Icehouse was already a well-established band in Australia throughout the nineteen-eighties, and would reach superstardom following the release of their 1987 album ‘Man Of Colours’.

Two singles in particular – ‘Crazy’ and ‘Electric Blue’ – had phenomenal success down under and also charted well in the UK and parts of Europe. There were flashes of success in the United States with some movement on the Billboard Charts, prompting the band to visit Los Angeles in 1988 to try cracking this lucrative market.

And here is where the urban myth was born – for apparently Icehouse held a free outdoor concert at a beach somewhere in LA and only six people turned up. I was still in school at the time and I remember this story running wild, with radio announcers even making fun about it whilst on-air, giving this musical disaster some credibility.

But what really happened?

Incredibly, I came across someone selling one of the ticket stubs online, and from this evidence alone a few of the false reports can be debunked.

Firstly, there was no free admission, as the price of $17.50 is clearly marked. Note that the venue is also printed, being the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium – so it was near to a beach, but not an outdoor concert as the stories claimed.

As far as the meagre attendance was concerned, there was an article written in the Los Angeles Times dated the 4th of April 1988 that implied as much, but I’m certain there would have been hundreds of people in the crowd. Overall, the piece was quite positive toward the band’s performance, but did offer some interesting critiques – see excerpts below.

Icehouse would have been in their prime during this period, and it was a bit of a shame that the audience numbers left a lot to be desired. Although I personally was not a huge fan – thinking that Iva Davies was a bit of a poser – they were still one of the top Aussie bands during the eighties and might have been a little unlucky with their US breakthrough.

Below is a link to the music video for ‘Electric Blue’ that was released in August 1987, courtesy of the YouTube channel ‘icehousebandtv’.

I could tell straight away that it was filmed somewhere near Central Station in Sydney, and after doing a little research learned that they were on the roof of the Teacher’s Federation building in Surry Hills.

And how incredible is that mullet?

Also the full Los Angeles Times article about the concert can be found at this link – POP REVIEW : Icehouse Kicks Off the Shackles for Its Civic Auditorium Fans – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) – but it might be hidden behind a paywall.

Photo courtesy of Hello Perth and other online sources.