Midnight Oil announces final Australian tour in 2022
Declaring finalities has long been a fraught business in the music industry, yet the iconic Sydney rock band is doing just that in the new year.
Declaring finalities has long been a fraught business in the music industry, yet Midnight Oil is doing just that by plotting its last tour in the new year.
The Sydney rock band announced on Friday that it will undertake one final lap of Australia in support of its 15th album, titled Resist, before ending a touring career that stretches back more than 40 years.
“These will be sad and beautiful gigs but luckily we’re still capable of blowing the roof off any stage and that’s what we intend to do,” said guitarist and songwriter Jim Moginie.
“You could call this a farewell tour, but Midnight Oil will still continue in some form or other as we’re brothers, family,” he said. “We stand as one, dependent on each other and grateful in all the important ways that make great bands great.”
A run of concerts in all eight states and territories will held in both indoor and outdoor venues, beginning at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on February 23 before finishing at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on April 21.
As well, the quintet will perform at Mona Foma festival in Launceston and Hobart in late January, and make a headline appearance at Byron Bay Bluesfest on Good Friday, April 15.
In between, the group will visit Orange, Geelong, Rutherglen and WA’s Swan Valley as part of the A Day on the Green concert series.
Resist is slated for release in mid-February. On tour, the band will intermix songs from that collection – including fiery first single Rising Seas, a climate-related track released last month – with those dating back to its origins in the late 1970s.
“We all know time refuses to stand still for anyone but after many years together the band’s spirit is deep, the music and words are strong, and our ideas and actions as bold as we can make them,” said singer Peter Garrett.
“We’ve reached people in ways we never could have imagined,” he said. “Our desire to create and speak out is undimmed. We hope everyone who hears this album and gets to one of the shows will come away charged up about the planet’s future, saying ‘why stop now?’. Having always tackled every tour like it’s the last – this time it actually will be.”
In 2017, after a long period of inactivity, the band undertook a world tour comprising 77 sold-out shows in 16 countries.
Its success led to a return to the studio in 2019, where the musicians recorded 20 new songs.
Seven of those appeared on The Makarrata Project, a collection of material centred on Indigenous reconciliation that featured First Nations collaborators including Jessica Mauboy, Dan Sultan and Tasman Keith.
That album debuted at No.1 on the ARIA chart in November last year, the same week that longtime bassist and co-vocalist Bones Hillman died, aged 62.
Resist, the upcoming 15th album, will feature the final songs recorded with Hillman.
On the final tour, bassist Adam Ventoura will play Hillman’s parts, just as he did earlier this year on its Makarrata Live tour, which sold about 40,000 tickets across eight outdoor shows.
On Sunday evening, Midnight Oil will perform its single Rising Seas for The Sound, ABC TV’s weekly music program.
While the band members were unavailable for interview ahead of Friday’s announcement, the four co-founders offered written statements.
“A huge thank you to all our fans around the world,” wrote guitarist Martin Rotsey. “We’ve shared so much together from the swelter of Sydney pubs to magical nights under starry skies. Your energy took us further than we could ever have dreamed.”
“To those down the front in the maelstrom, those at the back of the room singing their hearts out, and all of those onstage, backstage, and back home who helped make everything possible, we send our thanks,” he wrote.
The longest statement was provided by drummer, songwriter and co-vocalist Rob Hirst, who reflected on the band’s earliest days.
“If I look back, I see a blur of familiar names and faces: Jim, Pete, Martin, Bear and me, slamming loud prog-pop in a Chatswood garage; Giffo, magnificent, rocking back and forth at his first Royal Antler gig; Bonesy, headphones on, singing, lounging on the deck learning our catalogue,” he wrote.
After name-checking the various administrative staff, road crew and technicians who have long worked behind the scenes for one of Australia’s most enduring and successful bands, Hirst concluded with this.
“I see our wives and trusted friends, and the tiny faces of the ‘Baby Oils’, watching us from side of stage, from Sydney to Sao Paulo to Saskatoon,” he wrote.
“But mostly, blinded by stage lights, I see the first two rows of a thousand gigs: Midnight Oil fans, pumping, jumping, singing louder than the band. But I don’t look back.”
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout