Having witnessed the Oils in their heyday back in the early 80s at various sweaty pubs and clubs, it was with great trepidation that I ventured down to Munro Martin Parklands to see if the band still had the goods.

After the fairly laid back Busby Marou warmed the crowd up, the tension built while the bands changed over. Midnight Oil exploded onto the stage starting the set with tracks mainly from their latest album “Resist” The new material is strong by any standards, but was overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of their extensive back catalogue.

As soon as guitarist Martin Rotsey banged out the 12 string acoustic chords to ‘U.S Forces’, the band had the audience in the palm of their hands. Rotsey’s “Surf guitar on steroids” guitar work has lost nothing over the years and the sounds he pulled out of that little Fender Tweed amp hidden at the back were amazing. Likewise with his band mate Jim Moginie, who was getting some awesome fuzz pedal about to explode sounds and dubby echo delay effects.

When frontman Peter Garrett, (whose voice was in fine form) launched into ‘Only the Strong’ off their classic 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 album I got a glimpse of the early 80’s Garrett we all know and love, he seemed to garner inspiration from the energy of the song and the audience picked up on it. We all have our favourite Midnight Oil period, and there are at least a dozen radio hits the band left out of the setlist tonight, which is a testament to the body of work the band have built up. Personally I would have liked to hear some ‘Head Injuries’ or ‘Bird Noises’ era Oils.

The venue was well suited to the band. Being my first time at Munro Martin Parklands, I was impressed at the layout and facilities, the sound was pretty good too, despite being a little bass heavy.

The new material from the oils was great, but ultimately will be considered a footnote at the end of their long and illustrious career. Have they still got the goods?

Hell Yeah!

© Copyright 2024 | NQ Music Press