Very very very thankful and grateful I was able to see the Oils again. A lot can happen in 16 years, and it has, so to see them again and marvel at the energy, the musicianship, the Beauty Power Passion of them all performing together again was probably the best 2 hours of my life. It is like, as you know, having your brain and body elevated to a plain in the universe of pure good light and vibration and thought. If Elon Musk could harness the energy of an Oils concert both performers and fans ....
It was pure amazement and I envy every one of you seeing them in Portland tonight, and ahead on the tour.
Great to see and chat with you again, Kristi. And a shout out, and pics below of workers Rowena & Dave and Laura & Rodney who we shared the line, and then the stage rail with.
Oils fans are the best people!
Peace, love, kindness
-------- Original message --------
From: "mossman@pacbell.net [powderworks]" <powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au>
Date: 5/28/17 7:58 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
Subject: [powderworks] Thoughts from Oakland
Second, the opening act was not great. I know, I know, they never are, and I wanted to like the group
, but they feel like a band that hasn't quite found its voice yet. But there are glimpses of brilliance in their songs, it just rarely came together. Of course, as an oils fan, I would gladly have traded that act in for an extra 30 minutes of the main act, but given the age of the band, perhaps that's asking for a bit too much. In the end the Oils did clock in a respectable 2 hours anyway.
And that's it. That's my only criticism. All in all, the concert was freaking awesome. Going back to the age thing, I couldn't discern if Hirst had lost a beat (pun intended), and Garrett may have slowed down a touch, but then again, maybe that's just my imagination. It didn't feel like a band who was getting up there. It felt like a band that was really happy to be on the road again, and it came across in full force.
The track list was solid. Because the
y are rotating songs, I didn't know what to expect. I don't like every song Midnight Oil makes, but I do like most of them. But to have a concert where virtually every song is part of my select playlist is a hell of a thing. A lot of Diesel and Dust, and a nice spread of songs before and after. Ok, maybe Redneck Wonderland isn't one of my favorites, but even then it was a smart choice as a concert opener. And they played Ships of Freedom which may be my favorite non-album track of theirs. Honestly, the song choice was about as close to perfection as is possible for me.
Generally the lighting was pretty strong. Nothing remarkable, mind you, but it worked well. The highlight was when the lights were just two colors, a greyish with red beams which sliced through the smoky air. It was a nice effect that make it feel like things had turned black and white with the one color coming thro
ugh. Kind of like the movie Sin City, if you recall.
As for political commentary, you go expecting some pointed remarks, and they delivered. I may disagree with Peter's stance on cruise ships, but fully appreciate the general thinking behind it. And politically, well you kind of know what to expect there, and he came though in a satisfying way.
It's not always been a smooth road for the band on this comeback effort. A lot of these sell-outs are due to scalpers buying up all the tickets in the anticipation that they would return a nice profit (it probably didn't in Oakland, tickets were as low as $6 on Stub Hub going into the day of the concert), making their popularity seem artificially inflated. And we all know about the foibles of the new box sets. But the bottom line is that the band kicked ass at what they do best, and the rest is just noise in the background.
Having said
all that, here's my one sentence review of the concert: Thank you, Midnight Oil, for putting in an excellent and memorable show, and being a voice of conscious that modern music still finds difficult to embrace.
