Sounds like Thursday night might be rather 'interesting' !!   http://www.theage. com.au/national/ sorry-boys- no-time-to- rehearse- 20090306- 8rhc.html   Sorry, boys, no time to rehearse Tony Wright March 7, 2009 Environment Minister Peter Garrett will play it by ear with Midnight Oil. Photo: Peter Braig WHEN you became famous as one of Australia's most popular rock singers but now you are a minister in the Rudd Government, the lead-up to your first big concert in years can get a little fraught. Midnight Oil, who haven't played together since 2002 apart from a single concert in aid of tsunami relief in 2005, have less than a week until they hit the stage for a series of concerts in aid of Victoria's bushfire victims. But they are yet to have their first rehearsal, and it's looking most likely there will be no opportunity for a full band blow-out until Midnight Oil walk on stage before a big audience at Canberra's Royal Theatre on Thursday night. Lead singer Peter Garrett, who happens to be Australia's Environment Minister, dropped a small bombshell on fellow band members as they prepared to get their old act together: he had a prior engagement. Specifically, he will be in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday and Wednesday to represent Australia at the Coral Triangle environmental talks involving East Timor, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and PNG. Gary Morris, Midnight Oil's "sixth member" — the organiser who "plays the telephone and email" — was aghast when Garrett told him. "But Pete, those are rehearsal days," Morris responded. "Well," said the lead singer, "I don't work for the Oils any more — I work for the Australian Government." The upshot is that Garrett will fly back to Canberra on Thursday morning, attend question time in Parliament and use the few remaining hours to prepare himself for the evening concert — the first of two on consecutive nights in Canberra. On the following Saturday, March 14, the band will appear before a crowd of about 75,000 at the MCG among a line-up of Australia's finest acts donating their talents to the Sound Relief bushfire fund-raiser. Morris is philosophical. "You've got to remember this is a band that played together for 25 years," he said yesterday. "Pete uses his voice like an instrument — if he forgets a few lines here or there, he'll just sing right through it. It will be a case of the old chemistry pulling us together." The other members — drummer Rob Hirst, guitarist and keyboard player Jim Moginie, bassist Bones Hillman, who is flying in from his Nashville home, and guitarist Martin Rotsey — will gather in Moginie's Sydney home tomorrow to work on the program. Other members of the sound and road crew are also travelling from the US.