ICEHOUSE’s unofficial Australian anthem, Great Southern Land, is turning 40 years young in 2022 and the band is heading around the country to celebrate.
Something for Kate, Jebediah and Emily Wurramara will join the celebration on the Perth date of the national tour at Kings Park on Saturday, April 23, 2022.
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.
ICEHOUSE‘s Iva Davies grew up in Wagga Wagga and recollects, “I had a classic Australian outdoor childhood, racing through the endless grass paddocks behind our house, building billy-carts to race down Willans Hill, swimming in the river, and picnicking high up on the Rock, where the countryside stretched away for miles on all sides. That landscape became part of me, emerging often in my music and lyrics, most especially in Great Southern Land.”
ICEHOUSE hit Kings Park on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Tickets are on sale Friday, October 29 from ticketmaster.com
