Midnight Oil Detail New Album 'Head Injuries (Live At Selina's)'

The album was recorded during a 2017 show at Selina's, which launched Midnight Oil's The Great Circle reunion tour.

There’s nothing like seeing Midnight Oil perform live. The Australian icons, renowned for their passionate, high-energy music and gigs, officially disbanded after a farewell tour in 2022.

But now, fans can revisit an exciting era from a Sydney pub. On Friday, 27 November, Midnight Oil will release a brand-new album, Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s), arriving via the independent label Powderworks and distributed via Sony Music Australia.

Recorded during an unforgettable gig on the Oils’ 2017 The Great Circle reunion tour – their return to the stage after a 15-year hiatus – at Selina’s at Coogee Bay Hotel, the warm-up show launched that 2017 run in April.

The one-off performance included songs from Midnight Oil’s 1979 classic, Head Injuries, and featured a rare live performance of the beachy fan favourite, Wedding Cake Island.

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Throughout the rest of 2017, Midnight Oil travelled across the globe before they returned to Walungurru and Alice Springs in the remote desert. They played 77 gigs across 16 countries to over half a million fans, but only approximately 2,000 fans got to witness the very first gig on the reunion tour.

Check out the tracklisting for Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s) below.

The record was recorded by Midnight Oil’s longtime front-of-house mixer, Colin Ellis, and mixed by Greg Wales. It was completed last year, with the full participation and blessing of founding member Rob Hirst. Midnight Oil note that the album is dedicated to Hirst’s memory, as well as the memory of bassist Bones Hillman, who also features on the recordings.

Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s) will be released digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. Pre-order your copy here.

Attending the show at Selina’s in April 2017, Richard Kingsmill remembered for The Music:

Watching this show, it was clear the surroundings energized them. If this was supposedly a warm-up gig for the eight-month world tour, no one told Midnight Oil that.

Across two and a half hours, they threw around 30 songs at us, many of which they had not played on stage for years. When they started dropping one song after another off Head Injuries (1978), the place was also transported back in time.

The intensity of Garrett was razor sharp. For years, he had been far away from music, navigating the political stage. Free from those confines, he and the band let fly, with a stack of fire still in their belly and plenty of cathartic venom from the singer’s mouth.