Amsterdam, Aug. 15, 1997

By JOLANDA

Seventeen months after playing the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands, for the first time, the 'chair returned for yet another sold out show in this little country.

The Paradiso is a very cool place to see a show even though "cool" was not a word to describe the temperature inside the venue. The band seemed to enjoy themselves and Daniel talked a lot.

The support band was a Dutch band called Run Piggy Run. I believe that if there had been more room to move, I would have run away as fast as I could, but that's just my opinion (though it was apparently shared by many).

There was a great vibe in the Paradiso and to my surprise, there were a lot of male fans there unlike last year. After the support band had finally completed their set, my friend Ellen and I spotted John Watson on the stage. He seemed to be playing roadie for the band, checking Ben`s drums and Chris' bass. When the football anthem started you could hear all the people go insane.

As always the show started with Slave followed by Leave Me Out and Findaway. Daniel then said, "Hey, word up. Amsterdam... smokes lots of drugs." He again introduced Bailey Holloway as Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath and said that the song they were about to play was a crowd favorite. The crowd was singing along so loud to Abuse Me that I could not believe it. It was great!

Pure Massacre was up next and then Daniel said, "Hey, you guys rock, what? Oh yeah, I'm ready for another power ballad. My silver guitar? My silver guitar is broken. Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you the story later."

Cemetery, Pop Song For Us Rejects, Suicidal Dream and Tomorrow followed. Tomorrow had the "normal" lyrics: "You think you can keep on going living like a king."

When Bailey handed Daniel his guitar, Daniel said, "That's Bailey, MISTER Bailey Holloway. Striking resemblance to Toni Iommi, don`t you think? I do. "All right, are you ready to hear the story about my silver guitar? Um, it's broken, and... wanna know how it broke? This army of prawns attacked our tour bus -- WAIT! It's not finished! Shut up! Shut up, I haven't finished! Do you wanna hear what the prawns did or not? Yeah? All right, these prawns took my guitar and started playing um, various national anthems... to 50,000 people before torching the guitar and um, disposing the strings around a young giraffe's neck. The giraffe died, unfortunately, from being strangled and the army of prawns lived happily ever after. Thanks.

"All right, are you ready to rock? All right, this is a Bon Jovi song." (Sounds of protest from the crowd.) "Oh, I'm just kidding. Just joking. It's a silverchair song, ready?"

The Door and Faultline were next.

Daniel: "Hey! Oh!" (He waited for the crowd to repeat what he said.)
Daniel: "Yeah!"
Crowd : "Yeah!"
Daniel: "Holy fuck!"
Crowd : "Holy fuck!"
Daniel: "It's so fucking hot!"
Crowd : "It's so fucking hot!"
Daniel: "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Crowd : "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Daniel: "Sweating my balls off."
Crowd : "Sweating my balls off."
Daniel: "If any girls sang that, you've got a fucking problem! But if there is any girls here with balls, no, listen, wait! If there are any girls here with balls they've got a free backstage pass. They come up on stage and -- WAIT! SHUT UP! You've gotta hear first what you gotta do and then you might change your mind! You've gotta demonstrate the helicopter, with your pants down to swing your balls, that's... wait! That's NO penis! You gotta be a girl just with balls! If there is anybody out there with that deformity, WE LOVE YOU! Want some water? All right."

Next came No Association, Freak and Madman before the guys left the stage for about 10 minutes. Ben then walked on stage and stoods in front of Daniel's microphone.

"Hey, I wanna sing a song," Ben said. "All right, I'm gonna sing the first line and you gotta copy me, all right? She is the lady in red, and she likes it in the bed. She's the lady in red and she likes it in the bed, na na na na. She's the lady in pink and she makes your fingers stink, she's the lady in pink and she makes your fingers stink, sha na na na na naa, nananananahhhhhh."

This was hilarious -- I could not stop laughing!

Ben got back behind the drums and the band kicked in to Nobody Came. The last song was Israel's Son and Daniel left the stage last as always.

Another show was over and it was time to go home. Outside the venue, loads of girls were waiting to catch a final glimpse of the band before they got in their tour bus. We left the venue with smiles on our faces and only happy thoughts. I still think the shows are over way too fast, but oh well -- there is always next time!

Set List:
Slave
Leave Me Out
Findaway
Abuse Me
Pure Massacre
Cemetery
Pop Song For Us Rejects
Suicidal Dream
Tomorrow
The Door
Faultline
Freak
No Association
Madman

Nobody Came
Israel's Son