Press
29-09-2007
Derwent Entertainment Centre - Hobart, Australia
By DALLAS
Arrived at 6:15pm for a 6:45 start and was surprised to find i was one of the first to be waiting at doors to the standing area. The entertainment centre is alongside the Derwent river so i was nearly blown away before i even saw the band! Hobart is soooo cold, but even the wind and the asshole security guard who refused to shut the outside doors although we were all stuck in a hurricane, couldn't ruin my excitement!! Doors finally opened and i dragged my partner in crime towards the stage...he just didn't understand the urgency, and we were lucky enough to be right in the front.
A band that had won a competition (The Cities, i think) played first and i'm pretty sure they were ok, but all i could do was count their songs and hope they wouldn't do more than 5 (they did 7)! I was absolutely jumping out of my skin by the time Silverchair came out, i had only seen them 6 months ago but it could NEVER be enough!
Silverchair came out to a great response and i believe one of the first things Daniel said was "Thanks for having us in your freezing cold city!". I'm not sure if they opened with Young Modern Station but i do recall the train effects going when they came out, i was too much in awe but i came too for Emotion Sickness which was followed by Without You and Israel's Son which the crowd absolutely loved. These guys just get better with every live show, the 3 of them were smiling and playful all night, I think this was my favourite. The chemistry between the band is obvious and it is an honour to be a witness to the connection Silverchair has and the quality of music it produces.
No Joke tonight, although Daniel did promise to do so and i was surprised it wasn't someone's birthday hahaha! But there was plenty of crowd interaction including one point when Daniel picked up a spotlight or as he called it "the light of god!" and started a mexican wave around the back of the arena. It was only then that i actually realised so many people were there! Being in the front made it feel so intimate like we were the only ones, although you couldn't ignore the noise from all around. The crowd was great and i'm sure all in the standing area was there to see Silverchair as everyone around me rocked on almost as much as i did!
Daniel had the whole crowd singing along to songs such as Freak and Straight Lines and showed off all his amazing guitar tricks....Playing with his mouth, behind his head and laying across Paul Macs piano. Watching Daniel Johns play guitar really is 'something else', talent and charisma just oozes out of this guy, WOW! Vocals were spot on and to be honest after such a long tour both overseas and here i wasn't expecting him to be so damn good! Ben was bouncing drum sticks on the kit, the crowd loved it and he was actually getting them pretty high, some lucky fucker took those home at the end of the night when they were thrown into the crowd.
The sound was perfect from where i was and the lighting effects really added to the whole perfomance, great colours and 3 big screens showed vision from past videos that went with the songs. I think they played for around 90 minutes, it was a good length for a double concert and i felt totaly satisfied when they finnished. I am a huge Powderfinger fan too but Silverchair's stage presence and enthusiasim really stood out on the night.
Awesome night, worth the long trip, and i got some great photos to take away that will hopefully keep me going untill the next time round! Only thing missing from the night was that i didn't get to see Silverchair perform with Powderfinger, but i guess they flew out early to do Rove the following day. Oh and maybe i would have liked it if Daniel took his top off........ Damn that cold!!!
Other songs performed on the night that wern't mentioned above were....
Reflections of a Sound
If You Keep Losing Sleep
The Door
Mind Reader
Insomnia
Greatest View
By HANNAH
We were one of the first people to get there and I convinced my friends to push up right into the front (it was our first non-seated concert) and everything just cannon balled for there!!!!!!!!
the cities (hobart support band) were quite good but the crowd just really wanted silverchair!!!
we made friends with some randoms who helped shove us in even more so we were in a perfect spot - it was so crammed that my hair was stuffed into someones mouth and i couldn't move at all!
there was this massive heartbeat which started slow and then got faster and faster, then the crowd went wild and Silverchair appeared!!!!!!!
they played a thumping set, with my personal highlight being "the door"- i song i totally LOVE, and Daniel Johns revved the audience up better than anyone else I'd seen!!!!!
at one point he was getting the whole 5000 of us to scream when he hit the drum and all whisper "yes" at the same time. It was a massive adrenalin rush that I'll never forget, and I honestly think we'd have done whatever he said at that moment.........
If you haven't had a chance to silverchair live yet, do it soon!! they're way better than on any CD.