Midnight Oil @ RAC Arena
w/ Goanna, Stephen Pigram
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Peter Garrett may be getting older, but his dancing never gets old; and neither do the songs of Midnight Oil, or their power and passion.
Unfairly pegged as Aussie pub rock historically, due to their era and popularity, what the Oils really specialise in is discomforting activism and discordant post-punk. Like former Joy Division contemporary Ian Curtis, Garrett’s jagged, unique movements are off-kilter and unusual, but just try and take your eyes away.
Stephen Pigram of Pigram Brothers had the honour of opening and early arrivals were treated to a moving start to the night. “Last time I was in this area was around 1987, and there was another building sitting here,” he said, referring to the old Perth Entertainment Centre (given the age demographic of the crowd on Sunday, many would remember it well).
Amongst his popular Mad Bastards-related fare like Crocodile River (featuring Ben Cousins’ inspired hook, “Such is life”), there was room for more tender moments allowing sideman Lucky Oceans’ lap and pedal steel guitars to shine ethereally. Flanked by his grandson on the other side adding lead guitar and sweet backing vocals, Pigram finished on lyrical highlight Johnny Walker’s Shoes, memorably singing “I bet your weekly wage could pay my ransom” to a room full of boomers who, frankly, looked the part.
Fresh from the AFL grand final the day before, Goanna up next were also a treat. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of legendary 1982 protest album Spirit of Place, they came out swinging with their second biggest hit, Razor’s Edge. Marcia Howard’s voice shone spectacularly on Song for East Timor, while Rose Bygrave was similarly powerful on activist anthem, Stand Yr’ Ground.
Shane Howard’s tour de force Solid Rock is still as potent as ever – and its regular airplay suggests at 40-years old it’ll never be out of time. But Children of the Southern Land was the unexpected, barnstorming highlight, its closing hook reminding us that, long before the Oils sang “It belongs to them, we’ve got to give it back” on Beds Are Burning, there was another bunch of Aussie activists singing “give it back.”
Midnight Oil have long been famed for their live shows, and in what has been billed as their final ever Perth performance, we got a reminder of why. Perhaps lacking the perfect setlist of their last visit here in 2017, it was nonetheless a chance to witness songs from new album Resist in the live setting, and they opened with that record’s title–and best-track, We Resist, first up. Back on the Borderline and Don’t Wanna Be the One soon raised the energy levels, and as well as introducing us to Perth’s own WAAPA graduate Adam Ventoura on bass, Garrett acknowledged the loss of great mate and former bassist Bones Hillman, who passed in 2020.
Put Down that Weapon was a chance for Garrett to reveal his “I Stand With Ukraine” t-shirt, and do his first politicising for the night. Leaving the Labor Party has only allowed him to speak his mind more freely, and he was in fine form, railing on the monarchy in a spirited take down of King Charles, tearing QANTAS boss Alan Joyce a new one for putting profits ahead of workers, and most memorably, giving WA audiences a piece of his mind when it comes to Woodside and their infamous disregard for the environment. “Whether you want to hear this or not in the corporate boxes…” Garrett began to cheers from the crowd. From there, he launched into a passionate speech and video montage set to wild instrumental Eye Contact, in a moment no one in attendance will forget soon. Polarising, divisive and using their platform as they saw fit, this was activist Oils at their best, as powerful imagery urged us to choose “Whales not Woodside.”
Now clad in a Woodside = Climate Wreckers t-shirt, Garrett busted out some high energy shapes during a huge trio of rockers to follow. Only the Strong and Redneck Wonderland were only upstaged by horn-laden Best of Both Worlds, in one of the night’s most memorable moments.
Famed for saving the best till last, the five songs leading to the encore were nothing short of spectacular. The Dead Heart utilised spectacular visuals of Uluru under shooting stars and the Milky Way, before Blue Sky Mining had Garrett belting out harmonica from the drum riser, and found the crowd in fine voice. That continued into The Power and the Passion, featuring drummer Rob Hirst embarking on his customary drum solo hitting up the corrugated iron silo next to him, in a further nod to their raucous industrial and post-punk roots. They were on a roll and there was no stopping between songs; Beds Are Burning came next, and was arguably track of the night, as it is arguably the greatest ever Australian anthem.
“We’re serious about what we say,” Garrett said to close the main set – as if we needed a reminder. “Make a change and make it happen.” With that they burst into Forgotten Years, then left us cheering for more.
The three song encore frankly could’ve done with an extra 30 minutes, and the list of M.I.A. favourites was large (notably headlined by Short Memory). But they gave us recent single Rising Sea complete with a stunning visual show, and a technically plagued King of the Mountain was still a huge singalong moment. The eventual finale left us ecstatic: Hercules‘ soaring coda “This is something I will remember!” was performed with a sense of victory and a hint of sadness, in an emotional send off for one of Australia’s greatest ever bands.
HARVEY RAE
Photos by Linda Dunjey
