Aussie rockers Midnight Oil today were forced to deny reunion rumours that began to swell around the forthcoming Live Earth concert, which will call for global action on climate change in June.
Earlier today, Triple M‘s admittedly hit-and-miss music reporter Nui Te Koha sparked the rumour flame by saying the Oils might be getting back together to perform at Sydney’s Live Earth concert on 18th June.
“For Live Earth in June… It certainly feels like the Oils are ramping up… Peter Garrett was at the Beat The Drum concert in Sydney about a week ago,” he told Triple M. “[There are] definitely plans, definitely talk for some sort of Midnight Oil action this year.”
However, Midnight Oil HQ were quick to quell speculation, later telling TheMusic.com.au that, “there’s no basis to any of this story” adding, “It appears to have come from Nui Te Koha.”
Midnight Oil were renowned for their environmentalism and focus on social equality during their recording career, which saw the band record 11 studio albums. The latest, Capricornia, was released in 2002.
The group momentarily reformed for WaveAid in 2005, and later performed two headline shows in Canberra in 2009, before performing at Sound Relief in Melbourne to help raise funds for victims of Victorian bushfires.
Garrett renewed his focus on politics following the Oils’ breakup, becoming the Labor member for the seat of Kingsford Smith, New South Wales, between October 2004 to August 2013. Now that Garrett is out of the political game, however, his musical and environmental activist tendencies might have the time and space to rise once more.
In June 2014, Oils drummer Rob Hirst said he was “excited and terrified” at the idea of another comeback. In July, Hirst said “never say never” to the Music Feeds Podcast when he was asked about reunion rumours.
Hirst was this week announced to appear at a Mercy Campaign concert in support of Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Watch: Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning – Sound Relief 2009
