By MARK
Lets start
from the beginning.
The trip
to "Sheperds Bush" was relatively painless, going
by train and then the tube, we finally arrived at the 'Empire'
about 3pm
 There
were people already waiting, and we were under the impression
that they had already been waiting there for a few hours.
So instead of cueing up immediately we went to the "O'Neils"
pub on the corner for a quick drink (Which its toilets smelled
so bad you could almost taste it on your tongue? whatever
it was!) and then about 3:30pm we went on to cue up.
As luck
would have it while waiting in line (we originally had Level
1 seating) a girl comes up to us (the name escapes me now,
actually I dont think she actually told us her name?) and
explains her situation that she needs to swap 3 standing tickets
for 3 seating! Yeah baby, you know we were straight up for
that and so we proceded to swap tickets. (Damn my horoscope
was wrong for today, my luck was going great!)
After
what seemed like an eternity! (Well imagine waiting about
4 hours with bugger all to do, and see how long it feels to
you!?) the doors finally opened and in we went (Looking back
on it now, the 4 hours we waited didnt even feel like 5 minutes).
We decided
to rush to the front of the stage so we could get a good spot.
Myself (Mark) and my two minions Matt and Tom were anxious
to take a toilet break but werent impressed with the huge!
crowd that they would have to attempt to make their way back
through to find me at the front (amusing really when at the
end of the show we realised that noone by the end of the show
were actually in the same place they started at! which is
a good indication of how hot this crowd was tonight).
 The
support band "Colour Of Fire" came on after a hour
wait (By this time your lower back really was hurting from
the wait outside to the wait now for the support band?) And
under the circumstances if this band were touring on their
own, then they would have rocked the house down. They were
a very punky version of "The Vines" and had a great
vocalist, but you felt after about 4 songs they all started
to sound a bit 'samey' and didnt have much diversity to the
songs. You also felt that the fans were saving their energy
for the main event and although "Colour Of Fire"
got a great! response after every song, it was just a filler
to Silverchair (I honestly thought the support band would
be alot worse than they were, but they held their own infront
of tonights crowd).
So after
their set, we had a 30 minute wait for the roadies to change
over equipment, which obviously caused a crowd surge, as everyone
wanted to be at the front and able to see what was going on.
A guitar
tech (Who was about 60 years old and had grey hair everywhere
and looked like a down and out hippy) was up on stage with
Danials guitar and testing the mic for a short while (Jokes
about Danial Johns really letting himself go were quickly
noted).
Then
the lights dimmed and the crowd went ape! The band started
off with "Steam Will Rise" which seemed alot more
rocking than on cd, and had a jam style session at the end
which was very cool. The first thing you really notice above
everything else, is the over whelming feeling of excitement
in the building that goes all the way from the crowd standing,
all the way up to the fans in the balcony seating area.
 I
cant recall the order of the actual songs but from here it
went to I believe - "World Upon Your Shoulders"
which had everybody singing along! Something worth noting
is the energy of tonights crowd. Even though this song is
chilled out compared to some of the other songs on this set,
the moshpit was overflowing with bodies.
Then
we kicked into "Tuna In The Brine" which really
was just outstanding, vocally and musically, to cut certain
aspects of this review shorter, (too late!) its safe for me
to say that every! song people were singing their hearts out
to, all you have to do is look around and see the peoples
faces just beaming happiness and puring their individual souls
into every word of every song. A truely magical experience
you can only get when you see a band like this live.
And so
the feeling stayed throughout the set.
A few
things to note:
1.) The
version of "Petrol and Chlorine" they played (Which
I was really looking forward to as its one of my favourites
off of "Freakshow") wasnt as different as I was
expecting? It was still fantastic but it really didnt sound
as different as everyone made it out to be?
2.) Hopefully
the new intro they played to "Ana's Song" is a taste
of whats to come from the new silverchair album, as everyone
thought when they started playing, that this was a new song
no-one had ever heard off!
It was
so beautiful, and played with such a real spark of emotion
behind its chords and had everyone mesmerised by its power.
3.) Oh
my god! "Emotion Sickess"!
Now this
song was amazing! But in the part of the song when Danial
sings "Get up, Get up", just after this section
he always adlibs his vocals by singing like an absolute angel,
and tonight after seeing so many different performances of
this song, this performance really was the most jaw-dropping
experience of my life, and im almost certain of nearly everyone
elses life.
To explain,
basically the vocals were going higher and higher in pitch
and then he finally reached the pitch of what can only be
classed as a opera singer, and he held this pitch for a good
10 seconds and you thought at this pace he could just about
crack glass by now!
People
were literally stopped in the crowd and jaws were dropping,
as if they had just seen the second coming of christ. I know
this sounds like an exaggeration but jaws really were hitting
the floor!! Oh my god I still cant get over that. The best
part of the whole show easierly.
4.) "Luv
Your Life" - This was the biggest singalong of the night
"Do, do, do do do do" could be heard on Mars it
was being sung so passionately and loudly by the crowd and
band.
5.) "Israel's
Son" Was a spirit uplifter, when the bass line kicked
in after Danial talked about this being "An Oldie to
rock out to" (Danial swears alot? I like it! Makes him
seem more down to earth.) the crowd went the most ape of the
night and bodies were flying everywhere. This band really
knows how to control an audience through its music.
6.) "The
Door" - Myself and Matt thought that we would probably
die when this riff kicked in, its had an extended jam session
in the middle which really was the nuts! The crowd was steaming
it was so hot and into this right now.
7.) There
were a few bad points though and this wasnt to the bands fault
at all!
a.) "Israel's
Son" when people were crowd surfing, one guy came down
right on the back of a group of peoples necks (myself and
Matt included - god knows where Tom ended up throughout this
set?) but although I havent got a problem with crowdsurfers,
its things like this that when they happen you realise that
sometimes maybe it isnt the best of ideas! I mean alot of
people were really hurt by this idiot, who I call an idiot
not because he was crowdsurfing, but because he wasn't actually
crowd surfing properly!
He was
thrown up in the air behind up, instead of being hoisted up
onto waiting hands to carry him. So he obviously was just
going to fall straight back down to the floor, or in this
case land straight back down on top of unsuspecting fans necks
which people werent happy about including myself and Matt
b.) You
have to feel sorry for all the girls in the audience who really
were taking a pounding through out this gig.
I mean
it wasnt just us who were constantly trying to keep these
girls from going down or trying to stop people from crushing
them to death.
Not saying
that the girls were complete wusses either, because they held
their own for what its worth. But you just feel like its your
duty as a bloke to make sure their not getting their arses
stomped into oblivion!
There
were so many other guys trying to do the same, but you felt
like it was just a losing battle under the situation as there
were so many typical moshpit morons causing havoc, I dont
understand why people cant just rock out with out having to
throw punches and kicks and act like a bunch of knobs?
c.) To
the guy infront of us during the encore who was trying to
impress everyone with his knowledge of the lyrics to "Asylum".
Now if
people want to sing along to a song, obviously thats fine,
like myself! I was singing along quite loudly and just enjoying
myself, and if you look around, you'd see a few other people
singing along, others were just content with enjoying the
moment of hearing Danial on his own and singing like nothing
short of an angel! and some others just plain didnt know the
song but everyone was basically stunned silent to Danials
beautiful voice.
But this
guy was completely pissed, and while singing at an unceptably
loud level and looking around at all the girls trying to impress
them (somehow?) with his obvious inability to show a sensitive
side and just shut tha hell up! I mean this is supposed to
be a chilled quiet moment for everyone! not to be interupted
by an idiot trying to impress the women in the audience.
-----------
But this
really is just an attempt (Not including the really rather
small bad points) to describe what a great experience Silverchair
were/and are!
I've
been to alot! of gigs over the past few years since my first
gig in 1998.
But without
a doubt this has been the best, for a number of reasons, personal
and/or otherwise and I urge everyone to see this band before
they stop touring for good The set list in Alphabetical order
below.
Thanks
to the band and everyone who turned up to make this such cool
experience, especially the girls who hooked us up with standing
tickets! You absolutely rule!
---------------------
Set List
/ Recap:
Across
the Night - [so glad this song was included]
Anas
Song - [the most amazing guitar solo intro]
Anthem
for the Year 2000 - [a total crowd pleaser]
Asylum
- [amazing vocal performance, and a experience all unto itself]
Emotion
Sickness - [the highlight of the night with "that vocal
part"]
Israel's
Son - [classic never grow old utter rock n roll heaven baby]
Luv you
Life - [singalong heaven]
Petrol
and Chlorine - [plain and simple - a great song and great
live]
The Door
- [rocking like a mutha!]
The Greatest
View - [another amazing singalong!]
The Lever/Jam
- [more chilled out and funky/jazzy than whats been described
in previous reviews]
Tuna
in the Brine - [wow]
Without
you - [god was this song sooo good live]
World
upon your shoulders - [dont know how he pulls this off live
so well] |
hey!!
just got home from my 6th silverchair gig and my second and
last of the 4 london shows. i was seating level 1 this time
as i stood on tuesday night and fancied relaxing and just
really watching the performance, i was glad i did, i had a
perfect view of the whole stage, i was over on daniels side
and was as close to the stage as you can get on 1st floor
balcony. it was a really great night, i saw a few faces there
too! opposite me on the balcony on the other side of the stage
was the one and only natalie imbruglia, it was really nice
seeing her enjoying the show, i looked over a few times and
she was nodding her head and clapping along for the whole
set, she looked very proud!! i looked at her also in a poigniant
moment in "across the night" when dan was singing
"yeah lets just get married" ah!!!!!!! 
ok!!
so yes, it was more rock than tuesday, this night they all
walked on a rolled into opener "steam will rise",
it was great to see as id never seen this track live before
and i dont think they have played it live more than 5 times
anyway. they were extremely tight once again and played a
few more older songs, like petrol and chlorine. anas song
was absoutely beautiful with a slower more touching intro,
and emotion sickness was absolutely stunning and completely
inspiring, i felt tears almost at watching it, daniel really
does give everything of himself in these shows, it must be
so emotionally draining for him!! 
By
SALLY