Premieres on MAX Thursday, August 28 at 10pm
Almost 25 years ago, legendary Australian rockers Midnight Oil staged a guerrilla gig on a flat-top truck parked in the shadow of Exxon Oil’s skyscraper headquarters in New York City.
They launched into a searing six-song set to address the environmental catastrophe after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil on the pristine Alaskan coastline. The set featured live performances of “Progress” (from the 1986 EP Species Deceases), “Sometimes” and “Dreamworld” (from 1987 album Diesel And Dust), “Blue Sky Mine” and “River Runs Red” (from 1990 album Blue Sky Mining), the apropos tribute to John Lennon, “Instant Karma” and the video clip for Midnight Oil’s “King Of The Mountain” (also from the Blue Sky Mining album).
For the first time ever on Australian television, MAX presents the 1990 concert in its entirety, in a one hour special Midnight Oil’s Black Rain Falls with an introduction from MAX presenter Chit Chat.
The program also includes exclusive commentary from the band plus never-before-seen interviews with drummer Rob Hirst and charismatic vocalist Peter Garrett – who has a long history in politics and environmental activism.
The concert was successful in making a point to the world about caring for our environment and potential damage caused by the oil industry to natural landscapes. Midnight Oil played to thousands of New Yorkers rocking out in the streets of Manhattan, many of whom cut up their Exxon fuel cards in protest about the environmental catastrophe. The video documentary from the concert was sold with all profits going to Greenpeace.
Midnight Oil’s Black Rain Falls premieres Thursday, August 28 at 10pm exclusively on MAX following a special encore screening of The Artist’s Story: Midnight Oil at 9pm.
