SILVERCHAIR CONCERT STANDOUT
Silverchair's Newcastle show early August was a standout performance that highlighted their position of superiority out of most "alternative" bands when it comes to live playing. Without using any backup, with the only aid being that echo-y sound that they put on mics to enhance singing voice for certain songs, the band put on a performance that varied from hard core at times, to hard rock and to ballad. It was an excellent mix performed in the style and feel you get from the album. It's live-ness has an even better quality to it, being less "produced" and seamlessly blended.
The night started off with a torrential rain drive down to Wollongong. Earlier on in the day, I was whingeing about the pathetic little pieces of silt rain that was not enough to use windscreen wipers on, but would dry up and make the windscreen dirty, prompting you to use the wipers the next time it sort of came down - only to smudge the window because there's not enough rain. And three hours later, in the car after picking up Laszlo, it was pouring down so much, I actually drove a few Ks under the speed limit my droogs. I can hear you in silent shock. Anyway, after trying to find the complex and then trying to find parking, we found our way into the Wollongong Entertainment Centre which is an excellent venue. It is more "intimate" than the SEC and the seats we had were excellent considering how late in the game they were bought. In concerts, the "best seatsin the house" are the "general admission" STAND UP section. People queue up for hours on hours so they can get close to the stage and the performers. I prefer the sit down seats (actually, after benfold's five i think it depends what concert it's for and the venue), where you can see the performers, eat and drink, and not have to worry about people pushing you all over the place.
We entered too late in the game to hear Pre Shrunk's set; I'm sure it was good if I actually knew who they were. Instead, we entered halfway through Placebo. Placebo has that catchy song that gets air play on JJJ ("a friend with weed is better"). From our seats you couldn't tell if the lead singer was a man or woman - "it" had that goth sort of look - all black etc. And while you can tell it's a male in the recordings, live his voice takes on an even shriller tonality - and it does get annoying. He also had this habit of taking the guitar and placing it infront of the amp, and sort of playing to the amp (you usually see the lead singer go off to another band member and do the guitar bit). It had the effect of distorting the sound which added to the texture of the instrumental music, but it was still weird having him play to a speaker.
Thankfully, the shrill one finished the set before it became too bad on the ears.
Fifteen minutes later, Silverchair came on with the retro type stage. I'm writing this review three weeks after I heard it, so I can't tell you exactly what they played, but most of the standouts on the recent album (neon ballroom) were in it. They opened with the david helfgott epic song, and they made the excellent decision not to mix in the Helfgott playing - it just accentuated the "live" feel to the night and the genuinity of the performances. One thing I really liked was the seamless change in songs. Rather than finish each one and have applause, they'd link four or five together without stopping - the audience would applaud. I must add to that often the screams from the teen girls were louder than the 200 decibel speakers. Having said that, the crowd was probably 50-50 male/female - but I did feel old when I saw primary children in the crowd. Did the local Kindergarten class have freebies? Anyway, Silverchair were a standout with their work - and the encore was more punk in style, which was a really good way for a band to go out - while their music is certainly cleverer, i think it's still at its best in the heavier more punk or alternatively grunge style. It's the closest you'll get to Nirvana sometimes, even the voice of the lead sometimes has that quality. Anyway, that's my two cents. And the trip back was equally as fun - the fog was so bad I legitimately could use my hazard lights!