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The final shows of the 2019 tour spanned four unique venues.

First up was the Nuits de Fourvière festival which has happened every year since World War II in a 2000 year old Roman Amphitheatre called the Théâtre antique de Fourvière near Lyon in France. As if that wasn’t unique enough, the local tradition is for the audience to throw their cushions when they want to show their appreciation so at the end of “Forgotten Years” the stage was inundated with thousands of little pillows from the stone stairs. This turned out to be both a hindrance and a help as during the encore Peter went ‘a over t’ after dancing over one of them… at least the stage was well padded! This thankfully allowed the following night’s performance at the nearby Guitar-en-scene Festival to still proceed as planned. With able support from Great Circle tour mates John Butler Trio, the Oils pulled a typically contrarian move by including what was surely the only drum solo on this three day celebration of guitars with a memorable “Power And The Passion”.

From there it was on to Gelsenkirchen for the European finale at their scenic amphitheater. It was an apt spot to end a series of gigs that took place in the shadow of climate chaos heatwaves because this site actually was a coal mine for over a century up until 1993, unleashing millions of tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere. Four years later a National Garden Show transformed the abandoned industrial site into a sea of flowers and now a concert venue sits here surrounded by a green park that points the way to a more sustainable future. The Oils brought their own indefatigable energy to this place for one last gig… 24 songs delivered at a breakneck pace ending with “Best Of Both Worlds” and a (cushion-free) audience yelling for more.

From there it was back home. Right back home. Into the Simpson Desert for the world’s most remote music festival, the Big Red Bash. This place made the supposedly ancient venues of Europe seem quite young as the band took to the stage in front of a gigantic sand dune that bestrode the Simpson Desert, a place of stark beauty occupied by Indigenous people for aeons. Those who were there as “The Dead Heart” kicked off proceedings that night will never forget the feeling. A strongly themed set followed, linking back to the Reconciliation Day show in Canberra at the start of this tour with a heavy presence of “Diesel & Dust” classics as well as a cover of “Treaty” (with special guest Busby Marou). It was a timely moment to reflect on that issue given public debate over recent weeks surrounding the need for an Indigenous Voice in Australia. Comments from the stage during the show suggested that the Oils may have lots more to say on this topic over the year ahead.

And so with the chorus of “One Country” still ringing in heads and hearts – and deep red dust still being washed off road cases – the tour drew to a close. Midnight Oil will soon head into the recording studio and those who keep asking about more Australian and New Zealand gigs should rest assured that once new music is ready the band will be taking it to the road as they have done since their earliest days.

As always across the years the last word deserves to go to the mighty Oils road crew who have battled their way around Europe on some blistering days to stage a seamless tour that created nothing but good memories for those onstage and off. They’re pictured here at the end of the tour… they each looked about five years younger at the start of it but their pain has been everyone else’s gain so we thank them for helping making these gigs possible.

Until next time…

After a short break, the Oils resumed their European tour in Paris – the City Of Light. Rob pulled extra duties on the night prior to the gig by conducting a question and answer session for hardcore fans alongside an all too rare screening of the fantastic documentary film  “1984”. That event and the following evening’s show were both conducted in different parts of the famous Grand Rex complex – an art deco picture palace built in the early 1930s by the guy who introduced Charlie Chaplin to France.

Europe’s severe summer heat has been causing all sorts of chaos over recent weeks (www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/france-on-red-alert-as-heatwave-forecast-to-reach-record-45c). So with temperatures around 38 degrees celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), this show was literally a scorcher – particularly for those seated on the top balcony where the roof was dripping condensation by the end of the night. Appropriately enough the band played “Wedding Cake Island” in mid-show presumably because the conditions felt more like a hot January night in Coogee than late June in the 2nd Arrondissement.

France (and Paris in particular) has always felt like a second home for Midnight Oil so both the Grand Rex gig and the following night’s festival in nearby Tilloloy saw particularly fervent crowds and Rob busting out his solid local language skills. The outdoor gig featured two songs getting their first airings this year – “Shakers & Movers” (from Blue Sky Mining) and “Under The Overpass” (from Capricornia). European summer events like this often feature eclectic lineups that are uncommon elsewhere but even by those standards this evening was a particularly entertaining mixed bag. 60’s pop legends The Zombies and French alt-world music combo Les Negress Vertes played before the Oils with rockabilly icons The Stray Cats co-headlining at the end of the night.

From there it was on to Munich – another key city who didn’t get a show in 2017. In fact as far as memories can be trusted the band may not have actually played in the city since 1993 which may explain why they gave the locals such an extended show. After 18 songs in the main set the encore opened with a rare performance of the 10-1 epic “Tin Legs And Tin Mines” and stretched out for four more songs including a spontaneous addition of “Put Down That Weapon” stretching the evening well past the two hour mark to make it probably the longest show of the tour so far.

Another balmy summer evening in a local park followed as the band took the train to Stuttgart. Rail travel has been a behind the scene’s highlight for the band on much of this tour and has worked well apart from one ‘train in vain’ which saw them heading east instead of west for a while before the mistake thankfully got picked up. In addition to these efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, they’re also channelling funds from the tour into a project called FEAT (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/04/theres-no-reason-why-this-couldnt-go-global-australian-music-industry-invests-in-solar-farms). Not that any of that was top of mind for the Stuttgart fans who experienced a punchy show that ranked up there with the strongest on the tour so far.

Zottegem was another ‘all sorts’ lineup and the festival constraints meant the Oils could only barrel through about 15 songs in their allotted time. Mind you the band nearly didn’t make it to the show at all having woken up to discover that the famous Tour De France cycling race was starting virtually in front of their hotel! It actually might have been quicker for them to have donned some lycra and ridden out to the gig rather than driving through all the traffic but thankfully they made it through eventually. Perhaps including “King Of The Mountain” early in the set was a sly nod to those competing for the yellow jersey over coming days.

Back to back shows meant it was on to Mainz for a longer workout. Set within sight of the city’s historic citadel which dates from 1660, for this next stop we now pass the pen to Jim Moginie for a first hand report.