ICEHOUSE’s unofficial Australian anthem, ‘Great Southern Land’, is turning 40 years young in 2022 and the band are heading to Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne to celebrate the song that’s been the soundtrack to everything from discussions about Mabo and the impassioned theme to the Australian cricket team walking on the field, to having a plane named after it.
Tickets for all shows go on sale Thursday 21 July, 9am (local time)
My Live Nation members can secure tickets first during the exclusive pre-sale Wednesday 20 July, 10am – Thursday 21 July, 9am (local time)
Foxtel Rewards exclusive reserved tickets on sale 10am Thursday 21 July for 7 days, unless sold out prior. Foxtel customers head to foxtel.com.au/music
For complete tour, ticket and VIP Experience information, visit: livenation.com.au.
Special international guests The Psychedelic Furs will join the bill as the main support at both the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne and the Brisbane Riverstage. Bursting out of the English post punk music scene in the early eighties, the band had worldwide hits with the title track to the John Hughes seminal film ‘Pretty In Pink’ and their anthemic otherworldly ballad ‘Love My Way’. This is their first visit to Australia since 2006.
Legendary Australian musician Mark Seymour and his band The Undertow will also be performing in Melbourne, and on the final date of the tour at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.
‘Great Southern Land’ was first released in August 1982 as the lead single from ICEHOUSE’s multi-platinum second studio album, ‘Primitive Man’. The song debuted at #5 on the Australian Singles Chart and made its debut on triple j (2JJJ as it was known then).
‘Great Southern Land’ has been a part of almost every Australian’s summer soundtrack for the past 40 years and in 2014, it was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds of Australia registry. It’s also been remixed a number of times, most notably Bill Laswell’s The Great Southern Mix, clocking in at almost 16 minutes, and the Byrralku Dhangudha remix from 1994 which features Indigenous musicians playing and singing the chorus in their own language. Its message is as current and relevant today as it was when it first appeared.
The writing of Great Southern Land was triggered when Iva became incredibly homesick during the first ICEHOUSE overseas concert tour.
‘I recall the lightbulb moment when I was flying from east coast Australia to the west, falling asleep over inland desert and waking several hours later still over desert — for the first time, the continent’s vastness really hit home’.
The tour artwork features ‘Bush Medicine’ by Gloria Petyarre, which has been licensed with permission from the artist’s family and estate. ICEHOUSE would like to acknowledge and pay their respects to the Petyarre family.
Iva Davies explained the work’s significance to him ‘This painting was gifted to me by my partner who also has another notable painting from this family by Gloria’s sister, Kathleen. Both paintings share a similar style but what struck me immediately was how ‘alive’ this painting is with movement’.
He added, ‘In that sense it occurred to me that it shared the same quality that I was trying to describe in ‘Great Southern Land’. That is that the land is ‘alive’, and that despite the fact that this is a painting which should logically be static, and stationary, it is constantly moving in subtle ways and evolving, just like the land’.
ICEHOUSE
Great Southern Land 2022
The Concert Series
SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL, MELBOURNE – SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19
ICEHOUSE
The Psychedelic Furs *
Mark Seymour & The Undertow +
Motor Ace
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks
BRISBANE RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE – SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26
ICEHOUSE
The Psychedelic Furs *
Alice Skye
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE FORECOURT, SYDNEY – MONDAY DECEMBER 12
ICEHOUSE
Mark Seymour & The Undertow +
William Barton
Karen Lee Andrews
Tickets for all shows go on sale Thursday 21 July, 9am (local time)
My Live Nation members can secure tickets first during the exclusive pre-sale Wednesday 20 July, 10am – Thursday 21 July, 9am (local time)
For complete tour, ticket, and VIP Experience information