CAPSULE REVIEW : Midnight Oil Firmly Fills Who’s Shoes

Meet the new boss, not quite the same as the old boss.

The rock pinata is stuffed nowadays with bands struggling to evoke the Beatles or trying to be the new Stones, but hardly anyone seems interested in being the new Who, with all the passion, bravado, bluster and sheer intellect that would entail.

Filling those estimable shoes quite nicely--and without really trying--is Midnight Oil, the world-class rock ‘n’ roll band from Australia that headlined the first of two nights Tuesday at the Universal Amphitheatre with a near-faultless show exceeded in its tugging sense of commitment only by its viscerally overwhelming, finely detailed musical drive.

At last, the answer to who’s next.

“It’s good to be among friends,” announced singer Peter Garrett--not your average giant bald left-wing Christian environmentalist hard-rock former political candidate--between edgy encore renditions of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” and Nick Lowe’s “Peace, Love and Understanding.”

He explained, in the same earnest tones used to pitch the whale-saving and anti-apartheid tables in the lobby, “We have a common understanding . . . mistrust of Milli Vanilli.”

Among the quite rousing songs played Tuesday: “Stars of Warburton,” “Warakurna,” “Kosciusko.” Among the themes addressed: aboriginal rights and outback strip mining. Clearly, this is not a band obsessed with Stateside stardom.

The relentless punch with which Oil put across its songs in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s--when the band was playing the Hollywood Palladium and slam-dancing audiences were the norm--made the Clash the closest point of reference. These days, though, they relent now and again, and few of the songs from the group’s two latest albums--which accounted for 14 of the 17 original selections Tuesday--mandate a slam response.

The Who comparison is much more apt now, and not just because Garrett did a fleeting windmill motion while miming during a guitar solo. The pace is more moderate on most of their newer songs, and nuances of melody and timekeeping have become far more important. The three-piece horn section used on a few choice numbers--borrowed from the opening act, fellow Aussies Hunters & Collectors--recalled the heights of the Who’s “Quadrophenia” era.

Garrett, of course, is no Roger Daltrey: He calmly and wittily plugs environmental causes during the breaks (not to mention some SDI- and Bush-bashing), then erupts in a fury of rigid motion during the songs, like a cross between Joe Cocker and Robocop.

He’s both smoothly articulate and unpredictably galvanized; his band is precise and musically refined but positively rips . It’s rock in an advanced evolutionary state that indeed made the Milli Vanillis of the world seem like crustaceans.

A complete review runs in Thursday’s Calendar section.