Roy Jurgens on May 27th, 2017

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Midnight Oil brought their sold-out North American Great Circle tour to the Wiltern on Thursday and took no prisoners. The Oils tore through a two-hour, 23-song show that not only highlighted their vast 11-album catalog but also featured their ever-present staunch social activism.

Opening with the crunching “Redneck Wonderland,” the band lit the fuse for a night that was both explosive and nostalgic. After the anti-Rupurt Murdoch dictum “Read About It,” much of the first half of the show was dedicated to deeper cuts, with “Put Down That Weapon” punctuated by one minute of silence for the victims of the Manchester bombing, during which, amazingly, the rowdy L.A. crowd actually fell silent.

||| Photos by Todd Nakamine

Sixty-four-years old, 6-foot-7 and beautifully bald, frontman Peter Garrett kept the political soapboxing short and charmingly bitter, complimenting California on the state’s vehement opposition to the dogma pursued by the current commander-in-chief. The best acts always sound like where they come from. The Oils are Australia humanized and epitomized, their sound resonating the vast red earth, open sky, tropical forests, crashing surf, deadly fauna, sordid history and maddening righteousness. The band, all in their 60s (or pushing that age) carry on with a workmanlike pride usually reserved for tradesmen. They are a tight engine of well greased gears that enable Garrett to whirl around in his trademark awkward war dance, part dervish, part politico and part shaman. 

After stirring renditions of “Truganini’ (about the sole surviving Tasmanian Aborigine) and “My Country Right or Wrong,” the band moved to the forefront with drummer Rob Hirst taking center stage and sharing lead vocal duties with Garrett on “In the Valley,” augmented by Martin Rotsey and Jim Moginie on jangling twin 12-string guitars, and Bones Hillman on bass. The band continued in the semi-acoustic realm, backed by touring member Jeremy Smith of the late, great Hunters & Collectors on horns, keys and percussion. The fiery “Kosciusko” from 1984’s “Red Sails in the Sunset,” returned Hirst to the drum throne and the band was back to roaring. But it was the five-song combination punch that the closed the opening set that caused the audience to reel into fits of ecstasy. Starting with the anthemic “King of the Mountain,” they moved into “The Dead Heart,” which featured a heavy dose of audience participation, then their massive worldwide hit “Beds Are Burning,” followed by the fierce double wallop of “Blue Sky Mining” and “Dreamworld.” Two encores ended with Hirst pounding out a percussive “Power and the Passion,” leaving the audience bellowing for even more.