Live Review: ICEHOUSE, Even

Aussie rock stalwarts Even bring the good times as the crowd steadily fill the grassy areas in front of the stage. Despite hour-long queues to enter and the harsh Aussie sun beaming down, punters are in a good mood as Even entertain with a great selection of songs from their near three-decade career. Love song Black Umbrella and Sunshine Comes - their most listened-to tune on Spotify - are well received. Vocalist and guitarist Ash Naylor’s in fine form, chatting to the crowd between songs and introducing the flute-assisted Shining Star as the band’s last release that had “triple j airplay” (which was way back in 2001). They finish with pleasant 2019 single Mark The Days.

ICEHOUSE remain one of Australia’s most enduring live acts. In the same bracket as Cold Chisel and the great Paul Kelly, they have an incredible back catalogue and never fail to bring the goods live, and tonight is no different.

Arriving to a massive cheer from the sold-out crowd, the band dive right in with the decidedly '80s Icehouse. As expected, the setlist is dominated by hits. The synth-heavy Walls gets the first big cheer, Crazy has one gent playing air guitar while Hey Little Girl incites a mass singalong and features an incredible sax solo from a cowboy-looking Glenn Reither.

ICEHOUSE @ Zoo Twilights. Photo by Joshua Braybrook.

Electric Blue is a personal favourite and keeps the momentum going before founder and lead vocalist Iva Davies dedicates Love In Motion to Divinyls' Chrissy Amphlett, who passed away seven years ago. Midway through the performance Davies steps back and hands over vocal duties to keyboardist and guitarist Michael Paynter. He performs the underrated Touch The Fire, low-key The Kingdom and the sombre Man Of Colours, with Davies joining in on the oboe. Davies' son Evan also makes a surprise appearance during Street Cafe and We Can Get Together.

ICEHOUSE @ Zoo Twilights. Photo by Joshua Braybrook.

Don’t Believe Anymore contains another joyous sax solo, Can’t Help Myself has everyone clapping along and Great Southern Land gets the boisterous middle-aged crowd up on their feet taking videos with their phones while singing along.

The encore consists of two covers and an original. Reminding the audience when they started as Flowers they were a cover band, ICEHOUSE offer a spot-on take of Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant - with Davies doing his best Johnny Rotten impersonation -  and a passable version of David Bowie’s The Jean Genie. They end with Nothing Too Serious, a pulsating guitar number bringing a night of Aussie rock nostalgia to a rewarding climax.

ICEHOUSE @ Zoo Twilights. Photo by Joshua Braybrook.