[Henry Longmore]

My first Oils concert!  Wonderful!  Absolute excellence!  Although I
do have some complaints about the HOB venue, which I will air first,
then I move on to my (long) report on the good stuff.  Naturally, my
wife and I were greatly disappointed by the cancelled dinner
appointment (what was up with that, anyway?).  But, it saved us about
$100 (food & tip minus what we actually spent), which I used promptly
after the concert was over to buy two shirts for me and one for my
wife.  The second complaint I have about the HOB is that more speakers
does not equal better sound.  They had a whole slew of speakers up
front, two vertical lines on each side of the stage.  These were
probably great for those on the floor, but it would have been nice if
they had a few speakers spread around in the balcony to balance out
the sound up there...as it was, it seemed like Will Hoge's base was
too loud, and sometimes seemed like Rob Hirst was hitting the base
drum to hard, making it hard to hear the other instruments...now, I
loved hearing Rob's drumming, but I wanted to hear Martin and Jim and
Bones, too.  My last HOB complaint is that the side balcony section
seats were only half-decent seats (they would have been better if they
were angled towards the stage)...if I wanted to see Bones and Jim, I
had to watch the screen to the right and above.  The place wasn't
packed, but then, most of the crowd was not from Vegas. I should have
just moved to a seat in the center of the balcony, but didn't want to
have security come after me if they didn't approve.

Okay, now for the good stuff!  Will Hoge was okay, their CD was better
(it was played during the break between the bands).  Too many sappy
love/breaking up songs for my tastes.  While they were on, Bones kept
looking at the crowd or the band or both from behind the curtains.

MO: Not being anywhere near a setlist in the balcony, I made a setlist
as they went on stationary from the Luxor hotel.  I haven't scanned it
yet (having driven 800 miles in the last 2 days, I don't want to
bother with that yet) so I'll just type it here (sorry for the messy
formatting):

*Redneck Wonderland
*Bullroarers
*Mosquito March
 PG says good evening, makes a joke out of something some fan yells
*Dreamworld
*Say Your Prayers
 bring out the small drumkit, Rob up front
 PG Remarks on the fact that we are all getting along w/our lives
 despite the terrorism, & how that is what needs to be done
*Beds Are Burning
 Rob throws stick into crowd (short throw)
*Short Memory (PG goes offstage, what for?  I assume to refresh his
 memory on the rant at the end?)
*Luritja Way (spelling?)
*Blue Sky Mine
 Rob throws stick (long throw)
 Rob goes back to big kit
 PG remarks on how they are adjusting to it being Autumn here while
 it is Spring in AUS, plus some other remark, but I can't read what I
 wrote
*King of the Mountain
 PG remarks on how when Pres. Bush took office, from their (MO?
 AUS?) perspective, the walls were going up, but that now the walls
 are coming down, and perhaps some good will come of it
*Golden Age
*Truganini (PG changes 'mate' to 'boys and girls' -- my wife looks at 
 me with a look that says, "Huh?"  I explain that the original lyric
 is 'mate')
*Dead Heart
 PG points out who plays what, they bring out some bright lights
*Forgotten Years
*Hercules (Rob throws 2 sticks (one at a time) out to his right side,
 broken I guess)
 Rob throws two more sticks out front--if they landed in the front of
 the crowd, there were two sticks in the powderworkers ;)
--Encore--
 PG says that we haven't heard from them for a while HITS, but that
 doesn't mean they have stopped making music, nor do they intend to!
*Tone Poem
*Power and the Passion (Rob uses the corrugated metal barrel for drum
 solo -- very cool!  I was wondering what that was for while Will Hoge 
 was on)
*Sometimes (P.G. says something to Martin after they start the song, I
 wonder how they can hear each other!)

Before starting Sometimes, PG says that unfortunately they _do_ have
to go, indicating that even if we want another encore, they've gotta
split.

During one song, PG bumped into some equipment (amps?) and was
obviously worried about knocking it over--it might have been during
King of the Mountain (the handwriting I can't read).  During
Truganini, PG throws his harmonica offstage to his right.  I think,
why doesn't he throw it into the crowd, then I remember it _is_ a
harmonica, and the last thing he needs is someone suing him because
they got sick from playing his harmonica :)

My wife said that PG must be doing speed or something, the way he was
going all over the stage, his hands constantly moving, etc.  I figure
it's just something he's developed over the years.  My wife actually
enjoyed the concert, and would be willing to go to another!  But she
didn't like Will Hoge at all (we saw Alien Ant Farm on Mad TV that
night, she said compared to AAF, Will was actually pretty good).

Rob Hirst...wow!  It seemed like he was having the time of his life up
there, smile and sweat and all! (I wish I had pecs like that!)

On the shirts: black; the one with PG's head has the words "Midnight
Oil 20(hand--the sprint hand)01" on the front, and the band members
can be seen in the sunglasses PG is wearing.  The one with the cow on
the front has the tour cities listed on the back (the tour appearantly
being called "golden age").  After buying shirts, I see a girl with a
drumstick.  I ask if that was one that was thrown out, it was...I told
her I envy her.

Unfortunately, I only got to meet 1 (2?) workers...I met Chris and
his wife Kelly as we learned that dinner was canceled.  I would have
liked to have met more of you...maybe next year?

Henry K.