LIVE REVIEW: Icehouse brought the heat to the Parklands!
For two weeks in September, Brisbane’s Roma Street Parklands is host to the thriving live music event series, ‘Night At the Parkland’. Kicking off the second week of programming was the classic Australian rockers, Icehouse, returning after a highly successful performance in 2025’s inaugural series. The venue was quick to fill with excited patrons on this clear Friday night, with chatter brewing about the band’s recently announced 2027 anniversary tour in celebration of 40 years of their album Man Of Colours.
Opening the night was country duo Ally Row, fresh from their showcase at BIGSOUND 2026. The Gippsland-based charmers warmed up the crowd with a toe-tapping beat and a harmonica proudly labelled “ALLY ROW”, whilst joking about “overbranding a little bit”. Introducing themselves as a band that “sings songs that are a little bit depressing, but we put a harmonica and banjo behind it!”, Ally Row shared personal anecdotes in each track introduction, including a bittersweet reminisce on the setbacks of their day when introducing their performance of ‘Middle Of The Road’. Ally Row highlighted their most recent song ‘Adeline’ with a release day performance, before inviting the crowd to come and say hi at the merch desk.
The second performance of the night came from seventeen-year-old Gomeroi artist, Kyla-Belle. Joined by a two piece accompaniment and a tambourine in hand, Kyla-Belle gave a powerful vocal performance that had the crowd awestruck. Reflecting on her recent commendation in the Triple J Unearthed Indigenous High initiative, Kyla-Belle played her winning track ‘Myself’. The banter throughout the set delighted the crowd, with laughter following onstage comments about prepping for HSC exams and a proclamation about being a “bit of a fraud” whilst performing love songs. With a captivating cover of Christine Anu’s ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’, she professed her pure gratitude at the opportunity to open for Icehouse, sharing that it was “either here or school, and I know what I’d prefer”!
The clear, half-moon lit night reached an icy temperature in perfect time for the headlining act of the night. Opening the set with their eponymous track, a cheer rolled over the full crowd as Icehouse graced the stage. “We made it!” lead singer Iva Davies exclaimed, before rolling into ‘Mr Big’ and grooving along to the lyrics. Despite the growing years since these songs first came into the world, Davies vocal performance carries all power from the original recordings, and the raw talent of the live band created a certain magic that can only be experienced live.
Davies took a moment to acknowledge a changed lineup to the typiacl Icehouse composition for this show, with their usual lead guitarist absent due to time in intensive care (but is in good health and back home), with the keys player stepping seamlessly into lead guitar. Despite this recent role-swapping, the performance flowed so effortlessly that it would be hard to notice a single change – in true testament to the timeless nature of the Icehouse catalogue and the dedication of the band members.
A truly energetic performance of ‘Electric Blue’ saw a crowd wide singalong, with the band’s most beloved hits seeing many phones up in the air. Davies reminisced on their performance at the event a year prior, sharing that he will remain on guard this time after swallowing a bug whilst performing that night.
Fan participation was at a high during ‘Crazy’, with Davies dedicating a crowd singalong to a patron in the front row who was “cacking himself”, after introducing the song by proclaiming “I think there’s a bit of madness in all of us”.
Davies shared that it was “that time of night where I forget the words”, as they introduced ‘Dusty Pages’ as a song they hadn’t played in decades. Joking with the lead guitarist that he won the bet by not forgetting the lyrics, Davies then took the stage solo to perform the beginning of ‘Heartbreak Kid’, which then grew into an extended full band extravaganza.
Night At The Parklands saw the Roma Street location segmented into a seated premium zone around the stage, with a standing general admission and picnic zone towards the middle and back of the space. Davies called the crowd off their feet and up to dance with ‘Great Southern Land’, which saw audience members busting a move whilst singing along to the nostalgic hit.
Orchestrating the crowd in a singalong “oh” to ‘Can’t Help Myself’, Davies called back to his bug-in-mouth situation last year and told the audience to imagine themselves in that situation. Addressing the fans before the “final song of the night”, Davies shared that he had been officially diagnosed with pneumonia two days prior and that this was his first performance since. “Now it’s your time to sing!” introduced ‘We Can Get Together’, before the band gave a small wave and swiftly exited the stage.
The encore of the night began with ‘Miss Divine’ followed by ‘Nothing Too Serious’, both of which were met with overly enthusiastic chorusing and dancing from the audience. Audience members embarking to the train station post-gig were raving about the night they just had, with positive chatter following until the last stop. Choruses and moments from the several saxophone solos of the night echoed around as the performance played over in attendees minds, proving that Icehouse still can rock the house down.
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