Australian rock band Midnight Oil have announced their first world tour in over 15 years, and their biggest world tour since the late 80s and early 90s, which will open with a pub gig in Sydney.
That the five-piece band, which disbanded in 2002, would tour this year was announced in May 2016, but details were scant on their website. Midnight Oil disbanded in 2002, but have played several one-off shows since 2009.
The tour will begin in April with a pub gig in Sydney, before heading to Brazil, the United States, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. It will then loop around Australia in October and November, closing at Sydney’s The Domain on 11 November.
The full tour was announced at a press event on a rocky boat anchored on Sydney Harbour, preceded by a lengthy acknowledgement of country on Gadigal land. Select members of the press were joined by the lead singer, Peter Garrett – who retired from politics in 2013 – as well as guitarist, keyboardist and songwriter Jim Moginie, guitarist Martin Rotsey, bassist Bones Hillman and drummer Rob Hirst.
The band also announced the release of three box sets: a complete vinyl collection, the Full Tank CD collection (including all their existing albums and EPS), and the Overflow Tank, which will include 14 hours of unreleased and rare material across four CDs and 8 DVDs.
Both the Full Tank and the Overflow Tank will be housed in a miniature water tank, a replica of the tank that became part of Hirst’s drum kit after the band picked it up in the Western Desert while on tour in the 1980s.
