Icehouse forced to cancel historic gig as Iva Davies struggles to recover from Covid

A crushed Iva Davies has been forced to cancel a special Sydney Opera House gig as he struggles to recover from Covid.

Iva Davies has been forced to cancel a historic Icehouse gig marking the 40th anniversary of Great Southern Land as he struggles to recover his breathing after contracting Covid almost a month ago.

The concert at the Sydney Opera House forecourt on Monday is off, the third big gig the band has had to postpone or cancel since he fell ill after performing at the ICC T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on November 13.

Davies told fans in late November that “the effects of the infection are lasting a lot longer than I hoped.”

“The difficulties I am having with breathing mean that I cannot sing for the duration of an Icehouse performance,” he shared on Instagram.

Iva Davies has battled the effects of Covid for almost a month. Picture: Supplied / Serge Thomann

Unfortunately the Opera House gig, part of the institution’s annual outdoor concert series, can’t be rescheduled with fans informed they would receive full refunds.

Davies told them he was crushed to cancel the show because of how much performing at the iconic venue meant to him.

“From the age of 14 I walked past it once a week to attend my oboe lessons at the Conservatorium when it was still a building site, little knowing that at 18 I would be playing in the orchestra in the new Opera Theatre for the first operas performed there,” Davies wrote on Instagram.

“I performed on the Concert Hall stage as an oboist as well. I sang in two ballets that I composed for the Sydney Dance Company that opened in the Opera Theatre. And then, of course, there was the performance on the forecourt of the 25-minute extended piece The Ghost of Time based on Great Southern Land which led to the countdown into the new Millennium for Sydney.”

“So, you can imagine how disappointed I am, and that if there was any possible way I could do this performance then I would move heaven and earth to do so.”

Barnesy got Covid in May and then had to cancel his summer shows for surgery. Picture: Supplied / Jesse Lizotte

Covid continued to wreak havoc on the recovery of Australia’s live music industry this year as tours battled not only artists being felled by the virus but supply chain and staffing shortages.

Jimmy Barnes had to cancel and postpone gigs in May after getting the virus.

And last week he announced his summer tour schedule was cancelled as he needed urgent back and hip surgery this month.

Crowded House have just completed the final run of rescheduled shows on their Australian tour which was halted in April when Neil Finn was struck down with Covid.

Midnight Oil’s Resist farewell tour was interrupted twice earlier this year when Peter Garrett and Rob Hirst caught the virus, Hoodoo Gurus had to shift dates on their 40th anniversary run when a member fell ill and Guy Sebastian had to reschedule concerts and his appearance in the stand at the trial of his former manager Titus Day after he caught Covid on the road.

Originally published as Icehouse forced to cancel historic gig as Iva Davies struggles to recover from Covid