Oils Gig Reviews
Mercury Lounge, New York, 6th, 7th, 8th Dec 1997
Politics as Usual With a Snappy Beat
For rock bands that survive beyond a decade, youthful rebellion usually gives way to introspection and cynicism and sometimes, as musicians settle down and tune into the news, to social and political concerns. The Australian band Midnight Oil skipped the intermediate stages. After its youthful bravado in the late 1970's, it turned to political issues and never let go.Since the early 1980's, Midnight Oil has been wrapping agitprop lyrics in lean, adamant, sometimes eccentric music. Midnight Oil has never concealed its messages, which mingle guilt over white privilege with warnings about environmental destruction. Didactic but tuneful, Midnight Oil is one of the only rock bands whose lyrics include words like "policy," "monarchy" and "plutonium."
To mark the release of its greatest hits album, "20,000 Watt RSL" (Columbia), Midnight Oil played a three-night stand at the Mercury Lounge that ended on Sunday night. It was an unusual engagement; the band hasn't been on the club circuit since the 1980's, when it became a best-selling band in Australia and then worldwide. It had an international hit in 1987 with "Beds are Burning," which insisted that whites should give Australia back to the Aborigines. The technocratic and disaffected 90's have not been as kind to Midnight Oil, but not for lack of trying; "Surf's Up Tonight," from 1996, worries about global warming.
To put across its views, Midnight Oil has walked a tricky line. It ignores the paradoxes of recording for a multinational corporation, Sony; it leavens its earnestness with the seductions of pop. Often, Midnight Oil's songs move from a choppy, minor-key verse to a major-key chorus, moving from agitation to anthem. But the band breaks away from formulas, inserting unexpected interludes or sudden changes into songs. Through the years, Midnight Rock has incorporated snappy new air-wave rock, floating folk-rock guitar lines, hard-rock power chords, reggae rhythms and even a touch of hip-hop; it's a taut, skillful band that never lets words upstage the music.
Most rock audiences don't like to be lectured, and Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil's lead singer, tries not to be too pedantic; tall and shaven-headed, he strikes odd angular poses as he sings. Between songs on Sunday night, he stared talking about free trade (he's against it for a small country like Australia) but quickly stopped himself. Gauging the size of the room, he underplayed the songs, humanizing his dour voice but insisting, like every tenacious activist, that he wouldn't give up.
Review from the New York Times