On Wednesday night the Gershwin Room at Melbourne’s renowned ESPY was full of delighted Icehouse fans as they were treated to some unique versions of familiar Icehouse classics done with a dubbed reggae twist.
This show was very different from any other show Icehouse had done previously as it incorporated bursts of reggae classics into their Icehouse hits. They even had a slightly different line-up for this show with Simon Burke on keyboards (filling in for Michael Paynter) and some additional musicians on stage to help blend the new sound smoothly throughout the set.
As the show opened, percussion and vocalist Tony Kopa got the crowd into the spirit with a bit of Bob Marley classics including “Get up stand up” which very cleverly transitioned into “Great Southern Land”.
From there they moved into the soulful “Love in Motion” followed by “Electric Blue” which had also had touch of Marley’s “You can be loved” (Say Something) through it.
Unlike at most concerts where you can often tell which song the artist is about to sing as soon as you hear the familiar intro, the songs at this show started with a very different dubbed mix which eventually evolved into a familiar Icehouse song. You can tell that the band spent some serious time working out the right mix to go with each song while incorporating the familiar melody and lyrics.
DubHouse even performed a rather upbeat version of the song “Icehouse” which I found to be quite interesting since it’s normally a rather darker, somber track but it seemed to work well.
Lead singer Iva Davies even did a sweet tribute to the late Lou Reed by performing a bit of his classic “Walk on the Wild Side” which aptly went straight into their New York influenced song “Heartbreak Kid”.
DubHouse even managed to incorporate a reggae version of the theme from”Rocky” while performing “Can’t Help Myself” which then segued into “Walls”.
A bit of “Buffalo Soldier” then set the scene before going into a very different version of “Street Café” which smoothly transitioned back into Buffalo soldier.
They winded things up with a song that Iva said was “one of his favourites” which was Desmond Dekker’s “Israelites” which brought the horn section (Glen Reither and Ben Gillespie) forefront which later transformed into “We can Get Together”.
The band did have some unusual & rather funny moments on stage such as when Paul Gildea’s finger cut and a few lighting issues at the encore, but like true professionals- they (buffalo) soldiered on through it.
Overall the band played brilliantly and gave their fans a real treat and a special night to remember indeed!
DubHouse will be performing again this Saturday, Dec. 7th at Sydney’s Oxford Arts Factory.
Set List:
(Get Up Stand Up) Great Southern Land
Love in Motion
Electric Blue
Hey Little Girl
Icehouse
Wild Side/ Heartbreak Kid
Crazy
No Promises
Can’t Help Myself
Walls
Buffalo Soldier/Street Café
Sister
Israelites/We Can Get Together
ENCORE:
Nothing Too Serious
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