, Michael, Paul Gildea and Iva all grabbed acoustic guitars and they all played “Street Café”. It was certainly a delight seeing this song performance unfold and watching Evan on stage with his dad and the band.
Evan’s time on stage was not done after “Street Café”. Everyone hung on to their acoustic guitars, and Steve Bull joined them by picking up an acoustic guitar as well. Iva then introduced the next song by saying – it is not one they usually play live, but he was continually pestered to do this one live, so made an acoustic version of it. The group then started to play “Kingdom” and both Iva and Michael sung this number together.
While the band were on an acoustic role, Iva said that the rest of the band were going to take a break and he was going to leave the next number to Michael. Michael and Paul Gildea stayed on stage with their acoustic guitars and Michael started singing “Man of Colours”. During the song Iva came out and played the clarinet and sung one verse. It was an incredibly beautiful piece instrumentally as well as with the shared vocals of both Michael and Iva.
As if the crowd’s senses weren’t already being treated enough with the wonderful variety of instruments played in the songs, the next number opened with Glenn Reither playing solo on the Saxophone. After his piece the band then broke into “Don’t Believe Anymore”.
After so many great numbers and all of them played so beautifully by so many different band members, Iva took a moment to introduce everyone on stage. During Paul Wheeler’s introduction he took the opportunity to do a small drum solo which was met with cheers from the crowd. The round of applause and cheers continued for each member showing their appreciation for the fabulous performance that was being put on for everyone.
The band then continued with the set jumping into the next song “No Promises” which had the crowd signing at the top of their voices. With all the old hits that were being played and quite a large amount of younger kids in the crowd, one could be mistaken for thinking that the kids may have been bored in the show for not knowing the music. But you would be mistaken! The kids were dancing with their families and friends and getting right into the live music spirit. Many a youngster was right up the front on the barrier waving their little arms and clapping and cheering. It was even great to see some of them even knew the songs! They definitely have families teaching them what good Aussie rock music is and ensuring that bands such as Icehouse continue to stand the test of time.
The next two songs were definite crowd favourites amongst the young and old in the sold-out crowd. The band played “Crazy” and “Great Southern Land”. The guys just kept pumping out hit after hit spanning their 40+ years in the music industry. And it is crazy to also realise that Icehouse haven’t actually released any new music since 1995! This night was living proof that their music has stood the test of time.
Paul Gildea then took the mic and gave a special shout out to Flea who was on the lights. If you are at a show and there is fantastic lighting, you can make a safe bet that it is probably Flea – one of the best lighting techs in Melbourne! Paul then told the crowd that he was going to need everyone’s help with the next song and that you only need to know one lyric. He then told the crowd to repeat after him and he screamed out – ooohhhh, and the crowd copied Paul each time he sung it out. Once Paul felt everyone was loud enough the band then played “Can’t Help Myself” and the whole of the zoo was on their feet and singing out loud the lyrics and the chorus of “oooooohhhh – I cant help myself”.
Iva then announced it was coming to the end of the night and his son Evan came back out on to the stage and the whole band all played “We Can Get Together” which had all the little kids at the barrier jumping up and down singing. It was a sight to see!
The guys then went off stage and the cheering, clapping and calling out of “we want more” rung through the night air.
The band of course happily obliged and Iva said, “I’m sure we can do one or two more”. Iva then went into the tale of how the band used to be called Flowers and how they did some covers, and would it be ok to play one or two. The crowd was clapping and cheering for more, so they were going to be happy with anything that Icehouse were going to give them, as long as they played!
The back screen then lit up with imagery of a U.K. flag and the guys started belting out “Pretty Vacant” by the Sex Pistols. The next cover the band did as part of their encore was “Jean Genie” by David Bowie.
Of course, Icehouse were not going to leave the crowd of fans with their last song being a cover. Iva said thank you to everyone for coming out and the guys kicked off their last song of the night with a high tempo song that you can not help but dance to – “Nothing too Serious”. Everyone was jumping around and singing the lyrics at the top of their voices.
The guys certainly ended the night on a high. Icehouse may have been around for 40 years, but they can still rock a crowd like back in the day – probably even more so!
I sincerely hope we will be seeing more of Icehouse on the gig circuit for 2020 as they are Aussie rock legends who need to be heard live as there is nobody else like them. They should certainly be proud of the music legacy they have given us all to enjoy for many more decades to come.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Simone Tyrrell at Live Music Photography
