Legendary Australian rock band and agitators Midnight Oil today announced their first World Tour in over two decades. They also unveiled plans to release three archival box sets including a collection called “The Overflow Tank” which will contain more than 14 hours of previously unreleased and rare material.
“The Great Circle 2017” World Tour will see the group’s classic lineup literally circle around our overheating planet for 6 months, starting and ending with gigs in Sydney. Appropriately for a band forged in their hometown’s sweat-drenched beer barns, the tour will begin in mid-April with an intimate local pub gig (details to be announced closer to the date). Midnight Oil will then perform 30 gigs around the world during the northern summer, playing iconic venues from Sao Paulo’s Espaço das Americas and the Wiltern in L.A. to London’s Hammersmith Apollo and The Olympia in Paris. They will share festival stages with artists like The Arcade Fire, Sting and The Pixies and finally return to New Zealand after 20 years. This long-awaited World Tour will climax with 18 special homecoming concerts through October and November, 2017.
These will be Midnight Oil’s only shows in the last 15 years apart from two stadium benefit concerts (and their related small warmup gigs) in Australia in 2005 and 2009. It will also be the group’s most extensive world tour since their classic late 80’s/early 90’s albums like “Diesel & Dust”, “Blue Sky Mining” and “Earth & Sun & Moon” sold over 10 million copies around the globe.
All dates, venues and ticket information are listed below.
In a unique press conference on Sydney Harbour today the band also announced the impending release of a remastered CD box set called “The Full Tank” featuring all of their existing albums and EP’s plus a mammoth new 4 CD/8 DVD trove called “The Overflow Tank” which will include over 14 hours of previously unreleased and rare material. Both of these box sets will be housed in replica miniature water tanks like the one featured onstage at so many ‘Oils’ gigs. The band also unveiled their first ever complete Vinyl collection which will feature 11 remastered LP’s and two 12” EP’s all cut at Abbey Rd Studios in London. The three box sets will be released around the start of the tour but full tracklistings and pre-orders are available now via www.midnightoil.com.
In keeping with the band’s longstanding commitments, their carbon footprint during “The Great Circle” World Tour will, of course, be fully offset and sustainability initiatives will be undertaken at all shows. Midnight Oil will also continue their collaborations with local and international environmental organizations including Greenpeace, supporting their campaigns on crucial issues like dangerous climate change and the imminent threats to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
At one level “The Great Circle 2017” simply reflects the geographic reality that the tour will loop around the world and circle Australia. At anotherlevel the name clearly implies the planet itself but it has a further meaning too.Sailors, and airmen use “the great circle” to navigate the globe because on a sphere the shortest distance between two points is not usually a straight line. How appropriate for a group who has always been deeply engaged with the world around them but whose career path has never be
SOUTH AMERICA
April 25 — Pepsi on Stage, Porto Alegre
April 27 — Live, Curtiba
April 29 — Espaço das Americas, São Paolo
April 30 — Vivo Rio, Rio De Janeiro
April 2 — NET Live, Brasilia
NORTH AMERICA
May 6 — Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
May 9 — The Filmore, Silver Spring, MD
May 11 — House of Blues, Boston, MA
May 13 — Webster Hall, New York City, NY
May 16 — Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA
May 18 — The Vic, Chicago, IL
May 20 — Danforth Theatre, Toronto, Canada
May 23 — Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO
May 25 — The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
May 27 — Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA
May 29 — Revolution Hall, Portland, OR
May 31 — Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA
June 2 — The Commodore, Vancouver, Canada
EUROPE + UK
June 21 — E-Werk, Cologne, Germany
June 23 — Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland
June 25 — Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, Germany
June 27 — Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark
June 29 — Rockafeller Music Hall, Oslo, Norway
July 1 — Furuviksparken, Gävle, Sweden
July 4 — Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK
July 6 — Olympia, Paris, France
July 7 — Festival de Beauregard, Hérouville-Saint-Claire, France
July 9 — Les Deferlantes Festival, Argeles-sur-Mer, France
July 12 — Volkshaus, Zurich, Switzerland
July 14 — Musilac, Aix Les Bains, France
July 16 — Les Vieilles Charrues, Carhaix, France
July 18 — Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
July 21 — Colours of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
NEW ZEALAND
Sept. 9 — Vector Arena, Auckland, NZ
Sept. 11 — Horncastle Arena, Christchurch, NZ
AUSTRALIA
Oct. 2 — ANZAC Oval, Alice Springs, NT (w/ Dan Sultan & Apakatjah)
Oct. 4 — Darwin Amphitheatre, Darwin, NT (w/ Dan Sultan & Irrunytju Band)
Oct. 7 — Kuranda Amphitheatre, Cairns, QLD (w/ Urthboy)
Oct. 10 — Townsville Ent. Centre, Townsville, QLD (w/ Urthboy)
Oct. 12 — Great Western Hotel, Rockhampton, QLD (w/ Urthboy)
Oct. 14 — Big Pineapple Fields, Sunshine Coast, QLD (w/ The Living End & Jebediah)
Oct. 15 — Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD (w/ The Jezabels)
Oct. 19 — Hockey Fields, Coffs Harbour, NSW (w/ Jebediah & Jack River)
Oct. 21 — Hope Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW (w/ Birds of Tokyo & Ash Grunwald)
Oct. 24 — AIS Arena, Canberra, ACT (w/ Something For Kate)
Oct. 26 — The Village Green Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, SA (w/ Spiderbait & Bad//Dreems)
Oct. 28 — Perth Arena, Perth, WA (w/ Spiderbait)
Oct. 1 — Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart, TAS (w/ The Jezabels)
Oct. 3 — Gateway Lakes, Wodonga, VIC (w/ The Living End)
Oct. 4 — Hanging Rock, Mt Macedon, VIC (w/ John Butler Trio, Something for Kate, Frank Yamma & David Bridie)
Oct. 6 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, VIC (w/ The Jezabels & Adalita)
Oct. 8 — WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong, NSW (w/ Abbe May)
Oct. 11 — The Domain, Sydney, NSW (w/ John Butler Trio & A.B.Original)
Bones Hillman – Bass + Vocals
