After an 18 month hiatus (maybe longer – I am not sure) from
Bittorrent  and downloading boots, I went back in pirate mode
recently. I had most of the boots I felt comfortable owning, and
nothing had showed up in a while, and real life got in the way of
stuff, so I just left it off. But I've seen a couple concerts
recently, and and there were some TV broadcasts across the pond that
I'd heard about and wanted to see – so I went back to BT a couple
weeks ago. To my incredible and utter delight I found the 3/7/87
concert from Midnight Oil ( or for the computer literate and EU say
7/3/87) available for download.

WOW! I mean WOW!  Watching this concert has made me think of my first
Oils Experience which I related to this list some 10 years ago.
Watching the video has me nostalgic for that day – and I figure I
might as well reshare it and bore everyone to tears again. 

In 1990 I was graduate student in biochemisty at Purdue University in
West Lafayette, IN (USA). There I discovered the singular joy that is
WXRT radio in Chicago. They played Midnight Oil. They Played John
Hiat. They Played Bruce Cockburn. They played some Crap too, but their
ratio of Amazing stuff to Crap was REALLY REALLY high. They played
stuff I never heard anywhere else, and I have a lot to thank them for
when it comes to music. 

In 1990 they were playing Blue Sky Mine and Forgotten years on their
rotation enough that I went and bought Blue Sky Mining. I listened to
it and loved it. The people in the laboratory I worked in liked it as
well, and never seemed to mind when I out it in the tape player.
Shortly after I bought the album, one of them left for the University
of Indiana at Champaign/Urbana. UI is only about 150 miles from 
Purdue (maybe less – It's been 18 years now!). But just one short
month after my friend got there, he notified me that tickets for
Midnight Oil at UI were going on sale. I had him snag tickets and that
fateful September afternoon my wife and I drove  to UI and witnessed
the concert.

Remember, I was NOT familiar with all of Midnight Oil's material. I
had no idea how many albums they had made. Beds are Burning had never
entered my musical radar – I might have heard it, but it did not grab
me the way BSM and FY did. I had hardly seen any pictures of the band,
and the only video I had seen the was video for forgotten years. 

That night I watched this bald giant gesticulate wildly about the
stage. He dove into the audience after a photographer who took a flash
photo shot of him. The lead singer went onto the stage after the
incident and complained about being blinded while trying to sing.  I
hope the guy escaped, it seemed pretty obvious that he was not
expecting THAT to happen. But above all the strange visuals and
happenings, there was the MUSIC. Music I could not get out of my head.
That song about Hercules, The one about Dreamworld, What they did with
Peace Love and Understanding! (I already owned every Elvis Costello
Album). These guys made really good music!

I don't know if anyone else who was there that night experienced what
I experienced. It was a musical epiphany. Sometimes it is hard to
avoid music that I like. No matter WHAT ever happened in life I was
Going to hear U2. I was going to hear The WHO.  Considering the time I
was born and went to college I was Going to hear Dire Straits and
Bruce Springsteen. There was no way to avoid it! And today I am going
to hear Coldplay. The next band I enjoy? - who knows? But if it gets
played enough and is on enough the radio enough or makes enough news
and noise – I'll hear them.

But Midnight Oil? Midnight Oil is the band I could have missed. The
band that did not get as much coverage as U2 or Coldplay.  The band
that put out more music then I knew about. More really good music than
anyone gives them credit fore here in the USA. That's not surprising.
Many bands I enjoy have put out good music to lackluster reception.
John Hiatt, Indigo Girls, Bruce Cockburn, Better Than Ezra. But people
with tastes like mine sometimes keep me apprised. And while I am sure
that I miss a lot, I get enough new music that I enjoy to make me feel
like I am not totally out of it.

The band I saw fateful September evening helped improved my enjoyment
of music, and helped cement the need to seek out new albums- from
artists I know and artists I might not be totally sure of. To look and
listen for something - to keep track of bands I like that the media
has forgotten – to try and listen to things that other people
recommend that I have never heard of – and even to pay attention to
what is hot and popular.

So I thank them, and I remember that fateful night that has eventually
taught me so many lessons about looking for music...

Sincerely
Michael B.

Speaking of paying attention to what is hot – I cannot stop listening
to the latest Coldplay album Vida La Vida. I think I may consider it a
masterpiece. Only time will tell, but I know I am enjoyng the heck out
of it right now – and in a way I still have MO and that night to thank
for it