SILVERCHAIR ROCK IN RIO!

Set List:
Israel's Son
Paint Pastel Princess
Slave
Pure Massacre
Emotion Sickness
Hollywood
Ana's Song (Open Fire)
Miss You Love
One Way Mule
The Door
Faultline
Anthem For The Year 2000
Freak

The expectations in Rio for that night of the 21'st of January were high. Besides the national bands, the Deftones, silverchair and the RHCP were booked and promising the shows of a lifetime. By 3pm the crowd outside the gates of Rock City ('Cidade do Rock' in Portuguese) was immense and impatient to get in. The shows weren't actually going to start until 6pm but when you're in a crowd of 250,000 people, it's almost impossible to reach the front if you start from the back so getting there early was more than a good idea.

Walking through the crowd, holding my proud 'silverchair' flag, many people stopped to comment, "You wave that flag high for Daniel!" or "silverchair rocks!", and I'd nod my agreement, satisfied there was a great number of silverchair fans there. However, I'm sorry to inform that my flag didn't make it through the night. With all the water being thrown on the public to cool us down (which was so much like being under a shower people started shouting "Throw the soap!" or "Towels! Towels! Towels!"), and all the pushing and shoving during the shows preceding silverchair, it wasn't half way through the festival that I had to put it away otherwise it would be torn to shreds. But I was sure I'd make up for it... somehow!

The first time the announcer started naming the bands there that night and asking the public to cheer for their favorites, he hadn't barely said "And directly from Australia..." that deafening screams and cheers of delight (especially from myself) could be heard. They were even louder when he actually said "silverchair!". So I expect you can imagine what happened once "silverchair" showed up on the screen behind the stage, announcing their arrival. Now, double that and you'll get the response silverchair heard when they walked on stage and Chris started playing the intro to 'Israel's Son'.

Personally, I almost screamed my lungs out while singing and jumping like crazy so I was out of breath halfway through the song, not that it made much difference. I did get some half-startled, half-amused looks from the guys around me as if they'd never seen a girl so enthusiastic before... and they probably hadn't. What got wierd looks from me however, and looks of pure awe, was Daniel singing for the second time "you will be dead when I'm through...". He went so high pitched, but so high pitched, I not only got shivers down my spine, I could've sworn Daniel could make a career as an opera singer! It's at times like those you realize just how much talent the group has and how it was meant to be that they are doing what they are doing right now. Daniel followed that with a normal "Get up!", and the crowd obediently started jumping and screaming "woo! woo! woo!" to the beat of the song. And once Daniel started singing "Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air!", absolutely everyone in the whole crowd of 250,000 people lifted up their hands and/or banged their fists forward in the air to the beat of the song. And as no less could be expected with all the adrenaline the band had managed to get out of the crowd up to now, the crowd accompanied Daniel singing in a chorus "I am, I am Israel's son! Israel's son I am! Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air!". Well, what better way to end that other than having Daniel swing his arms repeatedly in a circle, playing the guitar and adding a new riff? None, I say... as the crowd said when they cheered as loud as they did once the song ended.

After that, silverchair broke off into 'Paint Pastel Princess' which was quite a relief for us because it would give us time to recompose ourselves so we could at least find the energy to jump again on the next heavy song. I hope Daniel didn't notice the lack of enthusiasm during that song... though I think he did as during the first break he got from singing he said "Ae! Come on, Rio!" ('Ae' is like 'hey' in Portuguese). And during that same break, Daniel added a new riff as he played near the amps. He also took advantage of that song to play around with his voice some more though he didn't pull off anything like he did during 'Israel's Son'.

During the break between that and the next song, Daniel decided to talk to the public. "Obrigado!" brought a roar of cheers ('Obrigado' means 'thank you' in Portuguese) which was even louder when they recognized the intro to 'Slave'. As the song started, Chris jumped up as high as he could and started head banging as usual with Ben slamming down on the drums already covered in sweat like he'd just come out of the pool. The band repeated the riff between the chorus and the second verse about five times (poor Ben) to see if they could get the crowd up again because they were still a bit out of breath so they weren't doing much jumping. We were singing however, which was quite clear when Daniel stopped playing the guitar during the second half of the second verse and just sang before going back to the chorus with renewed enthusiasm and screaming "Get up!". That got at least part of the crowd jumping again, including me. Daniel started dancing once they got to the part of the chorus which he doesn't sing in and he took the opportunity to say something though I didn't quite understand it. I think it was something like "Right, get up now!". They finished the song with a new riff and broke straight into 'Pure Massacre' which brought delighted screams from the public again.

This song everyone sang, and quite enthusiastically, which was quite clear from the stage (looking back at the tape I have of the show I recorded from the TV). Daniel's "Get up!" just as Chris and Ben came into the song only made that response even bigger and louder. Daniel started playing with his voice again a little and the song went on with little change. I was lifted on my brother's shoulder during the song and it was amazing. Just seeing all those people singing and jumping and doing whatever below you and seeing that huge stage with the band on it was incredible. It took me a few seconds to snap out of it and start cheering and singing again. If I could describe it all in one word it would be 'beautiful', in every sense. Again, there was a roar of cheers once the song ended which intensified considerably with an "Obrigado, Rio." from Daniel. "Nós somos silverchair." only repeated the response (that means "We are silverchair.") followed by "Alright, thanks-thanks everyone. That's English for obrigado.".

Next, they started playing 'Emotion Sickness' to the surprise and delight of the crowd as absolutely everyone started clapping over their heads to the fast beat of the drums Ben was leading. The look on Chris's face was a bit awed at that and Daniel started playing with his voice again which was a great sign. Daniel also started adding some cool new riffs which I thought fit in great. The crowd was singing along and they started screaming along once Daniel started "Get up! Get up!", something only audible to someone in the audience, however, because Daniel was also screaming. Once the song ended, and the cheers faded, Ben started the intro to 'Hollywood'.

Just before coming in with the guitar, Daniel said "Sing this song.". The crowd didn't do much of that however, they just stood there listening and absorbing as much of the new song as they could. Daniel was enjoying himself too, as he danced to the whole entire song with its jumpy rhythm. The cheers after the song however, expressed the crowd's thanks. We all enjoyed it very much. Next Daniel started talking again but I didn't understand part of it. He said something like "Yeah, obrigado everyone. F... f*cking ... t..." ah forget it. Whatever it was, I don't think it was that important. Anyway, he continued "Chris has got his video camera out, so everyone smile." There weren't many cheers as I don't think half the people even understood what he had said. "Smile at Chris! Everyone cheer for Chris! After three! One, two, three! For Chris!" The cheers got a little louder at that, and Chris smiled and waved back. "Chris plays base. He's the base player. silverchair! Oh yeah, silverchair!" More cheers though not that many. "I'm just killing time 'cause I'm out of breath. We've only played- you know, this is our only show this year. So you're very fucking lucky, Rio! Oh yeah, very lucky! But just give me a cheer if you think you're lucky!" As most of the crowd wasn't understanding what he was saying as only a portion know English and an even smaller one understand it with an Australian accent, the cheers weren't very satisfactory. "Alright, no, don't cheer if you don't want to. Cheer if you saw Guns n' Roses and you thought you were fucking lucky then." Again, there were barely any cheers so I think Daniel realized no one was really understanding a thing. "Yeah, alright, whatever. Ah... this is a song off our last album."

And with that, he broke off into 'Ana's Song (Open Fire)' much to the delight of the public who cheered it and sang along with it. This was one of the times when the singing was the most audible. Daniel started playing around with his voice again and the cheers that followed the end of the song were very loud and everyone had their hands up.

When Daniel started playing 'Miss You Love' there was an immediate roar of cheers as the crowd recognized the song. The singing was as loud as ever and swaying arms covered the public with the odd girl sitting on someone's shoulder crying her eyes out. They filmed one such, who was holding a navy blue shirt up with "We are the youth." printed on it. I was way too excited to cry but I tell you, once it hit me, there was no stopping it. Daniel seemed content again as he played around with his voice. Deafening cheers followed the song and Daniel decided to start talking again. Someone started playing a little base riff and I don't think it was Chris by Daniel's reaction (and he was facing the opposite direction from Chris). "Whoever the fuck is playing base, shut the fuck up. silverchair on stage, we now fucking own this place... I'm just joking, don't worry, I was just joking. We don't own it. You own it. It's your fucking country... This is a new song as well, ok? So, um, this is dedicated to Ronaldo. He's our friend. We're friends with Ronaldo, you fucking soccer star! He's our friend! Yeah, let's cheer for Ronaldo!" Barely any cheers. "Yeah, alright. Thanks."

Next they broke into 'One Way Mule'. The song is heavy and it's great. The crowd cheered it a lot once it finished and clapped. After the song, Daniel started talking again. "Oi!" (that means 'hi'). The crowd replied in unision quite loudly "Oi!" as if to make up for the rest they weren't able to understand. Daniel seemed a bit half-surprised and half-amused at that. "Yeah! You react to something! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Fucking oi!" The crowd answered again with the same strength. "Alright, um, this next song is off our second album. 'Cause we've got three... three albums. So, this is in the middle. Two... Alright, do you want to- oh, fuck it. We're just going to play music. Hey, are you fuckers ready to jump? Are you ready for rock n' roll action? Come on, Rio! Are you fucking ready for rock n' roll action!?" Cheers. "Oh yeah, that's why you're here. You're here to Rock-In-Rio. For world peace, and for peace in Rio... and all the rest of your country. I don't know.. Brazil maybe, yeah? Brazil. 'Cause you don't like certain places and they don't like you but that's cool. Because you've gonna be peaceful, alright? It's all about peace. Sometimes it's about peace, sometimes... you need to be violent" He mumbled that last part so I had to rerun the tape quite a few times to understand it. "Alright, you ready?" And with that he broke into 'The Door'.

Daniel played around with his voice some and jumped around a little and the crowd seemed to like the song. In the middle of it, Daniel introduced the touring keyboardist "Sam Hollaway". The band broke off into 'Faultline' immediately after and even I was caught by surprise. Daniel played around with his voice, danced, and at one point said "Alright, Rio, let's fucking go!". With that he held his guitar near the amps, trying to get feedback before going back to finish off the song, adding a few modifications to the riffs and making the crowd go wild. As the crowd cheered the song, the band started the special effects which precede 'Anthem For The Year 2000'. As soon as the crowd recognized the song, they began banging their fists forward in the air in response. Then, while Ben beat at the drums, Daniel had the crowd clapping over their heads (and every single one of them was) while they sang the first verse on their own with no need of Daniel's help. Then Daniel started chanting "We are the youth!... We are the youth! Come on!" and telling the crowd to repeat after him and they did. They continued with the song and Daniel played around more with the lyrics than with his voice and by the end of it the crowd was delirious... though they did get momentarily distracted by the water being thrown on them to cool off. During the break Daniel started feeling talkative again. "Obrigado, Rio! You guys have been the biggest and the best crowd ever in the whole entire world! I don't know how to say that in your language, so... just understand. You fu- you rock! That's really good. This has been our first show for ages like, a few weeks, and it's crazy. So this is it."

Next Daniel began trying to get feedback from the amps again until finally he broke into the intro of 'Freak'. The crowd's response to this particular song was the best ever. Absolutely the whole entire mass of people started jumping together in continuous waves with the music and Daniel began playing around with his voice again just as he had done in 'Israel's Son'. He went from extremely high pitched - which at times sounded a bit like an old lady singing opera (sorry Daniel!), and the low pitch of trash metal. The crowd sang as loud as ever and could easily be heard over the music which was shaking even the big screen behind the band. After the awesome response silverchair got out of the public with the song 'Freak', Ben and Chris walked off stage and left Daniel working on his feedback. He lifted his guitar up high above his head as if to smash it down on the stage - and that certainly got people chanting "Quebra! Quebra! Quebra!" (translated: "Break it! Break it! Break it!") but to the crowd's disappointment, Daniel settled the guitar over the back of his shoulders and flipped it over his shoulders safely into his hands (Daniel just loves his guitars too much, doesn't he?) and placed it down on stage gently before walking off. Immediatly, the crowd began asking for more and chanting "silverchair! silverchair! silverchair!", but to their disappointment, again, they didn't come back and that was the end of it. To me it had seemed like it had all gone by too fast. I couldn't even believe silverchair had actually played thirteen songs. It seemed more like five or six at the most... but it was definitely more than worth all the pushing and shoving and being drenched and arriving back home covered in mud, starving, and thirsty. I came out of there with a feeling of mission accomplished. Hope you've enjoyed reading the review as much I have writing it.

By:
Anna Lydia Lemos
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.