MIDNIGHT OIL: A PERFECT SEND-OFF AT THE HORDERN
One of Australia’s most iconic bands and blistering live acts, Midnight Oil, wrapped up their final ever tour with a show for the ages at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on October 3.
The Monday night show, played under the banner of ‘One For The Road’ was designed to be a salute to Midnight Oil’s long and successful career with every album and EP to be represented in some way. The band started just after an early 7pm slot and they weren’t done with until close to 11pm as they pulled out a ripping set of 40 songs including three encores.
Anyone who attended this show left the venue with memories they will surely never forget. The Oils delved deep into their extensive catalogue ranging from their self-titled debut album from 1978 – to their most recent release ‘Resist’ which came out earlier this year.
Peter Garrett may have turned 70 this year but an argument can be made that his voice hasn’t sounded better, it’s extraordinary how well it still sounded by the end of the long night.
Rob Hirst has never stopped bashing the drums with such aggression and ferocity. At the Hordern, it was no different, even if he was showing signs of exhaustion later on – he kept pushing right ‘til the end as he always does.
Jim and Martin’s guitar-playing combination has always been magical and their telepathic connection was on show once again. Martin’s tenacity and full-throttle methods with the guitar have remained and if anything they’re stronger now than what they used to be. Jim’s song-writing has been key for the Oils over their career and some of those legendary songs he’s helped pen were on display once again.
The gig kicked off with the popular ‘Lucky Country’ before continuing in an opening 16-song spell featuring a mixture of songs that aren’t performed often with a few that have been on rotation on the 2022 tour. ‘Used and Abused,’ ‘Surfing with a Spoon,’ ‘Cold Cold Change,’ and ‘If Ned Kelly Was King’ were just a few of the older tracks that punters were pleased to hear. The biggest shock was the inclusion of 1980’s ‘I’m the Cure’ as the third song of the night with the band having not played the track since the mid-1980s.
Onto the cocktail kit section of the night where singalongs were encouraged during the likes of staples US Forces and Kosciusko. Some rarer live tracks were thrown in across the rest of the night with ‘Drop in the Ocean,’ ‘Now or Neverland’ and ‘Progress’ returning to the fold, making some brilliant additions to a powerful setlist.
The hits continued and grew in stature as the show went on with ‘Beds are Burning’ and ‘Read About It’ helping close out the main set. Old classics ‘No Time for Games’ and ‘Don’t Wanna Be The One’ forced their way into the first encore and there was still room for some of the band’s biggest singles in their history. The second encore featured favourites ‘The Dead Heart’ and ‘Power and the Passion’ and finished with a gorgeous rendition of ‘One Country’ where vocalist Peter Garrett was visibly showing emotion as he fittingly changed the last lyric from “yes and one time” to “yes, the last time.”
A rousing version of Forgotten Years closed the show alone in a third encore as many in the crowd, this writer included, were wiping away tears at the end – wondering how lucky we are to have witnessed what we just had.
After a 15-year hiatus when Peter Garrett moved into politics, the band returned to touring in 2017 before heading into the studio again to release The Makarrata Project (2020) and Resist (2022). The last two years they’ve had to play shows without their beloved bass player Bones Hillman who succumbed to a cancer battle in late 2020, but not before he could play his part on Midnight Oil’s final releases.
Adam Ventoura stepped up and at the Hordern show he admitted he’d learned 94 songs over the course of the last two years for Midnight Oil’s Makarrata and Resist tours. Adam’s aggressive and powerful bass-playing suited the live music juggernaut that is Midnight Oil, and the crowd while devastatingly missing Bones, grew to love the man who stepped in as well. Leah Flanagan and Liz Stringer became staples of Midnight Oil’s live performances, as the hole needed to be filled where Hillman’s glorious harmonies used to soar. Both Flanagan and Stringer were brilliant as they added extra depth to the vocal range of Midnight Oil’s music.
It was an emotional night to remember for all involved. Midnight Oil hasn’t declared it as the end of them as a band with possibility of more music-making still on the cards. However if this was it, if this was how they bow out completely as a band – there wouldn’t be much of a better way to do so.