Oils reunite at Sound Relief.

Since the deadly bushfires of Feb 7 -- forever burned in Aussie consciousness as Black Saturday -- Australians have been quick to donate to a flurry of appeals. None have matched the return on investment ($75 a ticket) delivered by today's simultaneous Sound Relief concerts at Sydney's SCG and Melbourne's MCG. Aradhna and I drove to Chadstone for books and Dandenong for Bollywood DVDs today and listened live on Triple J to afternoon sets by Coldplay, Jet, Paul Kelly, Kings of Leon, Wolfmother, Hoodoo Gurus, Augie March, Eskimo Joe and The Presets. Still to come are sets from reunited-for-a-night Aussie legends Icehouse, Hunters & Collectors and Midnight Oil, as well as temporarily reformed Kiwi legends Split Enz.

Unfortunate that Melbourne's first significant rain since December has been falling all day, but if roaring singalongs are a barometer, it's not dampening the spirits of the crowd of 80,000 at the MCG.

Gotta love a country where the Federal Environmental Minister takes a break from parliamentary duties in Canberra to front his legendary band for the first time in 7 years for a good cause. I traveled up and down the US east coast to see Midnight Oil when they toured the States in the '80s and '90s. Best live band I've band I've ever seen. Even followed their tour bus into the wilds of Pennsylvania until they stopped and signed autographs for my friends and I. It's been an occasionally rocky ride for Peter Garrett since becoming a member of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's front bench but he's a goddamned rock legend. How many politicians can say that?

UPDATE: The Oils sounded more like a force of nature than reunited rock band on the radio simulcast. Environmental Minister Peter Garrett (above) and the boys have garnered universal accolades for closing Sound Relief at the MCG with this blistering set of classics: Redneck Wonderland / Read About It / Advance Australia Fair (on electric guitar, a la Hendrix's 'America the Beautiful') / Blue Sky Mine / One Country / Beds Are Burning / King of the Mountain / Dead Heart / Power and the Passion / Best of Both Worlds / Sometimes (encore)