In 2011 Iva Davies & his band Icehouse toured Australia on what was known to fans as their “Flowers” tour, playing songs primarily from their very first album when the band were actually called Flowers and the title of the album was “Icehouse”.
In 2015, Icehouse now gives us pretty much the “Masterfile” tour, with the majority of the setlist matching the 1992 compilation ‘Masterfile’.
Last night at the Crown Palms in Melbourne, Iva Davies and Icehouse performed their first of a 4-night stint to a sold out crowd. This time, they pleasantly surprised their fans by mixing things up a bit by playing a few different tracks that they haven’t really been performing since their resurgence over the past 5 years.
They boldly opened the show with “Walls” which lead straight into “Mr. Big” which was a refreshing new addition for the fans, followed by the groovy “Love in Motion”.
At the start of a clever little acoustic set, lead singer Iva Davies shared some special stories with his captive audience by talking about how he actually writes songs. He explained how he usually writes the music first then followed by the lyrics. He went into further detail explaining about how the actual lyrics came about for “Man of Colours” which was later beautifully performed in the set with band member Michael Paynter on vocals and Iva playing the oboe. Iva also gave credit to some of his influences from T-Rex to Bob Dylan. He further explained how Bob Dylan’s style was a strong influence on him at the time he wrote “Heartbreak Kid” which is also found on their “Man of Colours” album. The acoustic set also featured a clever version of “Street Café” as well as the “Sidewalk” track “Dusty Pages”, which was as real treat for their core fans.
The band’s performance was solid with some great sax solos from Glenn Reither on songs like “Don’t Believe Anymore” and the Icehouse classic “Electric Blue”. Iva and the witty guitar player Paul Gildea charmed the audience with their banter while bass player Steve Bull and long-time drummer Paul Wheeler orchestrated the rhythm section. The stage layout and design also had some new features which gave this show some interesting visuals.
Overall, this Icehouse tour contains quite a bit off their “Masterfile” compilation album which was originally released in 1992 and includes quite a number of their classic hits. With this tour Icehouse fans can appreciate a new take on the old songs with some additional surprises to the set.
Icehouse setlist
Walls (from Flowers, 1980)
Mr. Big (from Measure For Measure, 1986)
Love in Motion (single, 1981)
Crazy (from Man of Colours, 1987)
Hey Little Girl (from Primitive Man, 1982)
Electric Blue (from Man of Colours, 1987)
Baby You’re So Strange (from Measure For Measure, 1986)
Acoustic set:
Heartbreak Kid (from Man of Colours, 1987)
Dusty Pages (from Sidewalk, 1984)
Street Café (from Primitive Man, 1982)
Man of Colours (from Man of Colours, 1987)
Miss Divine (from Code Blue, 1990)
Don’t Believe Anymore (from Sidewalk, 1984)
Great Southern Land (from Primitive Man, 1982)
Can’t Help Myself (from Flowers, 1980)
We Can Get Together (from Flowers, 1980)
Encore:
Nothing to Serious (from Man of Colours, 1987)
Sister (from Flowers, 1980)
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