Midnight Oil - Only The Strong (triple j Live At The Wireless - Capitol Theatre, Sydney 1982)

[@simonburns1055]

A drummer like no other

[@suspensiondude]

Rob is a monster behind the kit!

[@michaelharris5370]

Yeah , Rob Hurst just blows me away definitely one of the greatest of all time . 👍

[@ray.shoesmith]

I've still got one of his sticks from when they played in Albury in 1986. On the last beat of the last song he'd grab two handfuls of sticks and let them fly off the drums into the crowd. Mine went straight down my jeans leg, my mate 3 people across started waving his around like a hero and got mobbed. He ended up with some of the cloth grip wrap Rob had on his sticks and that was it 😂

[@cwocky]

Animal from the muppets comes to mind

[@gregw988]

The heart of the band.

[@kerryhale8646]

The greatest band of all time, in one of their greatest performances of all time. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

[@patwhite9575]

must have played this version 300 times

[@riffraff4213]

The greatest... so good. Can't believe they are winding it up! Music that defines a lifetime.

[@DarrenFerber-j6c]

Agreed my favourite band growing up

[@Vpmatt]

. @peterh3478 Yes, and you know why? One word: Giffo.

[@Somerandomdrummer8]

@@Vpmatt Bonesy was incredible but the energy Giffo brought to the band was raw and attacking, an attack very few can compete with. Bonesy was melodic, like Jack Bruce or John Paul Jones, but Giffo assaulted the bass just like Phil Lynott or Lemmy and its that attack of the bass combined with the viciousness of Robs drumming that was so vital to the early Oils sound. Incredible Bassists, both of em

[@leokimvideo]

The quiet guitarist off to the side is Midnight Oils secret weapon. Jim Moginie, musical genius

[@ray.shoesmith]

He was the legitimate musician in the band. Rob Hirst was up there as a songwriter and a quality drummer. Rotsey was a solid rhythm, and Giffo followed Bear James in giving them their signature drive (until they lost him and it). But Jim was a multi-instrumental maestro imo.

[@morgomorgaf306]

Big Jim still 'is' !

[@jimlal1467]

Yep

[@coldacre]

two AMAZING guitarists who play off each other to absolute perfection. what a force. there's more going on in this one song than most bands have on an entire album.

[@mickmccluand4677]

The recording has each guitar panned extreme L/R. If you remove one headphone at a time you can hear they're playing completely different stuff most of the time ...amazing stuff.

[@flyingdutch9818]

Holy fark. This was the first live concert I went to. Mate took me but I had no idea who MI were, let alone what a live gig was. I was absolutely blown away. Seen the oils multiple times since and they never disappoint .

[@psivewri]

Hard to believe this was 42 years ago! What a way to open a set.

[@brettgarsed]

The greatest band ever and DEFINITLY the greatest guitar sounds ever!

[@anthony9600]

Giffo…. A hell of a bass player. Definitely my favourite era of the Oils

[@tornraw]

Bones Hillman was pretty special too. He was able to play Giffo and then add the next phase. Agree though, this was PEAK OIL. See what I did there? 🤣🤣🤪😎

[@iandickson1940]

Bones was a pretty decent replacement though!! RIP Bonesy , We miss you mate ❤

[@ChapmanHistology]

Terrific video production of this awesome performance. What a great piece of Australian music history.

[@demonsbutterfly]

Glorious energy. No one could touch the Oils

[@xx3868]

Even in 82, jims playing was complex and textured and wow! Bass just brilliant and so much going on here....

[@ray.shoesmith]

Moginie really was the true master musician in the band.

[@DarrenFerber-j6c]

The best live band I have ever seen. Bloody awesome

[@tornraw]

I have never seen them live (unfortunately) but they are one of my favorite bands. They are amazing.

[@timothysteven]

Midnight Oil for life 🖐️ Even in 2025 the energy from this performance still hits hard. The guitar play between Martin and Jim unparalleled.

[@KenOath1234]

when ppl ask why Midnight Oil, i just send them a link to this clip and then it all makes sense, This was them at the height of their powers - never gets old!

[@threezero4]

It's ridiculous how many times I've watched this video over the last few weeks and I'm blown away each time. Surely one of the greatest ever intros / live performances from any Aus band. Need to set the time machine to Midnight Oil Capitol Theatre 1982.

[@PeterH-ci4of]

It'd make one hell of a live CD, ABC should release it

[@ajc6740]

I don't even ned to watch it, just listen. this video changed my life as a 15 year old .........Ive watched this "video" on the old VHS 100's of times ...... I no longer listen as much to the oils as I've aged, but that in no way diminishes teh effect they had on me as a young kid - - greatest Aussie band ever.

[@bigmaxy07]

That outtro is just perfect, Martin and Jim in full flow and Giffo all over it with that bass line. Stunning look at those kids in the front row go.

[@flyingdutch9818]

It’s hard to compute that 40 years later this crew is still banging (sans bones RIP) as hard as ever

[@tornraw]

Bones is not in this vid, in those days it was Giffo.

[@tornraw]

I love Bones though he was awesome.

[@valleyrose2750]

Saw the Oils at the old Penrith leagues club and the Support band was INXS 🤯🤯🤯

[@tornraw]

INXS were lame compared to the mighty Oils

[@stephaneiserable8306]

Midnight Oil sound, just incredible ❤ We miss you guys

[@Plouminho]

Best outro of all time.

[@MDonovan]

The Oils amazing live are the ultimate performance

[@genesiegel2884]

Man, I saw MO open for UB40 in the states in 1984, I think. Had no idea who they were and they were frickin’ unbelievable. This video captures that feeling. Thank you so much for posting!

[@cannonball5515]

I'm so jealous, I wanted to go to that concert, I was a big fan of the Oils and my buddy Scott loved UB40.

[@slidemcbride6121]

No in-ear monitors, no radio mikes or wireless set-ups, an AM-band radio station AND FIVE GUYS 100% committed to everything they play. Incredible!

[@badass.bob1]

Id give it all to be able to go back in time 40 years. This was a great time to be alive. I miss it all

[@destination-nn1zq]

nostalgia is a great thing 💗

[@bigolmemoryhole6944]

80's film still looks so much better than video.

[@aussiegreek4993]

Omg my 1st time seeing midnight oil that night as a 16 year old in year 11.My favourite all time band with the angels.

[@tornraw]

Definitely the GOAT Aussie Rock Band, and maybe even the world!

[@rocketward]

I don’t even play an instrument….but I couldn’t imagine anything else as perfect as that 👌

[@tornraw]

takes a bit of practice but when you pull it off, the buzz is for reals!

[@pricey4566]

Rob Hirst Energy and Rhythm just incredible

[@deegee6116]

40 years on and they are still going STRONG STRONG STRONG.

[@mrbungle7586]

Awesome band. 👍

[@PeterH-ci4of]

I used to watch these clips on BeatBox, never seen anything like it since and doubt if I will ever see a band so committed again. Best since Aztecs at Sunbury

[@JosephJMerten]

Just…WOW! This is powerful music by dedicated performers. It doesn’t get better than this!

[@neilgraves5069]

Brilliant . Absolute fantastic Band

[@Val451]

The full concert is on "Oils on the Water" DVD, also includes a second full concert from 1985, the title of the DVD. The one this came from is titled "Saturday Night at the Capitol". The best concert I've ever seen/heard. I saw/taped a 40 minute part of it in 1982, on "Nightflight", during that show's glory days.

[@ajo3085]

It's well short of the full concert unfortunately. Only what was was broadcast at the time. If they still have the entire show somewhere, I wish they'd release it.

[@Rob-nb6zi]

Nightflight is where I was introduced to the Oils. What a great show!

[@albertmacleod8969]

Holy smokes what a potent performance. Saw them twice last two tours amongst the tall trees at Stanley Park Vancouver. Sadly, the lyrics seem more relevant now and resonate more than they did back then. What incredible vision in this bands lyrics.

[@andypandy8569]

II was there. Incomparable. Love these guys, and what they sing about. Check out the “Scream in Blue” album to understand the intensity.

[@jeaneudesdelawech5190]

RIP Bones but Giffo is my all time fav' bass player in The Oils

[@tornraw]

Bones was the best possible replacement.

[@NathanSmith-se1zd]

There was (is!) no better track for getting the crowd fired up and into it - phenomenal

[@BruceCoble]

I was there. One of the best concerts of my life. Thanks for posting. I seem to recall them starting the show with the first fours tracks from 10 to 1...I have a feeling they did more than one show at the capitol for that tour, so it's possible I was at a different night's show to this clip. Or maybe they just skipped the first track for this clip. It would be great to see the whole gig. I used to have a cassette I taped from jjj when they played the concert audio on air, & it was a legendary time for the band.

[@joancahill4405]

I went 2 Nights! The Best!

[@ajo3085]

There's an almost complete version of the show circulating as a bootleg and a complete version closely held by the "collectors". According to that version, the full setlist was: Outside World Only the Strong Brave Faces No Reaction US Forces Written in the Heart Section 5 (Bus to Bondi) Short Memory Knife's Edge Power and the Passion Cold Cold Change Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something Armistice Day No Time for Games Quinella Holiday Loves on Sale Lucky Country Back on the Borderline Don't Wanna Be the One Encore: Burnie Run by Night Stand in Line Wedding Cake Island Is It Now? Encore 2: Used and Abused Powderworks If the entire performance still exists in the archives somewhere, I wish they'd release it in full.

[@JinxRemoving]

As great as the studio version of this track is, the live version absolutely kicks the snot out of it. Absolutely exhilarating stuff

[@brookt3497]

It's a lot faster that's for sure! :-)

[@masteryoda498]

Absolutely, the live version of this song was incredible and it sounded much better than the studio one.

[@rohantrainvlogs]

@@masteryoda498 90% of their live versions are so much better than studio, faster tempo, more energy behind it

[@masteryoda498]

@@rohantrainvlogs Indeed, that’s the beauty of Aussie pub rock bands, they actually sound better live than their studio material.

[@howzatfilms5820]

great stuff

[@stevearnam9625]

Just saw them in Chicago this JUN 22 First time Royal Antler Sydney 1980 They'er the BEST !

[@scruffyapples]

14 comments? For one of the greatest live rock performances of all time? Where’s the f…ing justice?

[@jumbo6009]

Don't worry mate...we are all still out here and still listening...

[@TheCamKennedyBand]

Yes

[@Brennan_Dale3169]

They were at the peak of the powers .

[@brunoBEGARANI-kx2ey]

ONLY THE BEST❤

[@neil2550]

How cool is it !!!!!!!!

[@damianmcwilliams8352]

Dueling guitars.one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever

[@haphappablap7684]

Banger

[@adrianwindle4616]

Saw them in Canberra last night!👌👍

[@John-py5mb]

Me too. How good was it!

[@barbkozak3686]

❤️❤️❤️

[@joeackermann2200]

Fuck yeah!

[@Jellybeantiger]

Oils are a magnificent band.

[@GuilhermeJardim]

Midnight Oil always better live!!!

[@haemstah]

Once Rob kicks in, that has to be the greatest guitar wave assault in music.

[@faces_of_japan]

The amazing thing about the Oils was that every concert they put on was like this in terms of the sheer mongrel energy they generated. Saw them on numerous occasions way back in the 1980s. In some respects, the audience were like road kill, with this huge Mack truck barreling down the highway towards them.

[@DanBerge]

Midnight Oil. There is no other.

[@Gbhbbgvsbnjhhdchhb]

Amazing and sad at the same time

[@gabriel222]

Peak Oils this.

[@gregw988]

Bless film stock over video.

[@billyshane3804]

Only the BONG

[@peterdodd5425]

My father was the first lay principal 🙏🏼I played this song every day 🤘🏼Rob was a teacher at Kingsgrove hii think he had something to do with INXS playing their 🤘🏼🙏🏼

[@davidbrown217]

'79 - '83....Sydney had the best live scene on the planet (sorry Melb, maybe the equal!)....The Swap...The Stagedoor....The Civic...The Antler..The Oxford...Coogee Bay Hotel...the list was long....saw Oils @ Checkers one nite (of many)...supports, Matt Finish & The Mentals...5 bucks at the door...by the time Oil's hit stage the dance floor had thinned so mates n me could do our Garret Whirlies all over the shop....I believe The Beast that was Rob Hirst was wearin' peoples' clothes....as great a vid as this is it can't adequately portray just how sonically 'pin u to the back wall' powerful TheOils were in this their prime-time.....The best of Times...You fuckin' bet they were.The Last Golden Age. Thanx Hirsty.

[@uhehheehe]

this was my dads first concert

[@Leo555ZZZ]

Still my favourite band , not because of the political BS , just because of the sound ,,the rhythym , the guitars , the drums , the crazy vocals .. Saw them at the Royal Antler at Narrabeen ,,when Run by Night was the finale..and then a few times after that as well.

[@thephantomsguest]

Jimmy Moginie is the genius of this band!

[@arnaudlebassard2453]

Fan-Tas-Tic

[@tomulator]

In many of the Oils’ live videos I see Peter popping something in his mouth…anyone know what it is?? Lozenge maybe?

[@GlenMcAllister]

Had a 58 yo thrashing around in his bedroom like a teenager! Have to take another shower now…

[@robertj.b2494]

Whats garrett put in his mouth on the way?

[@StanfordFan-jn1dp]

Calling Arrow de Wilde of Starcrawler

[@seandoyle3695]

what does Pete pop, i wonder …

[@musicfan8867]

Beds are burning...their least controversial hit...figures I've missed out...until now.

[@GrantCarter-m4d]

🙂😂🤣

[@brandon1351]

I like the part where Peter Garrett spews his politics and then goes up in flames like those insulation batts ;) GOOD ON YA PETE THE HYPOCRITE

[@robertj.b2494]

off guts

[@venderstrat]

And then you go Labor and smash everything you did.

[@surfinmuso37]

1:10 They just explode.

[@saboteur1001]

The best band ever. The Beatles holds a second place.