Sydney is getting a brand-new live music experience this spring, with Fuzzy’s The Point bringing some of Australia’s biggest names to a floating stage at the Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquaries Point. Kicking off the series on September 30 is legendary Australian band Icehouse, led by Iva Davies, whose connection to this iconic stretch of Sydney Harbour goes back much further than the band’s upcoming performance. From watching the Sydney Opera House being built as a teenager to eventually playing inside it himself, Davies has spent decades with the harbour as part of his musical story.
We caught up with the Icehouse frontman to talk about returning to one of Sydney’s most spectacular settings, the enduring magic of ‘Great Southern Land’, and why the band still loves playing together after all these years.
Futuremag Music: How does it feel for Icehouse to be performing on a floating stage in such an iconic part of Sydney Harbour?
Iva Davies: It goes right back to me at sort of age 15, 16, because I won a scholarship to study at the Conservatorium of Music, which is, of course, just up the road.
Every Thursday afternoon, I'd catch the train in from the suburbs and get off at Circular Quay. And I actually watched the Opera House being built, not knowing that by the time I was 18, I'd actually be playing in it. Before it was even opened, I was playing in it, which is quite remarkable, really.
So I've wandered around the Botanical Gardens there many, many times, and it's a special place. I don't think there's too many places in the world where you get that kind of cityscape of absolutely modern times, and then obviously having in the back of your mind picturing it hundreds of years ago. It's just an incredibly beautiful place.
Futuremag Music: And it's such a special moment for you. It's distinctly Aussie, and you've got great songs like ‘Great Southern Land’. Does the location ever influence how you play and deliver those Aussie classics?
Iva Davies: Always, I think, yeah. If you're somewhere as iconic as that, you can't help but have those moments where you sort of catch yourself going, “Oh, wow, what am I seeing now?”
Especially that time of day, too, because we're actually going to be playing at sunset. So, yeah, it'll be pretty special, I think.
Futuremag Music: Your music always reaches new generations, and it's so good to see that you guys are still touring and performing. What do you think it is about songs like ‘Electric Blue’ and ‘Great Southern Land’ that continues to reach new audiences?
Iva Davies: I don't know. And I certainly wish I could bottle it and sell it.
I've been asked sort of similar questions, you know, around the idea of, “Will people still be listening to this song in 40 years?” Did that ever occur to me?
And it didn't occur to me because, at the time when I wrote those songs, we were kind of pedalling as fast as we could on the kind of treadmill of a career that was running at a million miles an hour. And really, the last thing that was on my mind was, “Will people be listening to this in future years?”
Because the task was always right there in front of me. Deliver another album, deliver another set of songs, rehearse the songs, tour the songs. And it was kind of a relentless pace that didn't really stop for at least 16 years.
And so it's quite weird now to be kind of looking backwards on that period and going, “Wow, I'm still playing those songs.”
Futuremag Music: It's great that people are still loving them. I saw that you do the Music in Paradise trips as well, so you're even taking the music overseas and getting audiences in that way too.
Iva Davies: It was a big thing really, when we toured back in the day, to tour outside of Australia, because a lot of bands from Australia didn't really get the opportunity to do that.
The main reason being is that everything was a long way away. I mean, if you were a band that was based in London, you could just skip across the English Channel and you've got the Netherlands, you've got Scandinavia, you've got Germany within two hours.
If you try and take a full rock and roll band and all its equipment to anywhere outside of Australia, it's a long way away and hideously expensive.
And so we were among the few bands lucky enough to be able to actually do that. So, yeah, touring in Australia is great fun and it's an amazing place. And I think I've seen more of Australia in the last 10 years than I had in my entire life, really.
We've played in some incredible places like Uluru and the Mundi Mundi Bash and a heap of stuff like that, which was incredibly interesting and amazing. But to get to take your music overseas, that's something else again.
Futuremag Music: And for those who have seen Icehouse when you first started versus now, what can people expect from a 2026 Icehouse gig? And how do you keep that balance between the classics that people want to hear while also keeping it fresh and new?
Iva Davies: Well, we're having to rehearse a few outliers because we've got to do two shows in one place within three nights. And the shows have to be different. So, we have to basically broaden the catalogue a little bit.
But I mean, the main thing about this unit and the crew is that even the crew have been working with us for 16 years. And some of the band members go back 40 years.
So it's an incredibly tight team, and you can't kind of really replicate that sort of experience. You can't put 14, 15 people together in a team that's going to do really ridiculously challenging technical things and play some music which is not always really straightforward, and have it kind of as polished as you can with an incredibly experienced team.
Futuremag Music: Is there a particular song at The Point gig that you're really excited to perform?
Iva Davies: ‘Great Southern Land’ is always a highlight. It sort of can't help itself, really.
You know, one of the weird things about that song is that for a really long time — I couldn't tell you how long, 20 years, maybe more — that's our go-to soundcheck song.
And I don't even have to say anything to the band and the crew. They all know what's going to happen. And then the keyboard player holds down that opening note, and one of the reasons for that is if we get that sounding right, then we know everything else will sound right.
It's just a peculiar song in that way. I don't know why that would be, but it's a kind of go-to that it fulfills all those functions apart from the fact that it's well loved and so on. There's something about it that it kind of plays itself in a weird sort of way.
Futuremag Music: Reflecting back on your years, have you noticed any interesting changes in how people listen to Aussie music? You've seen everything from records through to streaming, but now people seem to be going back to vinyl, which is great to see.
Iva Davies: Well, it is great to see.
I've been largely kind of immune to all of that because I think I sort of turned off from making too many changes about 20 years ago. But, yeah, yes, I of course use streaming services and all that too. But I also bought a turntable a number of years ago.
And of course, every time we release something now there's always a vinyl version of it. So I'm kind of pleased about that because a big part of what we did on the way through was to get involved in the artwork and designing those covers.
In fact, I actually drew the artwork to Man of Colours. And tried to pass myself off as a professional graphic artist, which didn't actually work, but they saw through me at the record company.
But anyway, that's how involved we were in being hands-on about the artwork. And that 12-inch format is a really interesting thing to use to design and to handle, really.
You can get all your lyrics on the cover and it's fantastic. So I'm happy that it's back.
Futuremag Music: I think you can't beat physically being able to hold the music that you enjoy, as opposed to just listening to it on your phone, and create a collection too.
Iva Davies: Which is something I did without knowing it over the years. And now I've just got all of my vinyl out of my storage unit, and I've got boxes of it sitting in my house waiting to put back on the shelf.
Futuremag Music: I think it sparks conversations too. I know if I go to someone's house and they've got vinyl, you can see what they listen to. You can be like, “Oh, that's a really cool band.” As opposed to if it's just on their phone, you don't know what your friends are listening to unless you're having conversations.
But I like being able to say, “Oh, you've got this record. What do you think of this song? Or what do you think of that album?”
Iva Davies: Yeah. And there are people who — there are tribes. There are people who you follow.
And, okay, so you're a Radiohead fan too. That kind of says something about you.
Yes, I get it. I think that you raised a very interesting point there.
Futuremag Music: And my last question is, if someone has somehow made it through their life without seeing an Icehouse gig, what do you hope they take away from the experience when they see you at The Point?
Iva Davies: How much we enjoy ourselves, I think, is probably it.
Not all the songs are happy songs, but as musicians, we really enjoy playing together. And that's why these guys do it. They'll still be wanting to do it when they're 80, if they're still around.
I'm absolutely convinced about that. They are really incredibly enthusiastic about playing.
Futuremag Music: It's great to see that you guys are still enjoying yourself after all this time. Was there anything else after The Point that you want to plug, or that you want to let people know about that they can come support you at?
Iva Davies: No. Well, no, but you can put in a prayer for good weather.
Futuremag Music: Yes, absolutely. Good weather's always a bonus. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it, and all the best for the gig. It's going to be a great location, great music.
Iva Davies: Okay. Thank you very much for talking to me.
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