Munich, Sep. 3, 1999

Set list:

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

By KATRIN MAKOSCH

It was one of the last open air concerts in Germany for this Millennium: The Open Air in the Kunstpark Ost in Munich. silverchair among other bands like Lit and Joe Strummer had been invited by the Offspring to open their show.

The concert started at about 4pm. The band A, which isn't a very well known band outside the UK, was first. I was very surprised, though, as they played a song I had heard before. They pumped up the crowd all right and I enjoyed them.

The next band was Lit from California. I hadn't heard of this band before and as it turned out there were only a few people who knew their album. Although lead singer A. Jay Popoff commented this lack of fans with: "I see, we have a lot of work to do!", they were already received well by the crowd after their first song. I didn't like them all that much, though. Perhaps because I was more busy with not getting pushed away from my great spot right in front of the mice about four rows away from the stage.

Then silverchair's crew started to set up their stuff. Now people from the back rows started pushing and I got even further to the front, but also more to the left. Finally silverchair came on stage and started with a powerful version of Israel's Son. The crowd was wild and sang along all the time. I think the band felt the energy of the crowd as they rocked like crazy. It seemed that especially Ben and Chris enjoyed it since they were smiling a lot, and Daniel was telling us: "Munich is great!" He seemed more talkative than at the Easter Rock night in Düsseldorf I had seen on TV.

Daniel surprised the crowd by counting to ten in German (well, nine, the crowd had to help him with "ten") and saying some other German words. "You see, I'm working hard for you." After Madman, Daniel wanted to know who believed in the mighty power of Jesus. No response. Daniel: "No one"? Well, who believes in Satan?" Lots of guys yelled and put their hands in the air. Daniel waited until they calmed down again and then said: "Nah, you don't." He explained that it is a manlike thing to say that you believe in Satan. "We don't believe in anything but rock 'n roll!" Yelling then Daniel asked for the triple hallelujah before starting of with The Door.

As their last song they played Anthem For The Year 2000 and Daniel wanted the crowd to sing "We are the youth" several times before really starting the song. The crowd was so enthusiastic that it just took off with "...we'll take your fascism away...", so that Daniel had to start again, but then everything worked out just fine. Even though the crowd was demanding "Zugabe" (Encore), silverchair didn't come back on stage. It was an awesome show and I enjoyed it heaps!

Before the Offspring had their show, the audience had as most (especially young) people thought of it to "suffer" from Joe Strummer, a member of the former band The Clash. silverchair had covered the song "London's Burning" on The Clash Tribute. It wasn't the kind of music that fitted into the style of the concert, and most of the younger ones sat in a hall close to the stage waiting for Joe Strummer to finish his set. I've seen Dexter Holland standing close to the stage and listening to the whole set. After the Offspring had played their first song, Dexter wanted everyone to say that they love Joe Strummer, because he would be a genius. Even after the second demand people filled in the f-word for the "love". It's sad that Joe couldn't have a normal show and people didn't respect him, but this show was just the wrong place to be at for him.

Anyway, The Offspring had a great show. The audience was a single mosh pit. I liked the little parts they had in between the songs like when Dexter Holland pointed a fire hose at the crowd to cool it down or he knocked down Backstreet Boys dolls with a plastic baseball bat. I really enjoyed them, even though I'm not a fan and don't like the music that much.

The concert was a blast. I think all silverchair fans who attended the open air wish that the band gets their next album done quickly, so we'll see them again as soon as possible.

Thanks for your music guys!