Pheonix, May 10, 1997

Review by Katie (KTairwalk@aol.com)

On Saturday, May 10th, 2 of my close friends and I drove up to Phoenix to see silverchair in concert for my second time. (they were virgins to the sc experience) We got psyched in the car by listening to silverchair. My friend Marche who came doesn't know many of the silverchair songs, so to entertain ourselves, i tried to teach them to her which was rather amusing, she came up with her own verse of Israel's Son, that sounded like diddy Same i Am "israel's son i am i am, israel's son i am" which she in turn did sing at the show.

Anyway we arrived at Club Rio @ around 2:00pm, the show started at 3 (an early show!) We had to stand out in the scorching heat (around 100) of Arizona for about 30min. Then finally we were let in. I was a little leery about going in the mosh pit because of how aggressive I've seen em get on taped shows, but we decided to take our chances. The first band that opened up was called Automatic, a fellow Melbourne band, they were pretty good. All the girls went crazy of the lead singer... figures.

The crowd didn't mosh during Automatic except for about a one min. circle. during one song. After they were done i decided i didn't want to be in the pit for Local H , thank goodness i wasn't! I went and stood on this podium type thing with a rad view while Zach stayed and moshed and Marche came with me. The mosh was intense during Local H. Personally i thought they sucked! It was all screaming and you couldn't understand a word they said and i just wanted silverchair to come out! FINALLY the time came.

I saw the 3 aussie boys take the stage! My how they've changed sense last time i've seen them. Dan w/ the makeup and brow ring, Ben w/ no hair and no shirt, Chris w/ goatee and buzz...they sure are growing up! Silly me can't remember the set list exactly, but here's the songs i do remember:

Slave
Roses
Findaway
Abuse Me
Freak
No Association
Cemetery
Faultline
Pure Massacre
Suicidal Dream
Madman
Undecided

encore:
Paranoid
Israel's Son

The sound was amazing! It was especially loud and crisp! It was definitely better than the first time i saw them. You could hear every word dan said, every bass line, every drum beat, etc. Dan didn't talk too much though. I can't even remember a lot of the things he said, except for "Thanks a lot for being here". Before Abuse Me he said, "We're gonna bring someone out to play with us on this one, he used to be the lead guitarist from Black Sabbath [pause] that's Black Sabbath, did you hear me...Black Sabbath" (and i was about the only one cheering) "Black Sabbath....ROCK GODS!"

Then finally the crowd started cheering! They took another pause and Dan goes, "It's Scott's birthday (the lead singer/guitarist of Local H) so we're gonna sing him happy birthday." The crowd starts cheering, then Dan says "Ben...hey BEN ...would u like to come down here and sing too?" Ben nods and came to the mic. The two in there aussie accents and the crowd sang happy birthday all as one. (I felt kinda bad for Chris though, he seemed so left out). A little while later I look over to the side of the stage and see ...as sc say..."a big buff guy" standing there... and i realize hey, that's Watson! Then BOOM, I realized another thing...that guy had come up behind me earlier that night and put his hand on the small of my back and said "Excuse me miss" to get through!!! I couldn't believe it...u know...it's just kinda neat that Watson, you know...touched me. hehe.

So then silverchair left the stage. Of course they were standing on the side getting ready for the encore. I was trying to start up the "SIL-VER-CHAIR" chant but no one seemed to be into yelling....I was very disappointed in the audience! Regardless..they came back on. Scott joined them and dan took the mic and said "we're gonna play a Black Sabbath song called Paranoid and Scott's gonna play guitar" so there was Dan singing with the mic only...no guitar jumping around the stage like I've never seen before! I just watched in astonishment, amazement, and I was being mesmerized! I never knew Dan could move like he was! He was jumping, squirming, contorting his body! It was CRAZY! but absolutely rad! Then they ended with Israel's Son and that was it. It was an absolutely amazing show and I've never heard them sound so good in my life....but how could it be bad...it's silverchair! After the show i had a little "personal" experience.

We were waiting out by the bus for the band. Finally they came out....looking just dandy! Of course all these girls started screaming "DAN I LOVE U.... CHRIS.... BEN... AHHHHH" but i just said "hey, how's it going, have a nice trip, you guys were good" and of course they probably didn't hear me...but it was worth a try. So then i see some girls standing by the side of the bus so i casually walked over there. Then all these chicks spotted me and flowed me. Ben was at the window of the bus signing autographs.

I didn't have anything to sign so i just talked to him, I said "HEY! hi. i like the hair cut...very flattering" ben: thanks, hahaha me: welcome, hey... do u know pete walton!? ben: yea! me: cool. i do too...kinda. ben: haha, cool. Then there was this little kid in the bus w/ ben and sense everyone was getting ben's autograph i said "hey! i want the little kids autograph" ben and everyone else laughed. But that was about it. The End . :)

Review by David Hare (LAZYKAT@aol.com)

Well, We got there at about 2:45 cause the ticket said the show started at 3:00 but they lied... Automatic was first... there was a little schedule for the mixer, which said what times the bands were coming on at.... 3:30 is when Local H came on... they were pretty good... considering the only song i knew was that one they play on the radio... silverchair was to perform at 4:45.... I kept looking back at the little clock they had for the stamp check-out thing if you worked there. Once silverchair came on with Slave... I said "Off I go" and I went into the pit...the pit wasn't that bad... just manly jumping and a little pushing and shoving now and then.. I was totally expecting Ben's hair to be gone.. because you (Chairpage) told us that he was bald.

You couldn't really hear what he was saying when he talked just that like sometimes... he said "this is off out latest LP...track 5" right then I knew that it was No Association, which I love. After Local H got done, I went back stage to see what was gong on, maybe get an autograph of Scott(Local H singer/guitars) which I saw him and had him sign my ticket. It said "Hi Yall Scott" there was hardly anyone getting autographs... then i told my friend and after that there was tons.. Anyways... when silverchair was done I was soaked and my friends said that afterwards they went backstage and got some autographs.. and talk to silverchair.. I was so jealous. My friends and I play all of silverchair songs.. and we have a awesome singer who sounds just like Dan. I play the Guitar.

They sang happy b-day to scott and Hum... the speakers were louder then crap, I was deaf afterwards, but it was worth it.. They played all their good songs, it was a blast. The coolest thing was during Suicidal Dream there was a pause then the tap on the Hat. I raised my hand then pretended to tap it and so did Daniel.. he looked at me straight in the eyes because I was the only one with my hand up... and i did the exact same thing he did... it was awesome.... The closest I was ever to him was about 6 feet.. but i was all good. I think that silverchair should come next year and maybe meet me and my friends. It would be a blast... Well that was just some more info. into the Silverchair concert. Any questions just email me... or if you could talk silverchair into meeting us.. Hasta