London, Feb. 21, 1996

silverchair, The Astoria, London
By JIESELLE SIMONE URQUHART

silverchair really rocked the place from the minute they took the stage right until the very end.

The venue was pretty small and it was so packed that sweat was pouring from the ceiling and you could hardly breathe. The mosh pit was like a lion's den -- really savage and brutal. There were loads of girls there and even more fit boys! Some were my age (16 at the time) and some were in their 20s.

I'd really been looking forward to this gig as it would be the first time I would see the 'chair play live, and the first proper gig I would attend. OK, I had gone to Bon (shitty) Jovi's big stadium concert before that but I wouldn't call that crap a gig.

I thought the 'chair show would be good, but not as spectacular as it was. After the second support act, Everclear (who were pretty good), there was an enormous wait and then... silverchair came on.

They played a blinding set which included Findaway, Suicidal Dream, Leave Me Out, Faultline and Tomorrow. Madman found Daniel on the floor, bleeding fingers and all, scratching at his guitar.

Throughout their set, loads of people stagedived. They would get up past the security, run around the stage for a bit, jump up and down with Chris or Daniel, then dive off. There was loads of crowd surfing too -- my head got smashed up against the barrier at the front many times.

The best songs of the evening were the encore presentations of Pure Massacre and Israel's Son. Fuck! The way they played Israel's Son was like... wow!

They were so rad, and every single person in the place knew every single word to their songs. And because the venue was small, you would get Daniel singing on the loudspeakers with a few thousand singing at the same time, only twice as loud. So, you could just about hear what he was singing. As for what he was saying, I could barely understand a word of his high-pitched Australian accent, other than the fact that he swore so muchg! I remember thinking they're only 16 and Daniel swears so much -- too much, even! How could their parents let them get away with that? He told some joke about how they were going to play a "Blur - Boys vs Girls" song, which made Chris and Ben crack up.

By the encore, Daniel was really loving the way the crowd was reacting to each song. He slowed down Israel's Son in the middle and as he sang, "You're late for the execution," he held each of the words on the same tone for ages, with the crowd doing the same. Then he changed the tone, but the crowd followed!

I was so taken aback by the fashion in which they played that I straight away knew I wanted to learn the guitar. About a month later, I bought a really expensive guitar (even though I'd never touched one before that) purely based on going to see the 'chair play. I wanted to have all the power that they had on stage that enabled them to make the crowd react they way they did, and to be able to play and write songs like that.

They play great and are really inspiring, so go and see them for yourself then next time they come to your town.