What: Icehouse

When: Friday, September 5

Where: Regent Cinema

Bookings: 5330 5555

ICONIC Australian rock outfit Icehouse will make a return to Ballarat in September after more than 20 years.

Iva Davies and his band will perform at The Regent Cinema as part of their national tour. The tour is being undertaken in celebration of Icehouse's latest compilation White Heat recently being awarded Platinum sales status.

"We hadn't played for years and hadn't released a studio album for goodness knows how long so we had no gauge at all on whether the band name and catalogue had disappeared in thin air over time," Davies said.

"It was quite extraordinary because it reached Gold level within almost a week and has been ticking over ever since."

The 30-hit compilation has seen steady sales since its release in 2011, a feat Davies attributed to the selective shows the band had been performing in the last three years.

He said the release was more than just a collection of classic songs and was "absolutely comprehensive".

"We've done compilation albums along the years but they've been very patchy and none of them have been truly inclusive.

"It's not only 30 hits but there's also all the music videos that went with the songs and most of them have never been available.

"We realised there was millions of dollars worth of investment in those music videos so it seemed a shame to leave them collecting dust."

Icehouse, formerly known as Flowers, was formed in 1980 with its debut album becoming the highest ever selling debut album in Australia.

The band's success continued with its first overseas performance and release of its second album Primitive Man which featured the much-loved Aussie anthem Great Southern Land.

Since then, Davies and Icehouse have won many awards including the Countdown Award for most popular male performer and numerous ARIA awards. The band was also inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.