Icehouse, Tyler, Parsons on NZ summer tour
Three acts that ruled the airwaves throughout much of the 1970s and 80s will give audiences in three New Zealand holiday hotspots a summertime nostalgia rush.
Australian synthpop act Icehouse, prog rock pioneer Alan Parsons and husky-voiced ballad singer Bonnie Tyler are the co-headliners on the tour, which takes in Anniversary Weekend dates in Taupo and Whitianga, as well as a concert in Queenstown.
Summertime visitations by such acts of yesteryear are fast becoming an annual tradition for the three towns. Managed by Greenstone Entertainment, last year’s tour featured Huey Lewis and the News, REO Speedwagon and Melissa Etheridge. Previous line-ups included Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 10cc and The Doobie Brothers.
Formed around the nucleus of frontman Iva Davies, Icehouse have produced several hit singles including Hey Little Girl, Electric Blue, Crazy and Great Southern Land, as well as the top-selling albums Primitive Man and Man of Colours.
The band was inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006 and in 2013 Davies was made a Member of the Order of Australia for ‘‘significant service to the music and entertainment industry as a songwriter and performer, and to the community’’.
Eleven-time Grammy nomi- nee, progressive rock producer, music engineer, songwriter and performer Alan Parsons formed a partnership with Eric Woolfson in 1975, as what became known as The Alan Parsons Project. After the pair went their separate ways in the early 90s, Parsons decided to keep the group going as a touring group, featuring himself on acoustic guitar, under the name The Alan Parsons Live Project.
The band’s albums include I Robot, Eye In The Sky and Pyramid, which yielded songs like Eye In The Sky, Games People Play, Damned If I Do, and Sirius, often heard at major American sports events.
Bonnie Tyler’s distinctive singing voice and career spans four decades. her hits include Total Eclipse Of The Heart, It’s A Heartache and Holding Out For A Hero. The Welsh-born singer’s work has earned her two Grammy nominations and three Brit Award nominations, among other accolades.