At the 2021 AFL (Australian rules football) Grand Final at the Optus Stadium in Perth a few days ago, "Great Southern Land" was performed by a line-up including John Butler, Stella Donnelly, Baker Boy, The Waifs, Gina Williams and others, to a 60,000+ crowd:
Many thanks for posting this Stefan! I've been wondering what it was like after I read the reports of it last weekend (since I was checking the results of the GF - The Dees were worthy and long overdue winners!). Not sure if they posted the clip of Colin Hay singing "Down Under"? I understand this was pre-recorded but played within the overall entertainment sequence. I know many on this thread are fans of Men at Work so that may be worth trying to track down.
Thanks for posting both of those! As a US resident that has loved the first couple Icehouse records since they came out (not a big fan of the rest though I do have them) - it is wild to see Great Southern Land working so well in that setting. I always found it to be a moody and melancholic kind of song - but in that setting it was an anthem. Awesome to see - and a bit jarring as it's so not my experience with the song.
The theme of the AFL grand final entertainment was "Australian Anthems". And many people (only half jokingly) think Great Southern Land should actually be the national anthem. The theme was largely generated by the various lockdowns. Normally the AFL grand final is played in Melbourne, but they were in lockdown as was Sydney. But Western Australia (Perth) has had relatively few cases of COVID and so they could actually have spectators. So they relocated the final to Perth (incidentally both teams were from Melbourne). The teams had to quarantine and the entertainment had to be sourced essentially from within Australia and preferably already in Perth. So in a sense, it was all generated out of necessity. When Icehouse play Great Southern Land live it is a bit more a rock anthem feel. If you haven't listened to their In Concert or the watched the 40 years live concert on Youtube you will see the rock anthem version. (I'm looking forward to watching these clips when I get home from work ...)
Is this some remix thing again? I mean it's quite possible that it will be fantabulous...but the track record on updates on Hey Little Girl is not awesome...
I haven't liked the modern remixes of "Hey Little Girl" thus far, but there's always a chance it will be awesome. This "Paul Reef vs. Icehouse" jam is one of my favorites:
Agreed. I guess I'm thinking of the other attempts on Hey Little Girl on those various remix albums and felt that they missed the essence of the song...
Andy Qunta, Icehouse's keyboardist in the '80s and co-writer of "Crazy", released a solo album in 1989 titled Legend in a Lounge Room. Apparently there were some record company complications and it only saw a limited release at the time. I've just learned that it will be re-issued on Friday with lots of bonus tracks on it. Fellow Icehouse members Guy Pratt and Simon Lloyd also play on the album. Here is more information about Andy's solo album: ANDY QUNTA - Legend In A Loungeroom (Deluxe Edition) Reissue Due Oct 8 on MelodicRock Classics - MelodicRock.com
I actually thought about posting the news in an older Icehouse thread, since I wasn't sure a modern remix was worthy of your awesome album thread. But you played rather loose in your rules before, allowing unreleased You Tube songs, crappy raegae covers, and other horrible remixes to count previously!
Haha! For a moment I thought you were offering Jeff.... I'm very selective on my bare chested antipodeans...
The very tiny snippet I've heard of it at least appears to have not messed with Iva's vocal very much...but it literally was a 20s snippet to promote it on the site where you can buy the vinyl version. LONG DISTANCE RECORDINGS STORE
There appears to be no digital download for this at this time. (I hope that one could become available)
It's been used quite a bit to promote Australia. Thankfully never used for an actual commercial product - I'm not sure I could live with that (and thank you Iva for not giving in to the big bucks on that issue).
The snippet isn't bad. And for a post-modern remix [remixing the song many years afterward] it's great. I think that The Antipodeans are real synth heads who love and respect Icehouse. They probably were strongly influenced by Icehouse growing up. They have basically remade the song with all machines synthwave style, when the original was mostly machines simulating a rock band to begin with. So the apple didn't fall far from the tree. It sounded like Iva's vocal was unmolested. Good. But 250 copies on vinyl only does not have my name on it. Especially with postage from Oz to the USA. I might buy a DL though.
Yes, I was relieved to hear in that snippet, that Iva's vocal was essentially unchanged. I didn't realize there were only 250 copies on vinyl. Let's hope for a download in the near future because I'd like to hear it!
I just looked on iTunes. It's now there on the 27th of October. Available for pre-order now @ $2.99 and you can hear 90 seconds of all 4 mixes/edits.
@Post-Punk Monk I’m having trouble finding it in search on Apple Music. What was it listed under? I’ve tried both Antipodeans and Icehouse and don’t see it. EDIT: Never mind - I had to go into the iTunes app not Apple Music to find it. Grrr. That’s one of my pet peeves with Apple that they aren’t linked. on a side note I came across a remix of No Promises and My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) by some DJ. It’s bizarre and somehow manages to ruin two good songs at the same time…as far as I could tell it was the Harrison vocal over the instrumental No Promises track….
