Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett will lead his former rock band, Midnight Oil, at a star-studded benefit concert to be held in aid of Victoria's bushfire victims in Melbourne on March 14.
Garrett will reunite with his band for the concert, which will include American rockers Kings of Leon and iconic Australian band Hunters And Collectors, amongst others at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, dpa reported.
Midnight Oil last played at the WaveAid tsunami fundraiser at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2005.
"I have hardly sung a note since the Oils last played at WaveAid, but this event is so unique and important that it will be terrific to now catch up with my mates and put on a performance that gives all those people affected by the terrible events what they dearly need," Garrett told the local media, acknowledging that his voice might be a "bit rusty."
Another concert, featuring Coldplay, Josh Pyke, Eskimo Joe, The Hoodoo Gurus, Jet, Wolfmother and Icehouse, will be simultaneously staged in Sydney to benefit Victoria bushfire victims and Queensland flood victims.
The two Sound Relief concerts, perhaps the biggest rock concerts to be staged in Australia, are expected to raise 4 million Australian dollars with tickets costing 75 Australian dollars each and the artists performing for free.
Australia's worst wildfire disaster has claimed at least 210 lives and devastated several rural towns in the southern state of Victoria.
With his distinctive bald head and lanky frame, Garrett rose to fame as the lead singer for Midnight Oil from 1973 until it disbanded in 2002.
Garrett became Australian Labor Party's star recruit for the seat of Kingsford Smith in Sydney's eastern suburbs and was elected to parliament in 2004. He became Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts after the party won the November 2007 elections.
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