WOMADelaide reserves the right to change timetable without notice.
WOMADelaide reserves the right to change timetable without notice.
Midnight Oil are more than just a rock ‘n’ roll band. From the northern beaches of Sydney to the streets of Manhattan, they have stopped traffic, inflamed passions, inspired fans, challenged the concepts of “business as usual” and broken new ground.
Seeing Midnight Oil in full flight is to experience the transcendent, kinetic power of live rock ‘n’ roll. They leave you inspired to live life more passionately and to Get Involved.
Everything about the band is uncompromising, but their greatest achievement is that they are, night after night and album after album, a great rock ‘n’ roll band. For all of the incredible growth, ambition and experimentation that Midnight Oil have evidenced, the sound and the fury and the spirit of their earliest recordings are still there 40 years later, on tracks like “White Skin Black Heart” and “Say Your Prayers”.
Rob Hirst (drums, vocals) and Jim Moginie (guitars, keys & vocals) started making music together at school in 1972. They gradually evolved into Midnight Oil, with singer Peter Garrett joining in 1975 and Martin Rotsey (guitar), coming on board in the following year. Founding bass player, Andrew “Bear” James, was replaced by Peter “Giffo” Gifford from 1980 until 1987 when Bones Hillman joined the band.
Before they took it global, Midnight Oil’s early spiritual home was the Royal Antler Hotel, Narrabeen on Sydney’s northern beaches. It was there that ‘the Oils’ fan base swelled from a handful to a thousand – in a space intended for half that number. Between 1976 and the very early 80’s, these five young men played out this blistering ritual almost 1000 times. At all of these shows the distance and the difference between audience and band was indistinguishable. From their earliest days, Midnight Oil was writing songs about who and what they saw around them.
Their achievements since then are extensive: five #1 albums, 11 ARIA Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame inductees, two Grammy nominations, performing in “Sorry” suits in front of a billion people at the Sydney Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, and Beds Are Burning being included in the U.S. Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll to name a few. The Great Circle World Tour 2017 - their first world tour since 1997 - took in 77 gigs in 16 countries and played to over half a million fans.
2020 saw the band release their first new body of work in nearly 20 years with the mini-album ‘The Makarrata Project’. All songs on the record share a strong focus on Indigenous reconciliation, and each features collaborations with the band’s First Nations friends. The release seeks to elevate public awareness of The Uluru Statement. The first single ‘Gadigal Land’ (feat. Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie) went straight to #1 on the iTunes chart within hours of its release, and the mini-album itself debuted #1 on the ARIA Album Chart, becoming their first studio album to do so since ‘Blue Sky Mining’ over three decades ago. The band has also announced that 2021 will see a new Midnight Oil album.
Sadly on 7 November 2020, Bones Hillman passed away in his home in Milwaukee after a battle with cancer. He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and a brilliant musical comrade. Bones joined Midnight Oil way back in 1987 after stints in various Kiwi bands, most notably, The Swingers. He played and sang on every Midnight Oil recording since Blue Sky Mining and played thousands of gigs as part of the Oils. He will be deeply missed.
Proudly supported by City of Adelaide
Midnight Oil return to WOMADelaide after 24 years and will perform twice at the 2021 event.