Midnight Oil

Subject: Re: [powderworks] Words on Canberra 13 March (Friday) gig
From: Sena
Date: 18/03/2009, 2:14 am
To: powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au

Tom,
 
Thanks so much for this write-up.  This type of detail makes it so much easier to picture what it was like to be there. :-)
 
-Sena

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.


--- On Mon, 3/16/09, Tom Spencer <tomspencer@eml.cc> wrote:
From: Tom Spencer <tomspencer@eml.cc>
Subject: [powderworks] Words on Canberra 13 March (Friday) gig
To: powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
Date: Monday, March 16, 2009, 10:54 PM

Dear Powdies
 
I have never seen so many shaved heads and Oils t-shirts in one place. I had my orange "Capricornia 2002 tour" shirt, I saw a couple of red ones floating about - one fella' had a "10,9,8..." shirt that seemed to still be in perfect nick, all of its shards of the US flag and other fragmented graphics still intact. From 1982. Michelle ("Endurance Dancer") and I looked on, particularly at the newness of the shirt, with no small amount of sartorial respect and wonder.
 
I saw a red "Mosquito March" Tee while waiting in line outside the venue doors. I arrived at 6.40pm. Doors were to open at 7pm, said Jo D. upon arriving from Brisbane at the airport at 5.30pm. She and two others had been at the Transit Bar till then, about a 5 min walk from the block locating the Canberra Casino and Canberra Convention Centre. As a Bris-vegan who's gotten used to streetscapes dominated by franchised internationals and the strict containment of historical remnants, the order and history of Canberra was delightful, particularly the broad street awnings on Northbourne. Even the automatic voices in the city centre, of people talking to their animals, were charming the first 20 times.
 
Standing in line, at 6.45pm the cry went up. "Oooiii-yulls!" Well-dressed staff with headsets moved past, a bit concerned. It was the Royal National Theatre, after all. ($3 for a $2.50 bottle of water or Mars bar. No Cherry Ripes. A massive queue afterwards for T-shirts, whether the black "Midnight Oil - live at the National Theatre )
 
Until 7.10pm we waited, channelled into the funnel that smacked into two black, unyielding, doors. Strains of "der-der-der, der-der-der, der,der,der". Then, from beyond the doors, "OK, everyone. Shush. Shush! I'm going to open the doors." (I guess they would not have opened without the magic words). "No running."
 
Made it to the 2nd row, in front of Bones' later spot, so I hardly saw Martin all night (thanks for the You Tubed vid, whoever!). Michelle and a bloke who made it last night as well, are in the front row. A comedian is on first. Roadies set up, fixing some cable after someone in the comedian's "Oils tribute air band" gathered from the audience, was up there. ("Don't step on that effects board!") The "Peter Garrett" character was particularly good, for his dance moves, especially his slide-your-flat- hand-down- your-(Easter Island)face- and-chest move. ("And DO NOT step on that effects board! And stay AWAY from that drum kit!")
 
Using Miron's set list:
 
Lucky Country! (The opener! Great! Pete's gunna' go off and do his nut from the start!)
> No Time for Games (a big, meandering guitar solo from Jim, like Pete's big, meandering vocal solo at the end of L.C.)
> Short Memory (The honourable member of the Rudd Govt stressed the Afghanistan line about "only there to lend a hand")
> Dreamworld
> Stars of Warburton
> Too Much Sunshine (Rob's drums really fired sparks on this, so crisp and quick)
> Armistice Day
> Progress
> Redneck Wonderland
> Blue Sky Mine
> King of the Mountain
> One Country
> Forgotten Years
> The Dead Heart
> Beds are Burning
> Power & the Passion
> Best of Both Worlds
>
> encore 1
> Tone Poem (A bit frightening - "WHERE WILL YOU GO WHEN THE WATER COMES OVER?" - The West Antarctic ice-sheet won't really melt, will it?)
> Truganini
> US Forces (I could have sworn Peter looked to Jim (or beyond?), smiled, and let the crowd sing the line "Divided world, the CIA, Says you control the issue")
> Don't wanna' be the one !!!! (Yesterday in Federal Parliament, Peter might have been the one, when he stepped up to the "dispatch box" to respond to a "Dorothy Dixer" from his own side. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "Mr Garrett's arrival at the dispatch box occasioned a substantial cheer. Midnight Oil fans are everywhere. "For fear of being misunderstood, the minister is here for his day job today," warned the Speaker, Harry Jenkins, (who is probably just sour because his own debut single, The Member For O'Connor Is Warned, was a commercial disappointment) ." http://www.smh. com.au/opinion/ power-and- passion-pop- ninefoot- baldie-gets- to-speak- 20090316- 8zz7.html (Those subeditors have no respect. Nor maths.)
>
> encore 2
> Surf's up tonight
> Read about it
 
Afterwards, some went up to the after-show party. Others went around the back of the venue to stalk rock stars as they left the party. The general view was the Oils were very tight, a fantastic achievement particularly as they played different songs each of the two nights in Canberra.
 
Overall vibe? Respect and concern for the terrible suffering of the Victorian bushfire survivors; yet sustained exuberance. Peter forgot the words to a couple of songs, but he'd just come back from talks in PNG, so, how many facts and documents can one cram into one's head? Fair suck of the sauce bottle... Despite having many things to bash and smash, Rob seemed particularly attentive to Peter's movements about the stage, looking on like a concerned father as his demented son trounced back and forth, up and back and about, out beyond the orbit of the drum kit (the Van Allen belt, or perhaps the Van Halen belt?), far out at the edges of the known universe.
 
Peter expressed the music by shaping with his head, hands and shoulders the sounds coming off Jim and Martin, rather than by his whirling dervish moves of yesteryear. Bones anchored the whole thing with that thick, driving, bass sound. I wonder whether he has nasty blisters, or the tips have just mutated into mushrooms on the tips of his fingers. He also finished the whole thing by giving his roadie a big hug as the latter took his bass off him. The roadie was trying to avoid this, given that B. was a sweat-beast at the time. So the final dance was by Bones and the roadie, B stepping in, the roadie stepping out while trying to grab B's guitar. Unless, of course, another dreadful event in a few years requires a similar response of compassion and hope... (I heard that the Melbourne and Sydney concerts raised $5m!)

t