Australia: Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders, Icehouse, Music Vault

Stevie Nicks And The Pretenders Head Down Under

Greg Allen / GregAllenPhotos.com – Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde
Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde are in sync performing at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., April 2.

Live Nation has Stevie Nicks’ 24 Karat Gold Tour with The Pretenders heading Down Under in the southern spring. In Australia, the tour lands at Perth Arena (Nov. 2), Botany Park, Adelaide (Nov. 4), ICC Sydney Theatre (Nov. 7) and Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne (Nov. 16). It also includes three A Day On The Green winery shows with Roundhouse Entertainment.

These are at Bimbadgen in NSW’s Hunter Valley (Nov. 11), Sirromet Wines in Mt. Cotton, Queensland (Nov. 12), and Rochford Wines in Yarra Valley, Victoria (Nov. 18).

The two New Zealand shows are at Auckland’s Spark Arena (Nov. 21) and Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium (Nov. 24). In other international tour news, LN has to keep upgrading Khalid’s debut visit on the American Teen Tour.

After moving dates in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to larger venues, a second Sydney show Nov. 8 at the 2,500-capacity Enmore Theatre is now at the 5,500-capacity Hordern Pavilion.

Two new festivals at the Roche Estate in NSW’s Hunter Valley sees Buddy Guy headlining Crossroads Blues in the Vines (Feb. 10) and Billy Ray Cyrus topping Crossroads Country in the Vines (March 24).

Icehouse Tour Continues To Heat Up

Icehouse’s 40 Years Live! Tour continues to be a major success. Since January, it has played to 235,000 fans over 24 shows. But the band keeps adding more shows, the latest being Dec. 1 at the renovated Palais Theatre in Melbourne after its Nov. 17 date sold out.

The tour finishes with two shows, Dec. 16-17, at the Sydney Enmore Theatre (where it already played two shows in June) after which the band will go on hiatus.

Aside from collecting hits from a 10-album retro box set, which also saw the band’s material arrive on streaming services earlier this year, the tour also celebrates the 30th anniversary of its Man of Colours album, which it plays in its entirety. In 1987, the album stayed at No. 1 in Australia and sold 10 times platinum, the first Australian album to yield five Top 30 singles.

Internationally it peaked at No. 43 in the United States, where the singles “Electric Blue” reached No. 7 and “Crazy” peaked at No. 14, and went gold in Canada.

Australian Music Vault Set For December Opening The Australian Hall of Fame, known as the Australian Music Vault, is set to open in December at Arts Centre Melbourne.

The physical and digital exhibition space and interactive program is being developed by the venue in partnership with the music ?industry.

Arts Centre Melbourne already has 600,000 items, many from its past exhibitions centred around Nick Cave, Midnight Oil, Kylie Minogue and AC/DC. An Aug. 10-announced partnership with the Sydney-based Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) will see the trade association’s own Hall of Fame items included in the space. Since 1988, ARIA has inducted 85 artists into its HoF, both as a stand-alone event and as part of its glittering ARIA awards.

They included global exports such as INXS, AC/DC, Men At Work, Crowded House, Olivia Newton-John, Little River Band, The Easybeats, The Divinyls, Air Supply, The Wiggles, Air Supply, Nick Cave and Icehouse.

Said the state of Victoria’s arts minister Martin Foley, “This partnership with ARIA demonstrates and adds to the national significance of the Music Vault and Melbourne’s position as Australia’s music capital.”

The state government financed the project from its broad A$22.2 million ($17.4 million) Music Works initiative to bolster the music industry.

NZ Musician Claims Bomb Letter Was ‘Poem’

Dene Barnes of New Zealand band LSD Fundraiser claimed in court that a letter attached to a cassette package that caused the central business district of Dunedin to be evacuated June 16 was not a bomb threat but a “poem.”

LSD Fundraiser frontman Barnes made the assertion in Dunedin District Court August 10.

The message read, “When there’s nothing left to lose, i will firebomb your car. i will hack into your computer, i will leak trade & state SECRETS./ i will hammer holes in your office windows/. i will raise [sic] your buildings to the ground/ i will bring you down.”

The words were the cover of the band’s tape StreetNOISE, which it distributed by leaving it in public spaces.

The judge, perusing a copy said, “That’s a poem, is it? Looks like a threat,” reported the Otaga Daily News.

Barnes’ lawyer Anne Stevens cited the works of The Beatles and Jefferson Airplane, and said, “I confidently say it can be established this was artistic expression and it was legitimate.” Barnes was released on bail and returns to court October.