Midnight Oil’s coral-to-arms: legendary band announce reef benefit show

True to the promise they made earlier in the year when they announced the Great Circle 2017 World Tour, Midnight Oil will do an intimate benefit for the Great Barrier Reef.

The Oils At The Reef show, announced this morning, takes place on Friday October 6 at Tanks Art Centre in Cairns.

It will be recorded and filmed for later broadcast by tour partners Triple M and Foxtel’s MAX as part of radio and TV specials that will draw focus to the plight of the Barrier Reef.

All proceeds from the show go to a non-partisan scientific research organisation called Great Barrier Reef Legacy.

“The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s most beautiful and intricate ecosystems,” said Oils drummer Rob Hirst.

“It’s also a magnet for tourists, and a major contributor to the local economy so the fact that it’s under threat from climate change and unsustainable development should concern all Australians.

“We believe we should support the work of scientists and listen to them when it comes to what we should do to protect this precious environment.”

“Midnight Oil have always used our music to talk about things we believe are important,” frontman Peter Garrett said.

“We believe the future of the Great Barrier Reef is clearly on the line. We’re at the eleventh hour for our most important natural asset.

“As the largest living organism in our world the reef is a treasure of extraordinary beauty itself but it’s also a symbol of greater questions we all have to answer.

“Some parts of the Reef are already being killed off by catastrophic climate change and other parts would be damaged by bad federal government policy that prioritises short term corporate profit above all else.

“So we’re looking forward to getting together with our friends in Cairns and all doing our bit to share some information, provoke more conversation and make change while there’s still time.”

A very limited number of tickets will go on sale via the websiteat 10am this Wednesday September 27 and are limited to strictly two per buyer.

For 40 years, various Federal and State governments have acknowledgedthat the near-3000 reefs needed protection. It was declared a Marine Park in 1975 and a world heritage site in 1981.

But environmentalists have expressed concern that the governmenthas allowed trawling, mining and pipelines in some previously protected areas.

Also of concern is that Indian company Adani’s $16.5 billion Carmichael coal projects in Queensland’s Galilee Basin will affect the Reef through its carbon impact and potential damage from increased shipping traffic.

Pre-construction works are set to start in the September quarter of 2017.

To date, 19 banks have refused to finance the operation, some due to their own climate change policies.

Midnight Oil have long sung about environmental issues, andrecently released two collectors box sets housed in recycled steel tanks.

Oils At The Reef is the latest live statement made by the Oils on their world tour.

In Brazil they did a guerrilla set aboard the famous Rainbow Warrior flagship to draw focus to the issue of mining on reefs at the mouth of the Amazon River.

They also played environmentally oriented events like Switzerland’s Paleo Festival and the Ostrava Festival in the Czech Republic.

In Canada they swung their support behind Greenpeace, which is currently fighting a huge legal battle that threatens its survival in that country.

The Great Circle 2017 World Tour saw the Oils spend the last six months playing over 50 gigs in 16 countries across six continents.

They have played nearly 100 different songs, including at least half a dozen that they have never performed onstage before.

The Australian leg begins in Alice Springs on October 2 at ANZAC Oval and winds up 22 shows later at The Domain in Sydney on November 17.