Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Atlanta Set List

jccuneo@bellsouth.net jccuneo@bellsouth.net
Thu, 08 Nov 2001 12:46:19 -0600


Hey all,

I must say, what an incredible time!  After fighting through serious 
Atlanta traffic, I finally got there about 6pm.  There was already a line, 
but I recognized Indi and Jill was already with him.  I must say that both 
were incredibly cool, and am glad to have finally met them.  We had a great 
time.

While we were standing in line Indi spotted the band (except for Pete) 
standing over to the side of the venue waiting for a cab to go eat.  So we 
sauntered on over and talked to the guys for a bit.  Bones was pretty 
surprised when I pulled out the Hunting Party cover, but he was very 
gracious and signed it for me.  I got to talk to Rob along with Jill for a 
minute, and for the second time he tried to speak to me in French. ;-)  I 
asked him to sign the first Ghosties album cover and he signed it with 
"Ghosties 2001" beside it - awesome!  Managed to talk to Jim for a sec with 
Indi, but missed Martin as he got into the cab (I'm not the type to be 
break in like that).

After that we managed to get back in line and get into the venue.  When 
they opened the doors we walked in and grabbed a spot on the stage.  The 
two guys next to us said they were front row for all 3 nights of Mercury 
Lounge in '97 - lucky bastards. ;-)

Will Hoge was better than I expected, and they were very nice when I talked 
to them after the show.  The drummer seems to be very intent on learning 
everything he can from Rob.

The Oils finally came on, what a blast!  Here is the setlist (stolen from 
Jill's email - I added a couple things):

Redneck
Too Much Sunshine
Sell My Soul
Dreamworld
Overpass (on list, not played - Say Your Prayers played here instead)
Beds
One Country
Luritja
Blue Sky
Truganini
Strong/Concrete (this was how it was written on the list...Strong was
played, Concrete was not)
Golden Age
King
Dead Heart
Forgotten Years
Hercules
----
Valley/Mozzie (Valley was played, Mozzie was not)
Power and the Passion
Sometimes

RW provided a driving start to the concert.  Before the concert I was 
joking that I hoped they broke out Lucky Country and One Country.  They 
actually broke out One Country.  Can't begin to tell you how good it 
was.  Definitely the highlight of the show, by far.  The stretch of the 
show with Sell My Soul, Dreamworld, and Say Your Prayers was also incredible.

To be honest, King of the Mountain and Forgotten Years are not my favorite 
album tracks, but live they have jumped way up my list - King of the 
Mountain in particular they really went off on.  They finished the main set 
with Hercules - what more could you ask for?

The encore started with In the Valley with just Pete and Jim on the stage, 
Rob came on at the end for backup singing.  The crowd kept pretty quiet 
during the song, which made the effect of a ballad amongst all the driving 
beats striking.  They then broke out Power and the Passion, in which Rob 
had an incredible solo using the corrugated water tank, amongst other things.

When that was over he smashed half a dozen drumsticks off of his 
set.  Three landed on the stage directly in front of me - just too far for 
me to grab.  Indi gave me a boost and I crawled onto the stage to grab 
them.  I managed to get one but the security guys grabbed me and chucked me 
off before I could grab the other two.  I think I could have gotten them, 
but earlier in the show a drunk guy (named Victor from New Zealand, bad 
boy! ;-)) managed to get on the stage and dance around a bit.  I think the 
security guys were a bit miffed at that and were very strict the rest of 
the show.  Of course I just wanted to crawl that extra two feet, grab the 
sticks, and crawl back off.  Oh well.  I just felt bad I couldn't get one 
for Jill.

The best part of all that was after I got back down it turned out that 
stick wasn't one of the new ones he grabbed from the bin to throw - he 
whaled the crap out of it during P&tP.  Awesome - much, much better than a 
new stick!   They finished off with Sometimes, with another great drum solo 
(if I remember right) from Rob.

Right after the show I spotted some of the ad posters that went with the 
show taped to the inside of the venue.  Turned out they were inside a 
closed restaurant/bar (not sure) that had an entrance from the venue.  Indi 
and Jill bravely slipped into the place and took the posters.  I was the 
lookout. ;-)

After the show we waited a bit for the guys to come out.  Managed to get 
Fuzzface signed by Jim (Jill and Indi couldn't believe I forgot the first 
time around!).  Jim said they had a ton of Fuzzface stuff recorded 
(drool...) so I told him the first four songs were now such a tease because 
they are incredibly good and I hoped he released the rest.  Pete strode out 
looking like he was trying to avoid getting stopped, but a girl managed to 
stop him (I would have let him go).  So I managed to talk to him for a sec 
- very nice and gracious, like the rest of the band.  I got the impression 
they truly felt honored to be able to play for us - some thing I think is 
pretty unusual in that business.  They really are incredibly nice people 
all around.  Once again I missed Martin - both time managing to say hello 
but nothing else.

All in all I got to chat a bit with the band, listened to an incredible 
concert with the bonus of One Country (amazing), got some great autographs, 
and topped it off with a drumstick and a poster.  Not only that but the 
parking garage I parked in closed by the time I left, so it was free! 
;-)  One of those charmed nights that will last for a long, long time to 
come.  Thank you Jill and Indi, you folks helped me have a great time.  I 
hope we meet again in Atlanta next year for this again.

Take care all.

Jacques