Auckland
N.Z., Jan. 30, 1997
Story
and photos by DAVID MORRIS
 Having
been to see silverchair in Auckland previously in 1995, I
was expecting the same type of setup and atmosphere, but as
the night flowed on, more and more things surprised me.
We arrived
at The Powerstation in Auckland at about 7:30 p.m., and I
was surprised to see how small the venue was (silverchair
last played Auckland at the larger Logan Campbell Centre).
The Powerstation has two floors, with a mosh pit on the ground
floor, and an upstairs with a bar and tables for just "watching"
the show.
I guess
the first disappointment of the night was finding out that
Spiderbait was no longer playing as opening band. We were
never told a reason as to why they couldn't play, and i found
it weird, as they are also scheduled to play with silverchair
at The Burning in the Light Festival in Christchurch.
 The
crowd size and mixture of people in the crowd were also a
lot different from the '95 concert. There were a lot more
males, and generally older than the '95 crowd, when only about
10 percent of the crowd was male. This time, about half were
male.
There
seemed to be about 500 people in attendance, compared with
4,000 at the larger Campbell Centre in '95. It was interesting
that I didn't see this concert advertised in papers, radio
or TV.
Then came
the next surprise of the evening, we walked up to the downstairs
bar, and found water to be $1 a glass, So I guess if you got
hot in the mosh pit, you'd have to fork out the money for
a drink of water. This was weird as usually at concerts they
give water out for free, mainly I think to stop people fainting
and stuff from the heat! In the end, though, it didn't matter
as we found ourselves a woman working on the bar who gave
us a few free refills over the night!
The opening
band was a local band called Eye TV. We decided to go and
have a look upstairs, and have a drink. We found a table and
chairs and just bought one beer each ($5.50 a can is pretty
expensive!)
From upstairs
we had a good view of the stage. It was set up with the Freak
Show theme, with large backdrops with writing and pictures
of all the freaks. "Circus - The World's Greatest Show
- Side Show of Living Curiosities," said one banner.
Others were "Incredible Wonder of the World - Living,
Breathing, Speaking Head without a Body" and "Eccentricities
- Snake Wrestler and the 1,000 Volted Woman."
 After
our drinks we decided to go back downstairs as Eye TV were
about to finish, and had a look at the T-shirts for sale.
There were two kinds, the new orange Freak shirt with the
picture of "Snaz" on it, and also a green hand-dryer
one. There were also caps for sale. Prices were $30 for T-shirts
and $20 for caps.
silverchair
were due to start playing at 10:30 p.m., but since the format
was changed a bit, the circus music started playing at about
10:10 p.m., indicating the start of the show.
The guys
came out, and a lot of girls screamed. Daniel was wearing
the famous "Nobody knows I am a Lesbian" T-shirt
with long pants, Chris was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and
Ben was just wearing massive baggy shorts.
Then Daniel
faced Ben, and they broke into Slave. I think few people knew
the song, as the reaction from the crowd wasn't as strong
as when Madman opened the '95 show.
Next was
Leave Me Out, and that got the crowd going a little better.
I think more people were needed in the mosh pit, as 300-400
isn't enough for a good mosh.
The next
song was Freak and everybody really got into that song for
they knew it from the radio and having been already released
as a single.
Findaway
was next, and that seemed to go well, except I was stuck next
to a guy with dreadlocks, and all I can remember is having
to avoid them for this song!
After
Findaway, Daniel started talking to the crowd. Since he is
Australian, the New Zealand crowd just had to tease his accent.
One guy from the crowd asked him if he wanted any "fiesh
and chieps" in a pathetic Aussie accent. Daniel replied
in a even worse New Zealand accent, "No, I don't want
any fush en chups!" (Fish and chips are a common takeaway
food in New Zealand and Australia.)
Throughout
the night Daniel hassled the crowd a lot, and also got hassled
a lot back, but it was all in fun. For example, he was moaning
that the crowd was too quiet, and that the screams were too
high pitched, and in reply to that, some of the crowd got
a chant of "Smile, smile" going. Daniel's reply
was a small cheesy smile.
Abuse
Me and Cemetery were the next two songs played. I felt I was
the only person in the crowd who knew the songs, as not many
people were singing the words, or even moving.
Suicidal
Dream and Tomorrow got the crowd singing and moving again.
Then came The Door which was really wicked, I thought, and
was a good lead-up to my favourite song from frogstomp, Faultline.
Daniel
and a guy from the crowd worked out they are now boyfriends.
This all occurred when the guy from the crowd yelled out as
a joke, "I love you Daniel!" Daniel said to him,
"I love you too." Daniel then said to everyone in
the crowd, "I love you." But the same guy asked
him, "But you love me more, eh?" Daniel just laughed
and said to the crowd, "Yeah, he's my boyfriend!"
No Association
rocked and the crowd really got into it, but I was surprised
at how Pure Massacre got the crowd going. Most people went
crazy.
The last
three songs of the night were all quite good ones for the
crowd. They were Madman, during which Daniel and Chris ran
around everywhere, and Paranoid, a Black Sabbath cover.
Of course,
Israel's Son was last, but everyone really got into it, and
after it finished, everyone was ready for more, but Ben lead
the guys off stage by turning off all the amps, and Chris
followed. Daniel placed his guitar in front of an amp, then
left. The gig was over just before midnight.
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