At Wednesday’s (February 26) Down To Earth bushfire concert in Melbourne, Julia Stone of sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone performed her cover of Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’ for the first time. Watch it below.
Julia introduced the cover, which will appear on her upcoming charity album ‘Songs For Australia’, as a “relevant” song to the present time. “It was written 33 years ago about indigenous land rights and unfortunately, the lyrics and the meaning of the song is very relevant today,” she told the crowd.
“So let’s try and change that. I guess it’s sort of a shame that it takes a catastrophe to bring us all together in this world.”
Watch her perform ‘Beds Are Burning’ at the 5:16 mark below, via the concert’s archived YouTube live-stream:
For the rest of their set, Angus & Julia Stone performed ‘Snow’, the title track of their 2017 studio album. They followed it up with other favourites like ‘Big Jet Plane’, ‘A Heartbreak’ and ‘For You’. The brother-sister act also performed the 2016 song ‘Uptown Folks’, which Angus – under the Dope Lemon moniker – co-wrote with Rohin Brown.
“Thank you all so much for coming on down and supporting all these incredible organisations who are doing so much to make Australia a better place,” Julia said before they launched into their 2006 song ‘Private Lawns’, which saw the singer break into a trumpet solo.
According to a press release, Down To Earth raised more than a million dollars for bushfire relief, with donations still coming in. All funds raised will be donated to various Australian charities including Red Cross, WIRES, Wildlife Victoria, Emergency Leaders For Climate Action.
Stone’s ‘Songs For Australia’ album will feature a mix of both Aussie and international artists, all performing covers of well-known songs by Australian acts like INXS, Nick Cave and The Go-Betweens. The National’s cover of INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ for the compilation was released today. Other musicians covering songs for the compilation include Kurt Vile, Damien Rice, Martha Wainwright and more.
The LP will be available in digital formats from March 5, with a physical release on CD and vinyl set for June.