Icehouse Announce MAN OF COLOURS Anniversary Shows!

The first leg of ICEHOUSE's 40 Years Live! Tour concludes this weekend with two sold out shows at Sydney's Enmore Theatre.

And before the first note gets played, the band have announced two further shows: the first at the refurbished Palais Theatre in Melbourne on 17 November, and the second is a return to the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on 16 December for a fifth performance, extending the celebration of the band's 40 year live career.

The Man of Colours album hits the 30 year milestone in September this year and these two shows will see Iva Davies and the band perform songs from that seminal album as well as their biggest hits including Great Southern Land, No Promises, We Can Get Together, Don't Believe Anymore, Can't Help Myself and many more.

Man of Colours was released on 21 September 1987 and has sold over 10 x Platinum. The album went to No. 1 on the Album Charts (for 11 consecutive weeks) and won two ARIA Awards (Album of the Year, Highest Selling Album). Rarely has an album won the ARIA Award for both critical acclaim by the music industry, and popular acclaim by the public. It was also the first Australian album to spawn 5 Top 30 singles - Electric Blue, Crazy, My Obsession, Man of Colours and Nothing Too Serious. Electric Blue also went on to win Most Performed Australasian Popular Work at the APRA Music Awards.

In commemoration, a special multi-coloured vinyl will be released in September reprising the very rare original vinyl which blended the colours of all the special editions of Man of Colours that were released.

Iva Davies recalls, "'Man of Colours' came about over a two year period in an almost magical way.

"By April of 1985 I had moved into a dilapidated two storey terrace in Erskineville. For the first time, I had a full 24-track recorder, a proper mixing desk, the ever present Fairlight sampler plus other keyboards and effects units I had accumulated. It was like being in a toy shop for me.

"In late 1986, it came time to embark on the recording of a new set of songs. ICEHOUSE guitarist, Bob Kretschmer and I had written and demo taped in that Erskineville writing studio and I had an obvious choice of co-producer because David Lord and I had worked together so successfully on the 'Measure for Measure' album. This time David came to Australia, and we recorded 'Man of Colours' at Studio 301 in Sydney.

"In many ways, the 'Measure for Measure' and 'Man of Colours' albums are related through David Lord's involvement and the fact that Bob and I worked so well as a writing team at that Erskineville house. We knew that we had produced something of quality but we were certainly not prepared for its enormous critical and popular success."

Yesterday it was announced that the ICEHOUSE classic, Great Southern Land, would be the name of one of Qantas' new Dreamliner fleet of airplanes, as voted on by the public.

Iva said, "I'd like to thank the people who voted and Qantas for honouring me by naming one of their planes after the song I wrote back in 1981.

"At the time I was attempting to write a new song about the country we love and wanted a new name and new way of describing it. I was aware that early European explorers described it as the "Great South Land" but I wanted something new, something more streamlined and singable. So I created the phrase "Great Southern Land" which became the signature of the song.

"Over 35 years later I find it remarkable how far that phrase has spread and now it seems set to travel even further."

The 40 Years! Live Tour has been underway since January with the band performing 24 shows to over 230,000 fans.

Tickets are on sale from 9.00am local time on Monday, 26 June. An exclusive presale for ICEHOUSE fan club members will begin at 9.00am today, Thursday 22 June.

Live footage from the band's Red Hot Summer headline show is here NEW SHOWS

Friday, 17 November 2017
Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Vic
Tickets available from 9am, Monday 26 June from
Ticketmaster 136 100 | www.ticketmaster.com.au
Presented by Gold FM104.3

Saturday, 16 December 2017
Enmore Theatre, Enmore, NSW
Tickets available from 9am, Monday 26 June from
Ticketek 132 849 | www.ticketek.com.au
Presented by WS FM101.7

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED SHOWS

Friday, 23 June 2017 - AND- Saturday, 24 June 2017
Enmore Theatre, Enmore, NSW
Presented by WS FM101.7
* SOLD OUT *

Sunday, 6 August 2017
One Tropical Day, Darwin, NT
Tickets available now from here

Friday, 9 June 2017 -and- Saturday, 10 June 2017
The Star Gold Coast, QLD

Friday, 16 June 2017 -and- Saturday, 17 June 2017
Crown Theatre, Perth, WA

Saturday, 22 April 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Bendigo Jockey Club, Bendigo, VIC

Saturday, 1 April 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Harrigan's Drift Inn, Jacob's Well, Qld

Saturday, 25 March 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Roche Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW

Friday, 17 March 2017 -and- Saturday, 18 March 2017
Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart, TAS

Sunday, 12 March 2017
A Weekend in the Gardens, Melbourne, Vic

Saturday, 11 March 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Mackay Park, Bateman's Bay, NSW

Saturday, 25 February 2017
Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre, Tamworth, NSW

Friday, 24 February 2017
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Qld

Saturday, 18 February 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Country Club, Launceston, TAS

Saturday, 11 February 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Old Mount Gambier Gaol, Mt Gambier, SA

Thursday, 9 February 2017
Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA

Sunday, 29 January 2017
Whitianga Open Air Venue, Whitianga, NZ

Saturday, 28 January 2017
Summer Concert Tour - Taupo Amphitheatre, Taupo, NZ

Saturday, 21 January 2017
Summer Concert Tour - Gibbston Valley Winery, Queenstown, NZ

Friday, 13 January 2017 -and- Saturday, 14 January 2017
Enmore Theatre, Enmore, NSW

Saturday, 7 January 2017
Red Hot Summer Tour - Mulwala Waterski Club, Mulwala, NSW

www.icehouse-ivadavies.com
www.facebook.com/Icehouse
www.spellbound-icehouse.org/

Need more Australia - Sydney Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...