ANZAC Day 25th April 2011

"Cold Cold Change" Midnight Oil

"Cold Cold Change" Midnight Oil 1979

Cold cold change, we were so excited
But you came and went so soon
Cold cold change, we were not invited
We smiled all the while we were taken in

Cold cold change, bringing in the winter
Freezing up the water, closing up the mind
One more danger, gonna have to deal with
One last moment fading all the time

But no lasting change, well we were turned around
We jumped in the air to see over the wall
No master plan, it's a bad design
Significant time in spite of us all

Cold cold change, we were so excited
Waiting on the outside, waiting to begin
Left us all angry and bewildered
Laughing at the way we were taken in

You better lock the door, turn it off (the light)
We'll leave the nights alone, better keep me hoping
That the change is over, the ice is gone
And when the weather's warmer you can hear me shouting yeah
(hirst/moginie)

This song was released in my final year at High School when I thought the 'the Oils' were that endless noise my surfie mates listened to... then came '10,9,8....1'!! Amazing!

This clip was the JJJ Youth Refuge fundraiser at Wanda Beach!!

The era is different yet some of the themes still describe the interesting times in which we live!!

"Beds are Burning" for Climate Change

So it seems you'll soon be able to download a version of the celebrity recorded and re-worded version of the 'Oils' "Beds are Burning" reworded for climate change and explored at least on the Tck Tck Tck website and/or MySpace here!! I look forward to hearing and seeing how it helps a vital campaign in the lead up to Copenhagen!!

The South Sydney Herald

The excellent and community minded South Sydney Herald is out for April!! Check it out here for the 'Oils' review Eve invited me to write...
It really was a great night out in Canberra!

One More Time

Before normal transmission resumes... there is no video which can quite convey the experience of seeing the Oils live!! But there's a selection on youtube which won't yet download that give you some idea! Even these crowds were a mix of diehards and the curious and so nobody was quite 'going off' in the way Coogee or Newcastle Workers crowd would!!

If you look hard you can see friend Lucian's sizeable head in frame and occasionally I annoyed this video-er by waving an arm in front of camera...

Check out one example here

I'll have a more varied review of 'Sound Relief' in coming days/weeks when I've watched the 10 hours of video!!

Following Up Another Oils conversation

Midnight Oil in Canberra

Last night a whole bunch of us from Newcastle & Sydney joined expats and friends in descending on the first of two 'warm up' gigs by the Oils ahead of the Sound Relief Bushfire Concerts this Saturday. Rumours quickly spread when these shows were hastily arranged and I'm grateful to Andrew for the warning, Kim at Ticketek and Gary Morris [Oils Manager] for the chance to score up to eight tickets in the end. I wished Simone could join us but she gets the obsession and graciously accepted the reality I'd do 'anything' to be here on the night!! Had my calendar looked different I would have joined Lubo again tonight for Part Two...

There was much conjecture and speculation about the gigs [including myself]:

How would they go?

What songs would and wouldn't make the cut?

Would this be the same bitter sweet experience as four years ago?

So excited to be seeing the boys yet soaking up every beat and rythmn as the last...

How would Peter negotiate the immature media coverage of his lyrics?

Would we get a classic 90min set of vintage live rock from Australia's finest?

Now, this is old ground... and music is taste driven, but ask any first timer who was there last night whether 'something special' happened... ? Far from being ageing rockers, the musical excellence, energy and raw passion were all part of the show... how old effervescent drummer Rob Hirst?

Here's the setlist for last nights 2 hour brilliance:

Redneck Wonderland

Brave Faces

Dreamworld

Under The Overpass

Blue Sky Mine

Only The Strong

When The Generals Talk

Golden Age

Read About It

River Runs Red

Bullroarer

Power and the Passion

One Country

Luritja Way

King of the Mountain

Dead Heart

Beds are Burning

Best of Both Worlds... just sublime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Encore One:
Truganini

Too Much Sunshine

Forgotten Years

Encore Two:
In The Valley

Sometimes

And it may vary tonight for the second show!! BUT that's huge... songs I love, songs I haven't heard for 15-20 years plus all the classics. Sure 'US Forces' was missing but can we decide the world is different and Gen Y share little of my own growing up under the imminent nuclear equation... post 9/11... small price to pay to be able to play at all!!

Bob Brown is master of the Simon Creanesque 10 sec media grab so with a huge oil slick off the QLD coast I suppose "the Midnight Oil is burning but the Environment Minister is nowhere to be seen..." is clever but neither is it solving the problem of oily birds and the spreading slick.

While I shed a few tears during 'The Deadheart' and 'Best of Both Worlds' I was much more bouyant this time around than in Manly/the SCG four years ago... maybe this too is not the last time or maybe it was just a precious bonus to jump, sway and shout aloud every lyrics, screaming "Ooooiiillls!" I am not looking forward to the letdown in a few days... note to self to set the vcr for Channel [V] on Saturday but give me a band who sing about stuff that matters any day!! Community, development, indigenous culture, politics, history, values, Australia, media, and huge fun along the way!! By my count I've now seen the band about 40 times in 25 or so years!! Remnant of the 80s? If you've not seen them live you don't get it... and you never will!!

Anyhow, back to recommending The Fray, P!ink, Kings of Leon and Kanye West for all my Youth Worker colleagues contextual discussions and input!!

Thanks to my fellow travellers Geoff, Eve and Nic [who can be asked what it was really like] for the journey, the t-shirt and the limited edition screen printed poster!!

Postscript:
After setlisting it as a maybe for Thursday night, Friday's first encore included "US Forces"
"Ooooiiillls!" "Ooooiiillls!" Very cool Pete!!
And thanks to Arlene Brookes at the Oils Office who responded to my speculative email to the old address I had scribbled down...

Midnight Oil Warm Up

Just when you thought they'd gone away!!
Even the venue has no information yet but RSS feed and Google Reader devotee and friend Andrew has given me the lead to two warm up concerts for the Oils in coming weeks that will be no secret in the media today!! Just leave it to the weekend to check out!!

MCG Bushfire Concert March 14th MCG and SCG

Do yourselves and the Victorian Bushfire victims a favour and go see what all the fuss is about when Australia's best band 'Midnight Oil' reform for the March 14th MCG Benefit Concert held similtaneously with an SCG show featuring an acoustic set from Coldplay!!

Friends and colleagues actually keen should keep their eyes on local gig guides as the 'Oils' would typically do a 'warm up show a night or two before at a local venue!!

I will of course be ensconsed with family on a weekend away in Forster!!

"Power and the Passion" Midnight Oil @ Capitol Theatre early 1980s

"Power and the Passion" Midnight Oil

"Power and the Passion"
People, wasting away in paradise
Going backward, once in a while
Moving ahead, falling behind
What do you believe, what do you believe
What do you believe is true
Nothing they say makes a difference this way
Nothing they say will do
Take all the trouble that you can afford
At least you wont have time to be bored

Oh the power and the passion, oh the temper of the time
Oh the power and the passion
Sometimes youve got to take the hardest line

Sunburnt faces around, with skin so brown
Smiling zinc cream and crowds, sundays the beach never a cloud
Breathing eucalypt, pushing panel vans
Stuff and munch junk food
Laughing at the truth, cos gough was tough til he hit the rough
Uncle sam and john were quite enough
Too much of sunshine too much of sky
Its enough to make you want to cry

Oh the power...

I see buildings, clothing the sky, in paradise
Sydney, nights are warm
Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn
Dads so bad he lives in the pub, its a underarms and football clubs
Flat chat, pine gap, in every home a big mac
And no one goes outback, thats that
You take what you get and get what you please
Its better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

Oh the power...

[Hirst/Moginie/Garrett]

Midnight Oil holiday project

I just got one of my holiday projects back from the framers!! I took a whole swag of tickets from concerts and shows, framed them up and they now adorn my study walls!! BUT this is the BIG one!! My signed 'Blue Sky Mine' shirt signed at the UCA Justice Expo a few years back, a drumstick I caught at Cabramatta's The Tivoli, some special tickets and the album cover for 'Head Injuries' and 'Diesel and Dust'!! Tickets include 1987 [not my earliest but the one I kept] the last show at Manly before they split, Selinas at Coogee the night you could take your feet off the floor and not fall we were so tightly packed in plus Wave Aid!!