In an unusual move the shows will take place in ornate theatres such as Sydney’s State Theatre and Melbourne’s Palais, rather than in the standard rock venues usually favoured by the Newcastle trio in the 1990’s. These theatres were chosen to provide a different kind of musical experience that is more in keeping with the unconventional stylings of Silverchair’s ambitious new album, “Diorama”.

In a move befitting both the venues and the tour’s title, “Across The Night”, the group will deliver a two-part show with an intermission in between their sets. The first part of the show will focus mainly on quieter and more experimental material. After a brief interval the band will return to the stage and perform more of the heavier rock songs on which they built their formidable live reputation.

The dates are as follows:

All of these shows will be presented by Channel [V] and Triple J.

The announcement of the “Across The Night” tour marks another highlight in a rollercoaster year for Silverchair. In April 2002 the band launched their groundbreaking album “Diorama”. The disc entered the national charts at #1 and attracted the best reviews of the group’s career. However, not long after this strong debut, the album’s international release was severely impeded. The band was completely unable to undertake any concerts or promotional tours due to singer/songwriter Daniel Johns’ battle with reactive arthritis and this situation was deeply frustrating for all concerned. Then in October, following intensive treatment, Daniel made a triumphant return to the public stage at the ARIA Awards in Sydney. He and the band performed their hit “The Greatest View” and won six categories including “Best Rock Album” and “Best Group”. Since that night Daniel has recovered further, and “Diorama” has returned to the national top 20.

Chairpage can exclusively reveal that plans are also currently coming together for some limited overseas dates in 2003. Some regional shows in Australia are also a possibility. Details of those shows may not be announced until early in the new year.

The band’s manager, John Watson, said the following exclusively to chairpage…

“Ben, Chris and Daniel are really keen to get back to playing lots of shows overseas and in regional Australia like they did on all their previous albums. However, we don’t want to put too much pressure on Daniel right now. He’s only just gotten his health back so we need to take things one step at a time. Hopefully these Aussie dates will be just the start of a lot more shows in the new year for Silverchair.”

In the meantime, the band will do a webchat with this website over the coming weeks to answer fan questions about the tour and the year that was. Silverchair are also committed to providing some streaming of an Australian show so that fans in regional areas and overseas can get an earlier taste of how “Diorama” sounds live.