Nottingham,
Apr. 6, 1999
By CHRIS
STRAW
This was
my second time of seeing silverchair this year, having witnessed
their knockout show in London just two months before. The
run up to the show was going to be extra special for me, I
am the music programmer for Sheffield based commercial radio
station Hallam FM and a self-confessed 'chair "freak."
Through Sony I had arranged a 30 minute one to one interview
with Daniel for use on the radio station at a later date.
I arrived
at Rock City in good time for my 6pm appointment with my rock
hero. A group of around 30 people was already waiting on the
steps as I got there. Some had obviously come a long way,
I overheard someone with an American accent describing how
there were never any fans on silverchair's flights.
My Sony
representative, Glenn, met me at the door and took me inside
the venue. He explained that the guys had just finished soundchecking
and that I could more or less get straight down to the interview.
He took me backstage and went off to find Daniel.
Moments
later they returned, Glenn introduced us to each other and
Daniel greeted me with a handshake and a "Hi." I've
read several reviews lately where people have criticised Daniel's
"arrogant" attitude. Let me be the first to come
to his defence, in my job you meet dozens of rock performers
and I'm well qualified to say that Daniel is the nicest you
will ever meet. Any "attitude" he gives onstage
is part of something rare these days, being a real rock performer.
Just think how dull it would be if he stood motionless, didn't
make gestures or those sometimes bemusing little speeches.
Offstage, he's a very quiet, friendly and extremely likeable
person.
We chatted
about a variety of subjects including the new songs, playing
live, animal liberation and of course, Sweep. He wore a shy
little grin all the way through the interview and gave open
and considered answers to all my questions. I purposely didn't
tell him I was a huge fan as I didn't want to come across
that way to him, although by the depth of questioning he must
have suspected! At the end of our chat I asked him to sign
a few things including my new Anthem t-shirt which had arrived
from the L.A.S that very morning. After that, we shook hands
again, said goodbye and I went away feeling so pleased that
my rock hero had more than lived up to my expectations. Meeting
rock performers is so often a very disappointing experience.
After
the interview I met up with more people from Sony and we went
back to the venue in time to see the first support band Fungus.
I don't envy any band the job of supporting the 'chair as
the fans are there for one purpose alone, to see Daniel, Ben
and Chris. Having said that, Fungus were well received as
were Fuel 238 who put in a great performance of their up and
coming single Shimmer.
About
30 minutes after Fuel 238 left the stage the lights went down
revealing the neon tubes around silverchair's equipment. The
familiar Taxi Driver intro played over the P.A. and the guys
appeared going straight into Emotion Sickness. A pillar blocked
my fist views of Chris and Ben, but I could see that Daniel
was wearing his now familiar ballroom shirt and silver tie.
From Emotion Sickness they went into a blinding version of
Israel's Son, with the crowd obeying Daniel's pleas to "put
your hands in the air."
During
Pure Massacre the guys had to stop mid-song after one of the
security guards appeared to kick a crowd surfer who had managed
to get onto the stage. I'm afraid I can't shed any more light
on what happened than Terry Pitt has done already except to
underline how brilliantly they got back into the song, if
it was a recording you could have edited out the pause and
not heard the join.
I first
played Ana's Song on the radio before it had been officially
promoted as the new single, judging by the enthusiastic live
response it got in Nottingham it was a good move, this track
has the potential to be a huge hit. Come on 'chair fans, harass
your local radio station and let's get it played!
Along
with the new songs it was great to hear a good splattering
of classics from the previous albums, Pure Massacre, Suicidal
Dream and Slave are still among my favourites and the 'chair
gave full on versions of all three. Daniel's solo version
of Tomorrow put a new slant on the old favourite, but I did
miss hearing Cemetery, still, they can't play every song every
time I guess.
Overall
Daniel didn't say a great deal except for how Nottingham is
a city that rocks, he kept saying "we love you"
over and over and made the usual request for "a hallelujah"
which was enthusiastically responded to by the crowd.
I think
Pete Walton summed it up perfectly in a recent review when
he said silverchair are "a class act." Here are
three guys who give 100% every time, the only contemporary
band who can stir huge emotions in one song and rock your
balls off with the next. All Australians should feel proud
that their country is home to the finest rock act in the world.
Finally,
thanks to Glenn and Catherine at Sony for securing the interview
and special thanks to Daniel, "yer a top lad" as
we say in Yorkshire.
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