Christchurch N.Z. (Westpac Trust Centre), April 4, 2002

Summer Jam with Rubicon, Tadpole, The Feelers, Che Fu and the Krates

Well to sum up the concert overall – Silverchair went OFF!! It was well and truly worth $31 just to see Silverchair alone. Things were delayed, since the first bands that were set to play didn’t have their equipment yet. Nevertheless, it was well worth the wait for Silverchair. I am not even going to talk about the other bands!

The crowd was wild. Mainly because it was Silverchair. Everyone’s selfish sides came alive just to get into the front row. People were pushing and shoving. Especially females apparently who were the ones that went psyche. In between teenyboppers and anti-silverchair fans were peoples squashed between.

Silverchair finally came on. Chris came one first then Ben and course Daniel. They opened up with a raw version of “Emotion Sickness” stripped down to guitar, bass and drums. The other touring musicians couldn’t be heard at all. The sound quality was overall poor. “Without You” followed and was the best song of the night. The emotion and mood was definitely there. It was enough to take your breath away. It felt like you were weightless, considering the fact you are considerably squashed and being smacked about in the mosh. When it came to “Israels Son”, that is when the mosh started to go wild again. Daniel improvised a great guitar solo in the middle of it. This version was somewhat different to the one on “Frogstomp”.

“World Upon Your Shoulders” reminisced the emotion of “Without You” it made me weightless again. The emotion didn’t stop there though. Without hesitation Daniel broke into “Miss You Love”. “The Lever” then picked up the pace and then made way for the lovely “Ana’s Song”. I was loving it and when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they played “Do You Feel the Same?” The best song on Neon Ballroom! I was hoping they would play that all day.

“The Greatest View” needed no introduction after that. “Paint Pastel Princess” was everything without the strings since you couldn’t hear them! Daniel then says to the crowd “This songs for dancing, so feel free to dance” that was obviously the cue for “The Door”. 2 more songs from “Freak Show” were played after and they were “Slave” and “Freak”. “Slave” showed the bands tightness and togetherness. While “Freak” was pure brilliance.

But Daniel didn’t do any satrical things with his voice like at Rock in Rio. Well, apart from a death metal growl in the “Try to be different” part. The show was coming near the end. “Anthem for the Year 2000” made the crowd go harder and craving for more. The encore was “One Way Mule”. Great song to end on.

Overall the sound quality and mixing was poor. But Silverchair’s performance made up for it by blowing me away weightless.

SETLIST
Emotion Sickness
Without You
Israel's Son
World Upon Your Shoulders
Miss You Love
The Lever
Ana's Song
Do You Feel the Same?
The Greatest View
Paint Pastel Princess
The Door
Slave
Freak
Anthem for the Year 2000
One Way Mule