Aussie heavyweights MIDNIGHT OIL land in Europe next month for a series of gigs and festival dates.
The shows mark a prompt return for the environmental rockers who broke a 15-year hiatus with their worldwide Big Circle Tour in 2017. At that time, the band played two sold-out shows at London’s Eventim Apollo.
The Sydney band, who enjoyed an international hit with the song ‘Beds Are Burning’ in 1987, first came together in 1972, adopting the name Midnight Oil in 1976. Since then they’ve released eleven studio albums and four live albums, all the while campaigning tirelessly on environmental and other issues. The band called a halt in 2002, when frontman Peter Garrett decided to devote his time to politics, eventually serving as a government minister.
The band have just released a live album and DVD – Armistice Day – recorded in their hometown at the culmination of the Big Circle tour in November 2017.
This year also sees the 40th Anniversary of the band’s breakthrough album Head Injuries, produced by Leszek Karski of Brit band Supercharge, which saw the band play the UK for the first time, which they may or may not be celebrating on the current dates.
“It’s one of those things you can’t believe has happened,” says Garrett. “You can’t believe you’re doing an interview and talking about it. You can’t believe you’re still walking around and making music. So maybe we should celebrate it. That’s a very good idea.”
While the band are playing a lot of dates across the UK and Europe, homeland shows are being kept to a minimum to provide a space for the possible recording of a new album. The only Australian show currently booked is the Big Red Bash festival in Queensland.
“We were going to do some more, there’s a lot of demand for us to play but in some ways we want to finish what we started,” he says. “We’re playing back in London, which we’re looking forward to, and Manchester as well, and some of the European dates are essentially continuing where we were before, and I think we can sort of play around and see what music emerges.
“There’s no reason why bands who create rock can’t do it as well as they did, but a lot of them struggle with it. They rarely make records as good as they did in the early part of their career, and there’s a bunch of different reasons for that, and if we’re going to record, that’s the challenge we’ve got to set ourselves and see whether we can get over the first hurdle or not.”
Kicking off the tour at Manchester’s O2 Apollo, the band play Dublin Olympia and Brixton Academy before heading round Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium. Full dates are…
SUN 9 JUNE O2 Apollo | Manchester, UK
TUE 11 JUNE Olympia | Dublin, Ireland
THU 13 JUNE O2 Brixton Academy | London, UK
SAT 15 JUNE Festi’neuch Openair Festival | Neuchatel, Switzerland
MON 17 JUNE Stadtpark | Hamburg, Germany
WED 19 JUNE Porta Nigra | Trier, Germany
FRI 21 JUNE Zeltfestival | Mannheim, Germany
SAT 22 JUNE Rock the Ring | Hinwil, Switzerland
THU 27 JUNE Grand Rex | Paris, France
SAT 29 JUNE Festival Retro C Trop | Tilloloy, France
MON 1 JULY Tollwood Festival | Munich, Germany
WED 3 JULY Killesberg | Stuttgart, Germany
FRI 5 JULY Rock Zottegem | Zottegem, Belgium
SAT 6 JULY Zitadelle | Mainz, Germany
TUE 9 JULY Les Nuits De Fourviere Festival | Lyon, France
THU 11 JULY Guitare en Scene Festival | Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, France
SAT 13 JULY Amphitheatre | Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Tickets are available here.
Armistice Day: Live At The Domain, Sydney is available on CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and limited edition red vinyl here.