Press
17-09-2007
Ballarat Showgrounds - Ballarat, Australia
By RACHEL T
OMG the past couple have days have been stressful but oh so worth it after last nights show. Coming from Camperdown 1 and a half hours away and then learning the show had been postoned was such a shock why didn't i check the website first???
Now me and my friends were faced with a ahuge dillema!!! How the hell were we going to get back the next night. Everything looked hopeless seeing as not enough of us has our p's so we had no mode of transport. Then all of a sudden a last minute miracle happened through my friends mother. She hired a car which turned out to be a limo as all the cars were unavailable and we were on our way excited as ever!!! This was going to be an awesome night!!!
I was sad i missed most of Epicure's set because those guys rock!!! But finally we were positioned for the boys to come onto stage. Omg it was so awesome except I was seperated from the real Silverchair fans in the mosh pit so I was forced to make my own unique mosh of me jumping up and down and going crazy amongst the looks of confusement from ythe other people who just sin't understand the chair vibe i sang along to every song and kept wishing i was apart of the mosh but oh well this was such an awesome oppurtunity. whats happeneing to people though don't they feel the awesome vibe i mean even if i don't know the band but they have an awesome vibe i can't keep still. But cheers to the guys you were really awesome and the screen behind had some great graphics. this was the first time i actually knew the new songs i had heard them before Young Modern but this just topped my night.
Powderfinger were just as great but this is the chair website so I won't over praise you guys like you very much deserve but the joint encour was something not many people will get to see again but hey who knows anther across the great divide farewell tour may happen hey guys???? lol
Cheers and congrats also must go to the crew who worked their asses off to make the show go ahead so thank you so much.
By CHRISTINE and MELISSA
We left Geelong on Sunday afternoon and drove through heavy rain and gusty wind for one and a half hours to see the mighty chair in Ballarat. Five minutes from the showgrounds we stopped at a service station to ask for directions and were told by the girl who worked there that the show has been postponed until tomorrow!! We went and had a look at the sadly deserted showgrounds and then drove home feeling really disappointed.
The next day we left work early and made our way to Ballarat again, this time in much better weather.
As we raced into the show grounds, we could hear Young Modern Station booming out from the now repaired tent. We made our way into the crowd and managed to get quite close with a really good view of the stage. Daniel was in great form and his voice sounded better than ever. The set list was a fabulous mix of songs from every album. It was so great to hear Israel's Son again. The crowd in front of the stage really got into it. We were standing back a bit, surrounded by people who were not into moshing, which was really frustrating.
Every song sounded fantastic. It always amazes me that silverchair are loud enough to have that great base thump to your chest but never hurts your ears. All the Young Modern songs sounded fantastic. Young Modern Station, Straight Lines, If You Keep Losing Sleep, Reflections of a Sound, Mind Reader and Insomnia. Daniel got the audience to clap along to Ben's drums before Mind Reader,and did a bit of fancy guitar work with his teeth.
From Neon Ballroom, Emotion Sickness was epic and Ana's song tugged at my heart it was so beautiful. They played Without You and Greatest View from Diorama, which both sounded
great. Daniel was very funny, asking us if we liked walking, cos he was going to take us for a walk down memory lane, and with that they started playing "The Door". It sounded better than ever, and Freak still has the power to get the crowd jumping.
This was the seventeenth chair show we have been to and sound wise I think it was the best yet. They really are getting better, although I did not think it was possible. It was great to see Ben and Chris looking and sounding fabulous and Paul Mac adds a new dimension to the sound. There was another guy playing keys as well but I missed his name when Daniel introduced him.
The show finished with a silverchair-Powderfinger encore of The Rolling Stone"s, "Substitute" which was good fun, with Daniel and Bernard alternating lyrics. Another great rock experience and worth every kilometre of the six hours driving.
PS. Powderfinger were good as well, but we'd come to see the Chair.
By JESS
Bad weather is synonymous with Ballarat. Many a Melbourne mate has hung it on me for residing in ‘The Rat’ where it is always bloody cold and bloody windy. Not wanting to let them down what can I say, the weather lived up to expectation., According to the press, ‘severe weather conditions’ otherwise known as Ballarat weather, tore a gaping fifteen metre hole in the tent. Needless to say all that was on display at the scheduled performance time was the weather itself, causing the postponement of the Across the Great Divide gig to the following evening. Believe it or not ladies and gentlemen not only is ‘the rat’ the coldest place in Australia, it’s the only place where people whinge in autumn that they can’t wait for the cooler weather.
Anyway enough about the weather...the show proceeded the following evening. For those who unfortunately couldn’t front up the next day sorry to say but you missed out big time. Hometown boys Epicure got proceedings underway and were shortly followed by ‘The Chair’. They entered the stage and opened with a cracking rendition of Young Modern Station, followed by the classic Israel’s Son and Emotion Sickness.
They were tight and polished with Daniel’s voice agile and his intonation top notch. That matched with Ben’s (Australia’s most underrated drummer) metronomic pacemaking and Chris’ grooves with the assistance of Paul Mac on keys proved why they are such an accomplished outfit. How they manage to pull off some of the most anarchic time changes known to rock music and still remain as tight as a ducks arse is staggering.
Crowd favourites Ana’s Song, Without You, and The Greatest View, proved the crowd were in full voice while Reflections of a Sound got the ooh ooh ooh treatment. It was more evident in Powderfingers set however there were harmonies going on in the crowd. Bashed out with gusto was The Door it grooved along with Led Zep styled improvisations and Straight Lines jolted the crowd into doing its best at replicating Daniel’s vocal acrobatics.
Impressive imagery was projected on screens behind the band throughout the set. This worked particularly well for If you keep losing Sleep. The crazy images, (snippets from their video clip) and melodic mayhem that is that song, worked a treat. They finished with Freak much like they did ten years ago when they ventured to the artic reaches of ‘The Rat’ for the Freak Show tour.
The set flew by faster than you can say ‘such seductive silent wine hop scotch trigger’ and then it was ‘the fingers’ turn to impress. Being a hard act to follow Powderfinger while taking a few numbers to warm up were on song. Bernard Fanning sounding more and more like a soul singer and the ensemble a finely oiled machine. They served up rock numbers and ballads and like the chair put on an impressive display of show and musicianship.
Finally ‘the chair’ and ‘the finger’ joined forces as PowderChair, to play the Who track Substitute. It powered along and was the bookend to an evening of Aussie Rock!
Fittingly the evening concluded with a short film about Aboriginal reconciliation. The politics was subtle and not shoved down people’s jumpers unlike some self appointed rock star activists who have a tendency to do so. Congratulations. I hope the message got through to those rude, presumably redneck throwbacks who rudely talked their way through Black Tears and left the venue without taking the time to join the conversation.
By LAURA
WOW! AWESOME! FANTASTIC! AMAZING! GREAT!
What more can I say. I love Silverchair so much, and I have for a long time now. Every night on my hour long drive home from work I listen to Silverchair music – from all their albums. Even the old ones are still great to listen and sing along to. When I heard about this tour, I had to go! We missed out on tickets to the Melbourne show, but got to go to Ballarat instead.
Unfortunately, we drove all the way there in horrible weather to learn the show was postponed. It was disappointing, but all forgiven! The next day we went up again, and got a spot just a few rows back from the front and in the middle. Perfect! I sang along to every single song Silverchair played, and was in awe and amazement the whole time - Daniel Johns was ‘just there!!!’ Fabulous! No words can express how happy and excited I was. Daniel and the band can do no wrong, it sounded great. Daniel showing off by playing with his mouth, playing the guitar while laying on his back on the piano!! Oh, how hot! And doing those sexy little requests to the audience to scream! I swear my heart was beating so fast!!!
As if the night wasn’t great enough, who should be so lucky as to catch Ben Gillies’ drumstick he threw into the crowd? ME!!! Wow! I held on to it so tight for the rest of the night! The whole time Powderfinger were playing I was drooling over the drumstick in amazement that I caught it! And to think, me, at just 158cm short next to all these tall people could actually walk away with it! I was absolutely stoked. Thanks to Silverchair for doing such a fantastic job. You guys really are awesome.
Cheers guys, keep up the great work. xxx