Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Avalon/Boston Globe Review

Mitchega@aol.com Mitchega@aol.com
Tue, 06 Nov 2001 08:24:26 EST


Thanks Pete for posting this great article.  I was able to go to the Philadelphia show which was unreal.  I was so happy to be so close and to see the entire show in such detail.  This article you posted made me feel like I was still in front of that stage in Philly with the Oils rocking away.  

Thanks much,  I cant wait for them to return this Spring.
Art
-------------------------------------------
In a message dated Mon, 5 Nov 2001  4:47:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Peter Scott Poitras" <pete.poitras@the-spa.com> writes:

> Midnight Oil still fueled by passion and politics
> 
> 
> By Michael Prager, Globe Staff, 11/5/2001
> 
> 
> The jaded rock fans who decided to skip Midnight Oil's show at Avalon
> Saturday
> night because they expected sorry gasps from just another doddering '80s
> band
> got what they deserved.
> 
> 
> So did the fans who decided to attend.
> 
> 
> The Australian rockers surged through 90 minutes of charismatic,
> high-potency
> rock 'n' roll that proved they are as vital and relevant as they've ever
> been.
> The selections they plucked from their quarter-century of songs still burst
> with life, and the new tunes they played were among the highlights of the
> show.
> 
> 
> This was never more true than on their midset tear through ''Golden Age,'' a
> super-driving tune whose high point was a screaming solo by Jim Moginie, one
> of the three guitarists who give backbone to the band's sound. The song,
> slated
> to be the first single off the new ''Capricornia'' when it is released in
> February,
> drew a sustained roar from the fully involved full house.
> 
> 
> ''It's fun to do that rock thing every now and then,'' said lead singer
> Peter
> Garrett. But there was nothing ''now and then'' about the show; ''that rock
> thing'' rolled almost from start to finish. Only on a stripped-down version
> of ''In the Valley,'' from 1993's ''Earth and Sun and Moon,'' handled by
> Garrett
> on vocals and Moginie on keyboards, did the pulse slacken even a bit.
> 
> 
> Garrett, a fascinating bald behemoth who holds a law degree and is in his
> second
> term as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, was his
> typically
> manic self throughout the performance: vaguely robotic and entirely
> energetic.
> He sweats and spits as he spins his way through a show.
> 
> 
> Equally active, if mostly stationary, was drummer Rob Hirst, who powers the
> band's unrelenting rhythms. But even he was able to move a bit during a
> five-song
> stretch that began with ''Beds Are Burning,'' the anthemic opener to the
> Oil's
> 1988 breakout album, ''Diesel and Dust.'' They brought out a spare standing
> drum kit, and Hirst played as part of a united front, five across.
> 
> 
> Just before ''Beds Are Burning'' was ''Say Your Prayers,'' a song in support
> of the Timorese people, who have been fighting for independence for
> Indonesia
> since 1975 and are to begin their independence in May. It was standard Oil:
> lyrics that are passionate and controversial, wrapped in a tight musical
> package.
> 
> 
> Garrett did not delve much into politics beyond the songs themselves, which
> are drenched with issues of economics and justice, except when he introduced
> ''Blue Sky Mine.'' He let loose on Al Gore for having environmental ideals
> but
> being too gutless to push for them, and then bore in on Prince Charles,
> pausing
> midway only to say, ''I promised I wouldn't talk about politics tonight.''
> But
> without political content, there would be no Midnight Oil.
> 
> 
> The good news for the jaded is that Oil not only is, but will be. Garrett
> said
> after the show that they intend to come back through Boston in the spring.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Powderworks mailing list
> Powderworks@cs.colorado.edu
> http://www.cs.colorado.edu/mailman/listinfo/powderworks