Midnight Oil, Matthew Good and The Living End at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage

On a beautiful Friday summer night, Toronto showed up big time for another 2017 performance by Midnight Oil. Having just performed in May of this year it was a treat that Midnight Oil returned to play for us so soon. The band brought along fellow Aussie band The Living End to get things started and Canadian Matthew Good played the middle slot of the bill. It was an action packed, energy laden night with a few welcome political messages thrown in for good measure.

The Living End are an Australian punk rock/rockabilly band who've been playing shows together since 1994. Friday night's line up, which included lead singer Chris Cheney on vocals and guitar, Andy Strachan on drums and Scott Owen on double bass have been bandmates since 2002.

They come with 27 Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards nominations and they've won 5 awards including Highest Selling Single, Breakthrough Artist - Album and Best Group, and for Best Rock Album, twice. Let that sink in. They put on a fun, energetic, tight set and they told us that it was a dream come true, touring with Midnight Oil.

They've got a brand new album out called Shift and if punk/rockabilly is your thing, we highly recommend you give this Aussie band a listen, we promise you won't regret it.

After The Living Dead finished up their set, we got a welcome injection of one of our favourite Canadian acts, Matthew Good. Matt unceremoniously made his way to the stage, opening up his set with Giant and he had the crowd from the first note. He was charming, engaged and full of energy. He smiled and joked between songs about sunglasses and Spinal Tap thumbs down references. It was Matt Good at his absolute best and when he started Apparitions, we weren't the only fans with tears in our eyes, and we were all happy to sing along at the end. I'm misting up just thinking about it now. Musical magic!

Amazing musicianship all around. With 12 songs in his set, I wish he could have played a little longer.

Matt Good Setlist Budweiser Stage, Toronto

♩ Giant
♩ Hello Time Bomb
♩ Born Losers
♩ Decades*
♩ Strange Days
♩ Let's Get It On
♩ The Future is X-Rated
♩ Load Me Up
♩ I'm a Window
♩ Apparitions
♩ Weapon
♩ Everything is Automatic

*new single

Matt is no slouch in the award winning department either, over his career Matt has won 4 Juno Awards, and Matthew has a brand new single out, Decades.

Midnight Oil arrived and the entire venue blew up! Fans had been waiting all night for this moment and they were richly rewarded. Song after song, hit after hit, an unwavering energy from beginning to end. They were on fire!

With the band spread from one side of the stage to the other, Peter Garrett moved in his own enigmatic way, owning the entire stage. The fans sang along and danced with abandon, it was truly magical to see. There were political undertones which included Trump references and a "Dump Trump" tee and statements that Trump is an "ignorant hick" and an "evil piece of shit". There were references to the treatment of aboriginal peoples of all nations but especially of Australia and Canada, before launching into Beds Are Burning. And last but not least, there was a Green Peace tee, a shout out about the great work that organization is doing and a plea to everyone to care about the world we live in.

There was an amazing drum solo at the outset of the encore with band intros all around and at the very end Peter left us with a "[we] hope we see you sooner than last time". We hope so too guys!

What do you need to know? In case you didn't already know, Midnight Oil has a new box set out, both cd and vinyl. Additionally, you can get them with some unique packaging and rare items. Check out the website for all of the details. Next, you need to know that the tour continues with US, New Zealand and Australian dates still to come on The Great Circle 2017 World Tour. Check out the tour schedule and if you haven't already, grab your tickets.

And just in case you were wondering, Midnight Oil have won a multitude of Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards over the years including Best Group, Best Single, Best Song, Best Cover Art, Outstanding Achievement Award and more!