Nimes, Aug. 25, 1999

Set List:

Emotion Sickness
Israel's Son
Slave
Pure Massacre
Ana's Song (Open Fire)
Miss You Love
Madman
The Door
Freak
Anthem For The Year 2000

By DENIS BOURDON

Photo by LAUREN ESPIE

silverchair was invited by the Red Hot Chili Peppers to open for them in a few dates in Europe, and the last one was located in southern France, near the Riviera, in the ancient arena which gave the whole concert a marvellous setting; this amphitheatre contained 11.000 spectators, among which the majority was looking forward to seeing the Chili Peppers as it had been announced very late silverchair will open for them.

Under a sunny sky, there were not so many people during the afternoon. We listened to the sound check, RHCP played Parallel Universe and Otherside (not sure about this one), and silverchair played a song that we supposed to be a cover of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, then Spawn Again (Daniel was not singing) and Emotion Sickness. The door opened at 6:30 p.m., we listened to Eel's EP two or three times (!) and the first band (Jah Wobbles or something like that) came on stage for one song lasting 30 minutes; it was bass and drums plus bagpipes, flutes and other traditional instruments. The sound was bad, it was boring and the audience got soon pissed off of this noise; but it didn't avoid us to begin "holas" as we call them here, it's a tradition born in the football stadiums with the people getting up and down like a wave in the crowd.

Before silverchair, there were three rock hits which really warmed up the audience: Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n'Roses, Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols and finally the loud Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine.

Then began the Taxi Driver dialogue, and Ben, Chris, Daniel and Sam came on stage and broke into what used to be their final live song for years, Israel's Son. Daniel, wearing a silver shirt, had his voice charged with emotion. He was playing his black Les Paul Custom, through his two Soldano heads (one black and one purple) and Marshall vintage amps. Then came my favorite song from Neon Ballroom at the moment, Emotion Sickness; unfortunately, we were with a few friends on the front row just between Sam and Daniel, and it was pretty hard to hear the keyboard.

Slave was next with Daniel playing his green PRS; the song was particularly slow; it was followed by Pure Massacre, another hit from frogstomp.

Then came the two "quiet" songs of the set, Ana's Song (Open Fire) and Miss You Love. Then Ben took a camera and took a picture of the crowd and the arena, which was quite fun. Daniel tried to speak a little bit French, counting from 1 to 10 as usual, but also speaking of cheese, "fromage" in French.

Madman kicked the mosh pit, it was really heavy, especially because Chris and Daniel were kinda playing with the audience in rhythm with the drum beat.

We got the "give me a hallelujah" before an extraordinary version of The Door. During Freak, Daniel made the spectators sing, as well as during Anthem For The Year 2000 for the first lyrics "We are the youth". Then they escaped without saying goodbye or whatever, but the set list was good and we all really enjoyed the show. It lasted 50 minutes, which is quite long for guests.

Then came on stage the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for only 55 minutes and only one encore, most of the crowd was pretty disappointed as they were not very communicative with the audience, but one has to recognize that they're really good musicians, with their former guitarist back. Flea was really impressive. Among the songs, there were Around the World, Give It Away, Scar Tissue, Under the Bridge and so on.

After the show, we distributed leaflets about the new French official fan club that I run with some other friends (if you live in France and if you're interested in, write to me).

Finally, we reached sc's tour bus quite easily as lots of other fans and Ben was speaking to us very easily, signing autographs, etc., and Sam joined him later and he was very nice with us too. Chris was inside playing Playstation video games and Daniel was upstairs. I talked with Holloway about guitar gear and it was really interesting. The tour bus left at 1 a.m. for England to go to the Leeds and Reading festivals, before coming back in Paris in one week!

Par DENIS BOURDON

silverchair était les invités des Red Hot Chili Peppers pour assurer l'ouverture de quelques-unes de leurs dates en Europe dont le dernier se déroulait dans le sud de la France, près de la Côte-d'Azur, à Nîmes dans les Arènes, ce qui constituait un cadre fantastique pour le concert ; cet amphithéâtre rassemblait 11000 spectateurs, dont la majorité était venue pour les Red Hot puisque la venue de silverchair avait été annoncée tardivement.

Sous un ciel de plomb, il n'y avait pas tant de monde que ça cet après-midi-là. On pouvait entendre les séances de balance son, RHCP joua Parallel Universe et Otherside (je crois!) et silvechair joue une chanson que l'on pense être une reprise de Kashmir de Led Zeppelin, puis Spawn Again (Daniel ne chantait pas) et Emotion Sickness. Les portes ouvrirent à 6h30 ; on entendait l'album de Eels deux ou trois fois (!) et le premier groupe (Jah Wobbles ou quelque chose comme ça) monta sur scène pour une chanson longue de 30 minutes ; c'était un groupe regroupant basse, batterie, cornemuse, flûte et autres instrument traditionnels. Le son était mauvais, leur musique ennuyeuse et les spectateurs s'ennuyèrent vite de ce bruit ; mais cela ne les empêcha pas de lancer des holas dans les tribunes.

Avant silverchair, il y eut trois hits qui chauffèrent le public : Welcome to the Jungle de Guns n'Roses, Pretty Vacant des Sex Pistols et enfin Killing in the Name par Rage Against the Machine.

Ensuite le dialogue de Taxi Driver (« You're talking to me ? ») commença, et Ben, Chris, Daniel et Sam entrèrent en scène et entamèrent le titre qui était auparavant leur dernière chanson en concert, Irael's Son. Daniel, qui portait une chemise pailletée argent, dégageait une certaine émotion en chantant. Il jouait sur sa Gibson Les Paul Custom noire, branchée sur deux têtes Soldano (une noire et une violette) et quatre hauts-parleurs Marshall vintage ; malheureusement, nous étions avec quelques amis au premier rang, entre Sam et Daniel, et on avait du mal à entendre le clavier.

Puis vient Slave, Daniel jouait sur sa PRS verte ; la chanson était particulièrement lente ; elle fut suivie par Pure Massacre, un autre titre de frogstomp.

Ensuite, ce fut les deux chansons plus « calmes » du set, Ana's Song (Open Fire) et Miss You Love

Puis Ben prit avec un appareil une photo du public et des arènes, ce qui était assez sympa. Daniel essaya de parler un peu en français, comptant de 1 à 10 comme à l'habitude, mais aussi parlant de « fromage ».

Madman excita la fosse, ce fut très puissant, en particulier puisque Chris et Daniel jouaient en quelque sorte avec le public, bougeant en rythme avec le ryhtme de la batterie.

Nous avons eu droit au traditionnel "give me a hallelujah" avant une extraordinaire version de The Door. Pendant Freak, Daniel nous fît chanter, ainsi que sur Anthem For The Year 2000 pour les premières paroles "We are the youth". Puis ils quittèrent la scène sans dire au revoir ni quoi que ce soit, mais la set-list était bonne et nous avons tous vraiment aimé le concert. Il aura duré 50 minutes, ce qui est particulièrement long pour une prmeière partie.

Puis les Red Hot Chili Peppers apparurent sur scène pour seulement 55 minutes et un unique rappel ; la majorité du public était assez déçu car ils n'étaient pas communicatifs avec le public, mais on doit reconnaître que ce sont de très bons musiciens, notamment avec leur ancien guitariste de retour. Flea était très impressionnant. Parmi les chansons, il y avait Around the World, Give It Away, Scar Tissue, Under the Bridge, etc...

Après le concert, nous avons distribué les tracts du nouveau fan club français officiel que je dirige avec d'autres amis (si vous habitez en France et que vous êtes intéressez, écrivez-moi).

Enfin, nous atteignirent le car de tournée de sc assez facilement comme d'autres fans, et Ben nous parlait sans priblème, signait des autographes, etc... et Sam le rejoignit plus tard et il était très gentil avec nous également. Chris, à l'intérieur, jouait aux jeux vidéos sur une Playstation et Daniel était à l'étage. J'ai pu parler avec Holloway du matériel de guitare et ce fut très intéressant. Le bus partit à 1h du matin pour l'Angleterre afin de se rendre aux festivals de Leeds et Reading, avant de revenir à Paris dans une semaine!

silverchair's concert in Nîmes was the best day of my life.

They began with Israel's Son and the crowd was jumping. After a few songs, Daniel said "thank you" then he started speaking french.

"Un de toua cat sink si set oui neu di, fromage, merci, bonsoir la France," he said. (That means "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, cheese, thank you, hello France.")

Ben took a picture of the crowd. Before finishing the gig, Daniel asked us if we believed in Jesus (nobody really screamed "yeah" just because they didn't understand), if we believed in Satan and if we liked Nintendo, Sega or Playstation. I screamed "yeah" even though I don't like video games.

Daniel screamed "can I get a hallelujah?" maybe three times and then, "can I get a hallefuckinglujah?" When they started playing Madman everybody got crazy. And they unfortunately finished the concert without saying goodbye. No matter -- it was a really cool concert, and silverchair still rules!

After the Red Hot Chili Peppers played, we ran to see silverchair outside but someone told us that they had already left. But we saw Sam going out of the bus and took a picture with him. Ben came along and my friend and I spoke to him for a long time. He is really cool. (Daniel was sleeping and Chris was playing Playstation.)

Someone asked us to go away but we went on the other side of the bus, and through the window we saw Chris and Daniel's brother. Through the black window we saw Ben looking at us. He took a picture of us. He came out of the bus and talked to us again. I hope that they are coming back to France soon!