01-03-2000

Tomorrow has arrived, and Silverchair and their Anthem for the Year 2000 are here to stay

By Paul Gargano (Metal Edge Magazine)

Roseland Ballroom, New York City

 Someone forgot to tell silverchair that they weren't supposed to get as good as they were at New York City's "Roseland Ballroom" in mid-November. With sales of their last two albums barely matching the success of their breakthrough debut, any other band would have given up by now, the lead singer splintering away to become an artist, and the rest of the bad holing up on their Australian homefront to surf off the fruits of their labor. Yes, that's what pop-music dictates for teeage success stories, but silverchair never considered themselves a teen flash in the pan -- They want to be nothing more than a viable rock band. Few critics would recognize them as such, but if their recent tour with Blink-182 was any indication, they may have no choice.

While the evolution of their recordings has been gradual -- from debut Frogstomp, to its formidable follow-up Freak Show, and continuing with their current underrated gem Neon Ballroom -- silverchair's live show took a few tours to catch up. Judging from the rock 'n' roll bombast that befell the Big Apple though, the Aussies have more than come into their own, evolving into one of the most rock 'n' roll outfits this side of grunge's demise.

In fact, it was hard to believe that Daniel Johns was the same frontman that crept to the mic like a scared child less than a year ago. He owned the stage at the Roseland show, snarling prose like a rugged veteran, jumping into the air and crashing down on his guitar with a Pete Townshend windmill, and shining like a rock star for the years to come. Behind him, Ben Gillies laid a relentless backbeat on drums, pounding like a man possessed and combining with bassist Chris Joannou for a rhythm section laced with power and driven by precision.

It's going to be hard for a lot of people to believe that the band they wrote off as a Nirvana clone little more than five years ago has evolved into one fo the rock's rising forces for the years to come, but believe it. When Tomorrow smashed at radio in '94, it wasn't the sign of the one-hit-wonder -- it was an omen of things to come.

Tomorrow has arrived, and silverchair and their Anthem for the Year 2000 are here to stay.

[Thanks to Traci for the transcript]