Review: Midnight Oil, Sunshine Coast Stadium, April 9, 2022
Midnight Oil are playing their final shows in Queensland, but it would have been foolish to think the activist rockers would go quietly.
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Queensland has given Midnight Oil a lot of fodder for protest in over 40 years of touring, from Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to Pauline Hanson and Campbell Newman.
But on their second-last show ever in the Sunshine State, it was another controversial political figure who incurred frontman Peter Garrett’s wrath – though he wouldn’t dignify him with a mention of his name.
“Queensland can be quite important in an election,” Garrett told the crowd at Sunshine Coast Stadium last night.
“But if you think you can actually change the direction of the country with people who are not fit to hold public office – after stuffing up the Coolum resort, and not paying workers in Townsville, and spraying billboards...
“I mean, you’ve seen fat boy up close, you know what a total wank this is!
“People rattle on on talkback radio about un-Australian, well let me tell you, that big giant heap of nothing is the most un-Australian thing I have ever seen.”
He then dedicated Redneck Wonderland to the mogul.
Garrett, a one-time federal Labor minister, is also not a fan of his old boss Kevin Rudd, another Queenslander, but he seemed more conciliatory toward Rudd’s former treasurer and Nambour State High schoolmate Wayne Swan.
“I don’t know whether my old colleague, former deputy PM and treasurer Swanny the surfer is here, but if you are mate, all TLC from me and the boys on stage.”
The Sunshine Coast gig followed Garrett being laid low by Covid-19, which forced the cancellation of the band’s Cairns show.
“I’ve just done seven days in iso, so needless to say I’m a little frisky!” Garrett said.
“The Sunshine Coast... who could forget the last time we were up the hill in (Big) Pineapple land?
“We were coming up the drag and I thought it was gonna be like that (raining) all over again, but I wasn’t too worried cos I knew everybody would still be here.”
It might be Midnight Oil’s last tour, but we knew this wouldn’t be a “hits and memories” format like with other bands. And they refreshingly frontloaded the setlist with songs from their latest album Resist.
It meant a more subdued start to the show, with title-ish track We Resist accompanied by a history of protest on the big screen, from Indigenous rights to environmental issues and gendered violence.
The album cover’s climate timeline was used as an equaliser for Nobody’s Child as Garrett sang of “beauty, truth and compassion”.
Adam Ventoura manned the bass in place of the late Bones Hillman, whom the band paid tribute to on the big screen after the show.
Garrett enthused about the effects of the subtropical air on the sound, but also appeared to struggle with the humidity at times, stripping down to a T-shirt within the first few songs.
But age has not wearied his interpretative dancing, which remains as energised yet inscrutable as ever.
He was joined at the front of the stage by drummer Rob Hirst for US Forces, and by backing singer Leah Flanagan for First Nation from the band’s Makarrata Project mini-album.
And Hirst broke out his trademark rainwater tank for Power and the Passion, the crowd’s rendition of the chorus earning a 10 out of 10 from Garrett.
Earlier, Garrett had said: “I’m not just saying this, but I reckon you could just about do the singing for the show, seriously.
“Maybe the footy team’s not going so well and it’s an opportunity to sing like our wonderful First Nations colleagues do, they sing good things to happen.”
For the encore, he donned a psychedelic shirt over a Mary River turtle tee.
“People often talk about whether politics is worth it, but I reckon it was worth it for that alone,” he said, referring to his blockage of the Traveston Dam as environment minister.
The band were fittingly supported by fellow veteran activists Goanna, and relative newcomer Jack River, with Garrett encouraging punters to seek out new music rather than being stuck in the past with legacy acts like, say, the Oils!
Setlist:We Resist, Nobody’s Child, The Barka-Darling River, Redneck Wonderland, Don’t Wanna Be the One, Dreamworld, King of the Mountain, US Forces, Reef, Short Memory, Rising Seas, Only the Strong, The Dead Heart, First Nation (with Leah Flanagan), Blue Sky Mine, Power and the Passion, Beds Are Burning, Forgotten Years. Encore:If Ned Kelly Was King (partial), Put Down That Weapon, Best of Both Worlds, Hercules.
Midnight Oil farewell Brisbane at the Riverstage on Wednesday and Byron Bay at Bluesfest on Friday
Originally published as Review: Midnight Oil, Sunshine Coast Stadium, April 9, 2022
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