Oils Gig Reviews

WOMAD, 15th July 1994

Midnight Oil was was the last group to go on stage. Frontman Peter Garrett, with a shaved head, demonstrated that he has an immense amount of charisma as they expressed their politically-motivated music passionately. He was constantly on the move and endeared himself to the crowd when he invited a few people on stage to dance along with him during the final song, which was, appropriately enough, Beds are Burning. I thought this was an awesome thing to do and I'm sure the people who were pulled up on stage feel the same way for their brief glimpse of stardom. The Oils were accompanied by didjeridu (it's an instrument which looks like a long pole and you make interesting noises by blowing into it and manipulating two poles, one enclosing the other) player Charlie McMahon, who seemed to have a prosthesis (with a hook) for one hand. It was an interesting blend of music.

Ram Samudrala