Oils Gig Reviews

Well here I sit, bruised and battered, but thoroughly overjoyed. Saturday was one of the best concerts I have been to in ages, and the Oils were in top form.

Got into the Victory Hotel around 1pm where I met up with Stephen Cooke and Yukky for the first time, great to have faces to put with the names, and really nice blokes too. We discussed all sorts of Oils stuff, especially where Krusty Fries gets her info. C'mon, tell us! Where? Where!? I saw the end of Weave as I arrived and I know why they were first on, nothing sensational.
The Toothfearies were next and were actually very good, really enjoyed their stuff. May look to invest soon.
Lewd had a lead singer who was some sort of hybrid between Jim Morrison and Michael Hutchence, rather dull, the loudest cheer was when they announced their last song.
Grinspoon pulled in the 14 year olds and were quite good, though not exceptional, songs about Dead Cats don't do much for me I'm sorry.
We went down the front for Magic Dirt who were good at times, but yelled "shut the f%#k up" at my friends and I when we started singing The Beatles' "All My Loving" during one of the many long breaks between songs. I've heard good things about Magic Dirt, so I think we may have got an off night, not bad though.
Skunkhour were great, their percussionist blowing fireballs jumping around and stuff, very cool. There was a short set in the middle with only the bass player and the percussionists. Really groovy.

Then the Oils came out to a huge crowd on the hillside, opening with Cold, Cold Change(quite appropriate for a Spring Festival,When the weathers' warmer...) the Back on the Borderline, King of the Mountain and Truganini. All these songs were great, they seemed to take a little time to get int the gig. The guitars were a bit scrathy at times. They continued on and Jim was jumping around like I haven't seen him do in a long time. Bones' new bass guitar was very pretty, all golden, very nice. Martin was as good as ever, using his half of the stage with enthusiasm. He really seemed to enjoy the new songs. Strobe lights in the huge drum fills were also great.

The new songs were great, very rock'n'ola' roll. I think it was Cemetry, Pete was rambling on about the Doctor saying something to an old guy or something in the lyrics. The rest of the songs were really good, looking forward to the new stuff.

Rob's kit had changed again. Since the Breathe tour last year, his kit has changed heaps, must be trying to experiment with new sounds and stuff. He had no cowbell(No Read About It! :(} a new snare out to his left where his ice bell is, and speed hi-hats out to the right near the ride cymbal. Seemed to b in good form, as always. Don't like Rob's new hair do much though. Jim looks a little better now that his let his grow a bit.

There were about four or five new songs, White Skin/ Black Heart was quite good, a bit grungier live. Looks like the Ghostwriters shows have left a mark on Rob, he had stand up drums at the front of stage during Dead Heart, they played the old version again, the new version from last year seems to have been abandoned. Really cool to see the five standing in a row across the front.

Other highlights of the evening(they played songs from every album except the Blue Meanie and Bird Noises)Not in order!
U.S. Forces.
Only the Strong(Sensational)
Blue Sky Mine.
Forgotten Years(as usual, brilliant)
Generals(Really good)
Don't wanna be the one.
Beds
Dreamworld
Sometimes
Dead Heart
Surf's Up Tonight
Sins of Ommission
Finished with Hercules, the best version of that I've heard in a long time.

I'm sure they played more than this but my memory isn't working. I was surprised they didn't play Underwater, but it was great to hear so many old songs that rarely get an airing. It was such a good ending I completely forgot about setlists and other souveniers.

The mate who gave me the drumstick for my birthday caught another one. Bastard, two shows, two sticks, me, 11 shows, no sticks.
Well, I can't think of anything else to tell you, by the way, Pete's "What's your Excuse" shirt is an Atlanta Paralympics shirt. On the back it reads, "There are no useless bodies, only useless hearts."

Overall Gig Rating: 126 out of 10.
Great show, see yas soon.

Kev Yates - Powderworker