Midnight Oil Think Europe Has A Bigger Problem With Immigrant Phobia Than Trump Does

This morning, iconic Australian outfit Midnight Oil announced their return to the world stage in a big way, unveiling their first global tour in more than a decade at a press conference on Sydney Harbour.

Naturally, with the tour set to include stops across South America, North America, Europe and the UK as well as New Zealand and Australia, questions were put to the band about the contemporary political climate and the potential impact of President Donald Trump's United States on the wider world.

Although a question as to their intent (in terms of political expression) while in the US spurred mild incredulity from frontman Peter Garrett — "Maaate, come on, what sort of a question is that?!" he asked — he nonetheless used the opportunity to express hope in the ideal that such tumultuous times will inevitably inspire incendiary art and social movements.

"The effect of Trump's America, and this is a personal view, but the effect of Trump's America will be to bring out… it'll bring community, whether it's through music, whether it's organisations, whether it's unions, whether it's academics, whether it's schoolkids, whether it's eventually farmers, whoever — it will bring those people out," Garrett said. 

"Healthy democracies sometimes need to react against craziness and ugliness and selfishness and stupidity and grotesquery, and you've got that in ample abundance in President Trump. He's not a figure that's engendering a great deal of respect for his own people, and you can be sure that they're going to respond, and there's no way that we won't say what we think about it either."

However, drummer Rob Hirst conveyed a greater sense of interest over what the scenario will be when the band touches down in Europe, a continent similarly plagued with burgeoning levels of nationalism and xenophobia.

"Europe is going to be even more interesting, really, because the United States, yeah, we'll quickly cross the country, but we play many more shows in Europe, and Europe has got its own fixation with putting up walls and barriers," Hirst said.

"The issue of immigrants, refugees and people trying to escape horrible circumstances is alive and well here, in Australia, in the United States, but really also in Europe, so that's going to be something that's going to follow us around a lot," he continued.

In some ways, the political uncertainty and social turmoil that is rife across the world at the moment makes a Midnight Oil tour — here, now, in 2017 — a more relevant prospect than ever, a fact seemingly not lost on Garrett, Hirst and their bandmates.

"It's a fantastic kind of platform to go out and do what we've always done, and yet do it at a time where it feels like the differences and the colours are starker and edgier than ever," Garrett said of the tour, earlier in the conference.

Added Hirst: "We have a habit of attempting a US tour after a new, dangerous rookie president comes in. We did the Capricornia tour, which was the last tour, when a young George Bush jr just got in, and Americans were about to go into Afghanistan and, of course, later to Iraq — and the rest is history.

"And, here we are, embarking upon a tour in the land of Trump, in the time of Trump, a very uncertain period for everyone, and it's almost as if the band had waited to this moment, but I can assure you that's not true — it's just pure happenstance."

Midnight Oil's long-awaited full tour kicks off at Alice Springs' Anzac Oval in early October; they also have shows lined up with Something For Kate (at AIS Arena, Bruce) and The Living End (Gateway Hotel, Corio) in the coming weeks. 

See theGuide for all the details.