SimanionTue 23 Oct – Across The Great Divide
(From a predominately Silverchair fan, written for a Silverchair forum.)
Friggin awesome show. Daniel's vocals were used to their full extent, making the performance in that aspect even better than the Young Modern launch. The band was so tight, Ben's drumming was unbelievable and he chucked in a few showy solos here and there. Chris's bass you could feel going through your body, but thankfully it wasnt overkill, and he's definitely opening up more on stage - he gave a few frontmanesque "get up" signals and sometimes moved between sides of the stage haha. Paul was fantastic being Paul, bouncing around and breaking into a little jam with Ben when Dan actually left the stage immeadiately following Straight Lines to expel urine (and very quickly I might add. He must've really forced it out). There were plenty of smiles going around..good vibes haha.
The crowd lapped every last inch of the show up, including the joke which, by the way, almost seemed like a production that cost more than the show itself I was afraid from all I'd been hearing about the crowds elsewhere (esp Sydney) that the crowd would suck, but there was none of that.
First (and very briefly) to Wire MC, the support. They were an indigenous hip hop outfit and were recieved much better by the crowd than I would have expected. They did freestyle and rapped to a track, and at the end they had a didgeridoo and guitarist for a more mellow song. They hammered home the reconciliation message and the injustice against aborigines message, which was all well and good, but something doesn’t seem right to me when, for example, he said things like "you raped my mothers and murdered my fathers, I won't forgive and forget. Just let me be". It's like "Yay for reconciliation! but I'm sorry I'm not reconciling" - that's not a move in any direction, certainly not forward. eh, rant over.
Now to Powderfinger.
Setlist in no particular order (and of only the songs I knew)
Head Up In the Clouds (I'm pretty sure)
Love You Way
Black Tears
Already Gone
Lost and Running
I Dont Remember
(the last song on Vulture Street, cant remember the name)
My Happiness
+more new songs
Sunsets
On My Mind
After Silverchair I moved from the front to the left side as the PF fans moved in. I went in as a fan of both bands (although much bigger on the Chair) and the Finger delivered. Their set seemed more dynamic than SC's, in that there were much softer moments - piano or acoustic only songs - kind of like Silverchair's Across the Night tour was. They also had more intimate moments with the audience - that being achieved through the particular songs they played, more than anything else.
All that said, the set was great but not that remarkable. No surprises really - apart from a huge funk section between the drummer John and the keyboardist, and Bernard playing the harmonica. there were shining moments, but they were spread out and in-between the songs, whereas Silverchair's were more frequent and in every song. I was thinking the whole time "this is nice", but I was a bit over it by the middle. Highlights of their set for me were "I Dont Remember", "Sunsets", "My Happiness" (probably the biggest singalong of the night). Unfortunately, "Black Tears" - the one song which is the epitome of appropriateness on this tour - was ruined for me by a full on domestic behind me. That was funny.
Silverchair's setlist (maybe in a loose order)
Young Modern Station
Emotion Sickness
Israel's Son (YEAH!)
Reflections of a Sound
Insomnia
Ana's Song
The Door
The Greatest View
Straight Lines
Mind Reader
If You Keep Losing Sleep
Freak
YMS opened and I dont know if it was only me but I couldnt hear a thing. My ears maybe just had to be broken in, but it was just a wall of noise. But Emotion Sickness saved me from disappointment with the sound, and was again one of my many highlights. Just wow. The guitar sounded so good, and he had his Les Paul with the sticker on it back. He should definitely return to singing "get up" though, the song lacks without it.
Best singalongs (imo) went to Israel's Son, Reflections, a big one for Greatest View and SL of course, and also If You Keep Losing Sleep. Every song aside from YMS was tweaked in some way. Israel's Son rocked the house.
Insomia went off. Fun, fun song. Lots of clapping as expected, but it didnt feel forced.
There's something that you cant really capture from The opening riff og the Greatest View live on bootlegs. It was just so electric and full of force, even moreso than on the cd - and everyone sang loudly to this song.
Ana's Song had this long, sombre Jeff Buckley-esque interlude, it was really something else - although I'm not entirely digging the cat squeals haha. I laughed heavily (must've looked strange) to myself when, as he first started playing, a girl near me informed her friend "this is about his first girlfriend".
Mind Reader had a massive intro (the whole time I thought they were going to bust into Sleep All Day! but alas..) and very entertaining antics from Ben where he would smash his kit and let a drumstick fly high into the air and catch it (or somethimes not). That was cooool
Straight Lines was played as it should have been every tv appearance lol - perfectly. I love how he incorporates bits of the 2006 pre-studio recording every here and there (what a nerdy thing to say haha). The ooh oohs were loud and the ones from the girls behind me were just hilarious. Who cares about how the tune actually goes, just yell ooh ooh loudly! Its Straight Lines bitch! I got it on video
IYKLS was very fun, everyone singing the oohs (I sang aahs in the first section because I just had to).
Freak and The Door went off, with a healthy moshpit for Freak and everyone singing along. Crowd was fantastic, everyone around me was into Silverchair (although I was near the front), so it was all good vibes.
The set should have been longer. I was hoping for All Across the World which of course didnt happen. I didnt notice it until after they left the stage but we only got one Diorama song, TGV. I wanted more like Luv Your Life or Tuna, and was really hanging out for Without You. But it meant the bouncy/rock momentum of their set wasnt slowed down I guess. No encore from Silverchair or a Powderchair Who cover, I felt ripped off that PF got an encore and SC didnt come back at all.
Got some short videos of bits and pieces of songs that I'll share soon, including when Dan kissed Chris and the beautiful singing from the girls behind me during SL.
PS. the Tour Book is very naice.
(From a predominately Silverchair fan, written for a Silverchair forum.)
Friggin awesome show. Daniel's vocals were used to their full extent, making the performance in that aspect even better than the Young Modern launch. The band was so tight, Ben's drumming was unbelievable and he chucked in a few showy solos here and there. Chris's bass you could feel going through your body, but thankfully it wasnt overkill, and he's definitely opening up more on stage - he gave a few frontmanesque "get up" signals and sometimes moved between sides of the stage haha. Paul was fantastic being Paul, bouncing around and breaking into a little jam with Ben when Dan actually left the stage immeadiately following Straight Lines to expel urine (and very quickly I might add. He must've really forced it out). There were plenty of smiles going around..good vibes haha.
The crowd lapped every last inch of the show up, including the joke which, by the way, almost seemed like a production that cost more than the show itself I was afraid from all I'd been hearing about the crowds elsewhere (esp Sydney) that the crowd would suck, but there was none of that.
First (and very briefly) to Wire MC, the support. They were an indigenous hip hop outfit and were recieved much better by the crowd than I would have expected. They did freestyle and rapped to a track, and at the end they had a didgeridoo and guitarist for a more mellow song. They hammered home the reconciliation message and the injustice against aborigines message, which was all well and good, but something doesn’t seem right to me when, for example, he said things like "you raped my mothers and murdered my fathers, I won't forgive and forget. Just let me be". It's like "Yay for reconciliation! but I'm sorry I'm not reconciling" - that's not a move in any direction, certainly not forward. eh, rant over.
Now to Powderfinger.
Setlist in no particular order (and of only the songs I knew)
Head Up In the Clouds (I'm pretty sure)
Love You Way
Black Tears
Already Gone
Lost and Running
I Dont Remember
(the last song on Vulture Street, cant remember the name)
My Happiness
+more new songs
Sunsets
On My Mind
After Silverchair I moved from the front to the left side as the PF fans moved in. I went in as a fan of both bands (although much bigger on the Chair) and the Finger delivered. Their set seemed more dynamic than SC's, in that there were much softer moments - piano or acoustic only songs - kind of like Silverchair's Across the Night tour was. They also had more intimate moments with the audience - that being achieved through the particular songs they played, more than anything else.
All that said, the set was great but not that remarkable. No surprises really - apart from a huge funk section between the drummer John and the keyboardist, and Bernard playing the harmonica. there were shining moments, but they were spread out and in-between the songs, whereas Silverchair's were more frequent and in every song. I was thinking the whole time "this is nice", but I was a bit over it by the middle. Highlights of their set for me were "I Dont Remember", "Sunsets", "My Happiness" (probably the biggest singalong of the night). Unfortunately, "Black Tears" - the one song which is the epitome of appropriateness on this tour - was ruined for me by a full on domestic behind me. That was funny.
Silverchair's setlist (maybe in a loose order)
Young Modern Station
Emotion Sickness
Israel's Son (YEAH!)
Reflections of a Sound
Insomnia
Ana's Song
The Door
The Greatest View
Straight Lines
Mind Reader
If You Keep Losing Sleep
Freak
YMS opened and I dont know if it was only me but I couldnt hear a thing. My ears maybe just had to be broken in, but it was just a wall of noise. But Emotion Sickness saved me from disappointment with the sound, and was again one of my many highlights. Just wow. The guitar sounded so good, and he had his Les Paul with the sticker on it back. He should definitely return to singing "get up" though, the song lacks without it.
Best singalongs (imo) went to Israel's Son, Reflections, a big one for Greatest View and SL of course, and also If You Keep Losing Sleep. Every song aside from YMS was tweaked in some way. Israel's Son rocked the house.
Insomia went off. Fun, fun song. Lots of clapping as expected, but it didnt feel forced.
There's something that you cant really capture from The opening riff og the Greatest View live on bootlegs. It was just so electric and full of force, even moreso than on the cd - and everyone sang loudly to this song.
Ana's Song had this long, sombre Jeff Buckley-esque interlude, it was really something else - although I'm not entirely digging the cat squeals haha. I laughed heavily (must've looked strange) to myself when, as he first started playing, a girl near me informed her friend "this is about his first girlfriend".
Mind Reader had a massive intro (the whole time I thought they were going to bust into Sleep All Day! but alas..) and very entertaining antics from Ben where he would smash his kit and let a drumstick fly high into the air and catch it (or somethimes not). That was cooool
Straight Lines was played as it should have been every tv appearance lol - perfectly. I love how he incorporates bits of the 2006 pre-studio recording every here and there (what a nerdy thing to say haha). The ooh oohs were loud and the ones from the girls behind me were just hilarious. Who cares about how the tune actually goes, just yell ooh ooh loudly! Its Straight Lines bitch! I got it on video
IYKLS was very fun, everyone singing the oohs (I sang aahs in the first section because I just had to).
Freak and The Door went off, with a healthy moshpit for Freak and everyone singing along. Crowd was fantastic, everyone around me was into Silverchair (although I was near the front), so it was all good vibes.
The set should have been longer. I was hoping for All Across the World which of course didnt happen. I didnt notice it until after they left the stage but we only got one Diorama song, TGV. I wanted more like Luv Your Life or Tuna, and was really hanging out for Without You. But it meant the bouncy/rock momentum of their set wasnt slowed down I guess. No encore from Silverchair or a Powderchair Who cover, I felt ripped off that PF got an encore and SC didnt come back at all.
Got some short videos of bits and pieces of songs that I'll share soon, including when Dan kissed Chris and the beautiful singing from the girls behind me during SL.
PS. the Tour Book is very naice.
