After a very long wait Midnight Oil finally made their way back to Adelaide to play a huge outdoor show at the back of Adelaide Oval and it more than met the high expectations of their ecstatic older fan base.
It was great to see Bad Dreems play to a huge older audience, given their style which strongly references the 80s working class Australian music and culture. Launched into album title track, Gutfull but this crowd would have loved the riff and chorus to Hiding to Nothing. Then they played another sweet sounding anthem in Only Friend. The open air live sound was great allowing the amps to crank out.
Spiderbait definitely sound like the 90s – a bit rough around the edges with the obligatory nod to grunge and hard rock. Kram is the best thing about the band with his casual carefree personality, sheer enthusiasm and expressive drumming. I swear Kram has listened to the B52s a lot with a definitive southern twang to much of his vocals. The band’s performance grew from somewhat mediocre to reasonably strong towards the end, but expectations for live performances and arrangements have changed since the turn of the century.
Midnight Oil after all these remain simply electric and one of the big live acts in Australua without any doubt. The big arena type show in the Village area behind Adelaide Oval was an ideal setting and the big lighting show was spectacular. Peter Garrett’s famously wild gesticulations were on show for all to see, but his stage coverage, at his age, was mesmerising. The sound could not be faulted at all, with clear pristine acoustic guitars, sharp guitar effects and huge drums and electronic drum pads allowing Rob Hirst’s first rate rhythms set the tone for the rest of the band to fall in line.
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