By KEVIN
After already seeing the Sydney show, I already
knew what I was going to expect. But seeing the boys for a
second time at their home town is a much-greater privilege,
especially when you are located literally 10 metres away from
them. The size of the theatre is what really brought excitement;
it was small for that intimate feeling, yet big enough for
a rock concert. Just the perfect venue to see silverchair.
 As
soon as support band, “The Sleepy Jackson”, walked
off, that’s when the crowds built up dramatically and
the cheering had begun, long before the band came on. You
could feel the excitement in the theatre. As soon as the stage
crew had finished setting up, the lights dimmed; and that’s
when pandemonium erupted. “Act 1”, as depicted
on the middle screen (reminiscent of the “Across the
Night” video clip), that’s when the excitement
and anticipation of holding those tickets for five months
had paid off for.
Daniel's didn’t take long to walk on
for his electric piano. "After All These Years"
was breathtaking when Daniel’s unique voice could be
heard over the cheering crowd. After that, the rest of the
boys came on as Ben grabbed his Fender and Daniel was handed
which I think was a Danelectro. Crowds were still cheering
as Daniel played the intro to “World Upon Your Shoulders”,
the second song on the set list.
 With
the crowd still pumped, Johns was handed his acoustic as “Tuna
in the Brine” started. You’d think these songs
off “Diorama” would not sound up to scratch with
its original recordings, but with the backing up of keyboardists
Julian and Stuart, the sounds were crystal clear. As “Across
the Night” was played, Johns was seen without his guitar
in the second part of the song (…”so let’s
get married, and have another baby…”). He was
waving his arms around and grabbed the mic like Phil from
Grinspoon always has done. You could tell he was enjoying
it as much as the crowd was.
The standout song of Act 1 would have had
to have been “Ana’s Song”, played without
the acoustics as originally done on “Neon Ballroom”.
As soon as “Please die Ana…” was sung, the
crowds (dominated by the high-pitched screams of teenage girls),
this song was a highly anticipated song to be heard in this
concert.
 The
closing song of Act 1, “Steam will Rise”, was
an interesting song to hear live, as they most likely have
never played this live, and is such a relaxing song when heard
on the original recording. It was played longer than the recording
with a lengthy interlude which made the crowds anticipate
what Johns and the boys would do next. I dare say that one
would think they were playing a different song, or just jamming,
until Johns came back to the song’s chorus after that
long interlude.
It was somewhat a relief to see the curtains
come down, just to give time for the crowd to fully absorb
what they have just witnessed and heard. Waiting for “Act
2” was just as crazy as it was waiting for “Act
1”.
During Act 1 Daniel had promised some kind
of a surprise which we’d receive later…
A ten minute intermission was well worth the
wait to hear the undeniably beautiful “Emotion Sickness”.
The original and this live recording of “Emotion Sickness”
sounds a lot different, yet listening to both is a pleasure
to the ears. Next up was the big hit, “Without You”,
which was also a pleasure to listen to.
For anyone who had went to this concert, it
would be easily noticeable that silverchair don’t talk
much between songs, which in my opinion is very good, just
to keep the music flowing. But hearing Daniel talk is always
interesting.
With a change of guitar and change of mood,
“Slave”, the opening of “Freak Show”
was belted out. I remember a lot of the crowd stood up for
the “heavier” part of the concert. silverchair
were most energetic throughout this song, but there was more
to come…
I was very happy to hear the more mellow “Black
Tangled Heart”, as this song was not played in Sydney
(April 13th). Johns played the complicated introduction with
great finesse, and I could do nothing but smile and sing along.
It was a great song to sing along to. After that Johns grabbed
his acoustic as “Petrol and Chlorine” started.
This is a great song to listen to live, as this song I think
has never been played before live as I read somewhere on the
Chairpage website.
The song after that was also great to sing
along to; “Do you feel the same”. I think this
was also a track that has not been played at all (as Johns
said himself on “Live At The Wireless” last year
before Diorama was released), it was also a treat to sing
along, and to nod your head during a rare silverchair guitar
solo.
After that it was back to “Diorama”,
and the greatest hit, “The Greatest View” was
belted out on Johns’ axe. The girls started screaming
again during the intro, as people started to stand up again
and sing along to this catchy number.
“C’mon everyone stand up…”
was the call before which I think was “Act 2’s”
highlight as a slower in tempo, “Freak” was strummed
with heavy-as distortion. So with Daniel’s request,
everyone did stand up, even the people in the top section
of the theatre. It wasn’t a pure mosh-pit because all
these seats in the way, but it was good enough to listen to
while standing up. I think it was during this song was when
Daniel played the guitar with his teeth, I’m not exactly
sure but he did it somewhere during this set.
Silverchair’s anthem, “Anthem
for the Year 2000” started, and politics was mixed with
music with images of war, and some of the world’s political
leaders were depicted in the screens in the background. Daniel
is obviously against the war in Iraq, and wanted to say something
to his fans using those images of war. Somehow some guy got
up on stage, and just before the bouncers could get their
greasy paws on him, Daniel said “Let him go! Let him
go! Say what you feel! Tell ‘em how you feel”,
or something along those lines. It was kinda hard to hear
as the song was still being played.
Before the final song, Johns yelled “…this
is for a beautiful girl, you know who she is...”, or
something along those lines. The distortion happened again
as the main riff for “One Way Mule” was belted
out. The crowd were still on their feet cheering as the song
was over and the boys walked off before the encore.
As the lights slightly came on for about a
minute, sections of the crowd were chanting either, “More!
More! More!…”, or “silverchair! silverchair!
silverchair!”
A moment later the lights dimmed as Daniel
walked back on. The cheers were about as loud as the beginning
of the show.
Daniel promised a dedication to his brother
– and he did this for the B-side “Asylum”,
another piano song which is about as good as “After
all these years”. It was as peaceful as invigorating
to listen to this number as a portion of the crowd clapped
with the beat.
Rock song, “The Lever” was up
next, but me and a mate who was with me had to leave as we
had to make the 11:20 train back to Sydney. So we waved them
goodbye and stormed out the theatre door after a final farewell.
And unfortunately I would’ve missed that surprise, whatever
it may have been…
Overall…the BEST concert I’ve
ever been to. A show to remember forever.
Good luck to the boys when they tour overseas
and for their fifth-coming album.
Enough said. |
