Oils Gig Reviews

Mercury Lounge, New York, 7th Dec 1997

I managed to get in without much trouble, for those who have followed my ID struggles. My friend's roommate bears a striking resemblance to me, and so there it went. However, my other friend was not so lucky, and so there were only two of us. It was terrific to see all the other Powderworkers front and center, showing the spirit.

Craig and I were talking about how incredibly surreal it was to be standing in this TINY club a foot from the small stage and knowing that in ten minutes, Midnight fucking Oil was going to be yelling in our faces. And indeed, it was incredibly odd, so odd that, even though I had seen one other show, I wasn't even able to get into the first song (maybe also cause I had never heard it, Haul Away) because I couldn't believe Peter was two feet away.

They, of course, went off. The crowd was great, not much pushing (except the woman next to me (I always seem to get odd people next to me- last year it was the coked up frat boy breathing in my ear)). The Oils draw an odd crowd for a hard loud rocking band- lots of older people there.

I now know why they got Bones as a bassist. He is the only person who can remotely keep up with Pete in the sweating department. In fact, he was ahead for the first few songs. However, Pete quickly caught up, and by midway, his beige pants were see through with sweat, and he was actually wringing out his shirt (Rob went shirtless). I was sweating a great deal, but a lot of the moisture on me was actually Peter's sweat, since every time he moved towards us, he sprayed us.

Some of the songs really went off, including all the new ones. Craig remarked to me that What goes On really is much better live, and I would have to agree. Blot with two drumsticks in each hand is great.

Don't wanna be the one was probably my favorite, although I couldn't keep up as I shouted out the lyrics. Did get out the "Waiting out back while the corporate attacks/ cut off all my options and went running for my life" bit, though.

US Forces, surprisingly, didn't really get me all that pumped, maybe because of the strange guitar flourishes that Martin put on the opening chords as a sort of joke.

Know your Product was fast, furious and a perfect ending.

It was just great to see them all jammed together, in each other's faces, and in ours. The show was incredibly intense, though Rob has to perfect his throwing the sticks of his set into the crowd. Caused a lot of people to climb on stage, and us on the Martin and Bones side to miss out. Ah well.

Funny ending. My friend Sean had never been to an Oils show before. He also didn't really know any of their music, and has laughed at me for the past six years when I've brought up the subject, or he's heard me playing them. He was behind me all night, so I couldn't get a read on what he thought. Know Your Product ended and I turned around. He looked at me with this absolutely stunned look on his face, eyes as big as quarters, and just said "Oh my god, I can't believe what I just saw", as we staggered outside.

Willing Davidson - Powderworker