Midnight Oil at Webster Hall
photo by Dana Distortion

Midnight Oil played 2 nights at Webster Hall w/ Boytoy (setlists, night 1 pics)

Peter Garrett, the indefatigable frontman of Midnight Oil, may be 64 but you’d never guess it. He barely stopped moving Sunday night at Webster Hall, spinning like a whirling dervish and still dancing in his distinctive herky-jerky style. (A friend affectionately remarked last night “He’s the Elaine Benes of Alternative Rock.”) Really, that goes for the whole band who played with an energy and conviction that seemed indistinguishable from the last time I saw them (mid-’90s). Apart from a stripped down, semi-acoustic portion of their set where drummer Rob Hirst came to the front of the stage to play a mini-version of his kit, Midnight Oil brought the power and the passion, full force, as if they hadn’t been gone for the last 15 years. A fantastic show.

Setlists for Midnight Oil’s two Webster Hall shows were almost entirely different, apart from the closing hitfest of “The Dead Heart,” “Blue Sky Mine,” “Beds are Burning” and Dreamworld,” and Garrett noted there were not only people who had come to both, but who had traveled far to come to the shows. A man who has always put his money where his mouth is (he had retired from music to go into politics in 2002), Garrett was not shy about voicing his opinion on the state of things, usually with good humor, noting how their songs are still relevant even if the specific details have changed. He dedicated “Beds Are Burning” to those fighting the Dakota Pipeline. It’s good to have them back.

You can check out pictures from the first of Midnight Oil’s two shows at Webster Hall with Boytoy in the gallery above, and setlists for both Saturday and Sunday are below. The band’s tour will be back in NYC to play Terminal 5 on August 21 (tickets).

SETLIST: Midnight Oil @ Webster Hall 5/13/2017
Sometimes
Bullroarer
Don’t Wanna Be the One
Bedlam Bridge
Stars of Warburton
Somebody’s Trying to Tell Me Something
Now or Never Land
My Country
When the Generals Talk
Ships of Freedom
Luritja Way
Arctic World
Warakurna
Power and the Passion
The Dead Heart
Blue Sky Mine
Beds Are Burning
Dreamworld

Encore:
Instant Karma! (John Lennon cover)
Sell My Soul
Forgotten Years

Encore 2:
Best of Both Worlds

SETLIST: Midnight Oil @ Webster Hall 5/14/2017
Progress
Redneck Wonderland
Tone Poem
Truganini
No Time for Games
Shakers and Movers
Only the Strong
River Runs Red
Read About It
My Country
US Forces
Kosciusko
Put Down That Weapon
King of the Mountain
The Dead Heart
Beds Are Burning
Blue Sky Mine
Dreamworld

Encore:
Whoah
Say Your Prayers
Forgotten Years
Encore 2:
Hercules

photos by Dana Distortion