First Gig Recollections
Thanks to Brian Hutter for the date of my first show! Oct. 7, 1988 at the Felt Forum was also my first, and, besides it being an awesome show where we stood not too far from the guys, I also remember that I saw Jackson Browne in the crowd.
Okay, my age. I am 39, will be the big 4-0 in a couple of months. My husband and 2 of his bandmates are 40 and are also major Oils fans. The advantage of the advanced years means we can indoctrinate our children and make them fans! My 9 year old daughter is a fan, and when my son Peter (yes, named after PG as well as my grandfather) was 2 he used to repeat only the word "monarchy" when we played Truganini on the unplugged video.
Nancy G.
Hi,
Now, I know this will sound quite pathetic compared to some ... but my first Oils show was 29 July 1993 at Winnipeg Stadium, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Unfortunately, it was a short set, since there were 5 bands on the bill ... and despite the 35 degree heat, the sunburn, and the fact
that I had to spend innumerable hours on a Greyhound bus to get there, it was worth it. By the way, I've got the set list for this show somewhere ... would it be pointless to post it or not?
Since I used to live in rural Saskatchewan (i.e. the middle of nowhere for all of you not familiar with Canadian geography) until very recently, I consider it not too bad that I've seen the Oils at all. No one ever plays in Saskatchewan ... ah, okay, the Oils did once in 1988. I never made it, I'm sorry to say.
Cheers,
Sharla
Figured this was as good a time (and subject) as any for my inaugural entry on powderworks
Oct, 1988, Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA. For those of you who haven't been there, it's a refurbished opera house, complete with elaborate stage and decor. Perfect setting to begin my life as a MO fan. I was immediately entranced (I, too was only aware of D&D at the time -- read: "who is this new band from Australia?" -- took some time for the Oils to make their presence known to the east coast of the US, but well worth the wait!). Sad to say, I've only seen them twice since, but both were unforgettable -- 1993 on the N. American tour with Hothouse Flowers and Ziggy Marley, as well as 1994 WOMAD (both at Great Woods in Massachusetts). Sorry, this was supposed to be a first show survey, and here I am giving my history of shows, short that it is.
Create a good day,
Bruce
The worst part of it is: only show!!! It was in August of 93 in Charlotte (home of the Panthers!!) and it was part of that same tour with Hothouse Flowers and Ziggy Marley. It was so great that my husband and myself still refer to it as THE CONCERT, despite having seen plenty of bigtime acts. They were fantastic, really into it, despite disgusting heat and humidity and an only 50% sold out venue (there were about 6000 people). However, the crowd was really good.
Marianne
My first Oils show was in the winter of 1979 (August) at the ANU refectory (for 2XX). It was a time when we were spoiled by a lot of bands coming through Canberra (Chisel, Boys Next Door, Skyhooks etc). My roommate talked me into going to Midnight Oil, who I had not heard before.
Three hours later, still drinking the dregs from a watered down ANU refactory beer, I was stunned at what I had just seen, as PG lumbered about the stage in his red headband and Rob Hirst demolished his drum set. By the way, I am 41, and as huge a fan as ever.
Hi all. Love these first show stories, and have been wanting to tell mine for some years now.
My first MO show (out of 3 so far) was in the summer of 90 (don't remember when exactly) on the BSM tour, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley CA - a great place to see a show, although since the neighbors started complaining about the noise they don't have many there anymore. The show must actually have been around the time the noise first became an issue, since both H&C (opening) and PG got in some pretty pointed comments about having to maintain a ridiculously low decibel level (PG: "Is there a limit on how many old-growth redwood trees they can cut down? NO! Is there a limit on how much toxic crap they can dump directly into the ocean? NO! So do we need a limit on the decibels for this show? NOOOOO!!")
The show was astounding. I almost didn't go because I didn't think MO turned me on that much (in spite of absolutely loving TDH from the first time I heard it) but decided the day of the show to take some of my former Greenpeace colleagues up on their offer of a pass, realizing that I would be sorry if I missed the show. How right I was! I didn't know a lot of the material, but loved it all. When they played something from 10-1 (probably Read About It), I remember turning to a friend in delighted shock and gasping, "What the *&%$ just hit us?"
PG was in fine form, stopping the show about three songs in to throw out some aggro moshers - "There, right there, that gentleman in the front - please have him removed, there's a good chap, please don't make a fuss - you think that the light's in my eyes and I can't see you, but I see everything" - and taking many opportunities to vigorously plug the 2nd Redwood Summer, exhorting everyone to go north and join in the activities.
All the songs, whether I recognized them or not, were great - opened with King of the Mountain and encored with What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding (a real trip, because just a year earlier in the same theatre I watched Elvis Costello close his show with the same song, complete with Nick Lowe singing along onstage!) This show also marked the first time I heard Bullroarer, and hope I see them play it again someday so this time I can warble along with Rob and Bones on the na-na's.
No doubt, one of the best shows I've ever seen, eclipsed only by MO at the Fillmore in SF in July of 94 (but that's another story).
Thanks for the opportunity to share this. The list is a great thing, BTW.
-ch.
October, 1985 at the Montreal Spectrum -- my first Oils show and my first date with the woman who is now my significant other.
At the time I was not a big fan, but this concert would certainly change that. My wife and I have not missed a tour since that show. In fact, it is the only group that my wife will even bother to see with me. I had just bought "10-1" a few months before and found out that they would be playing a under 2000 seat venue in downtown Montreal. I was studying at McGill University at the time. I had no expectations and had heard nothing about their live show prowess.
The show began in total darkness with the sound of the opening guitar attack of Read About It. When the drums came in; a big explosion of light revealed a massively tall bald mad man wildly careening all over the stage. It was just one powerful song and performance after the other. Peter even entertained us with something of a circus act during the middle of an instrumental bit (forget what song it was). He had this ball in his mouth which he would spit straight up into the air and catch it again in his mouth. Very impressive.
Paul Bisson
Well, I haven't posted here in a while, so this seemed like a good topic as any. I really got into the Oils while I was in high school, but I didn't pay much attention to concert news, so I unfortunately missed them when they came to Albuquerque, NM in 1988. Five years later, I finally got to see them play in Universal Ampitheater in Hollywood while I was going to college. I got really lucky. Somebody down my hall heard me playing ESM about two weeks or so before the show. KROQ had been advertising heavily, but I didn't have a car so didn't think I was going to go. He asked me if I was goind, but I told him I didn't think so because of my transportation problem. They already had a full carload. Then I got lucky. One of them couldn't go and I ended up with the ticket. The Hothouse Flowers opened and I didn't they were that good. Then I had a little incident with a drunk guy. He thought I was trying to talk to his girlfriend and started yelling at me. Then during the concert, I was getting yelled at by people behind me to sit down. I finally complied at one point, even though that meant sitting through King of the Mountain (one I really would have enjoyed jumping to) Finally, I found a different spot and was able to to some dancing for the rest of the concert. It was enjoyable concert despite the couple of incidences. PG's rant for that night was Ward Valley - a site where most every state was planning to dump nuclear waste. He also went off on GE for a bit.
Another interesting feature was that was the first time I noticed hair on the back of PG's head. A little tail coming off a bald head - it looked pretty funny.
James