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...