Melbourne, Apr. 6, 2003

By SARA

When the show started, the weirdest thing happened to me. I felt frightened and couldn't shake it off for about 4 or 5 songs. When it was time to applaud after the third song, my hands were shaking and I just managed to clap. No explanation for that one.

I was sitting 7th row from the front to the left hand side of the stage at a prime spot to see Daniel. It was Chris I noticed first, he looked really snazzy in a white shirt, blue slacks and blonde tips. I had never seen that look on him before and it was really sexy. Ben started off with a hat, tank top and shorts. By the second act he had stripped down to his black Calvin Klein underwear and looked hot. He had a tattoo on the upper arm with a tanned solid build.

I noticed a large number of young men were copying Daniel's style from previous shows. In various ways through the blonde hair, to the beaded necklaces and the shirts. Daniel wore a baby blue shirt which is a favourite colour I can't stop wearing myself, and a tailor made khaki/gold coloured suit. I think a good description of Daniel is that of a young fish that has just been released in the ocean. He can now pretty much swim to whatever it is that he musically feels drawn to.

The one thing my husband, sister and her partner agreed on is silverchair sound better live than on CD, Daniel's voice lives up to it and the tickets were good value for money. The silverchair set went for 2 and half hours for about $56, I was only expecting one and half hours. We couldn't agree on Daniel's hand movements, it was like he was playing a string instrument in the air but we all agreed he didn't need the beard. My husband and sister's partner spotted Natalie Imbruglia on the side of the stage dressed in blue denim. My husband always says to me, if I got to pick between marrying him or Daniel Johns, I would pick Daniel. I tried to tell them all to stop talking shit.

Sleepy Jackson were quite good, one of their lead singers bore a resemblance to Skid Row's previous frontman Sebastian Bach. Usually opening acts are quite shit so I was surprised. During the show I couldn't stop singing along to all the chair songs, some of my favourites are the songs that weren't hits, Black Tangled Heart and Tuna in the Brine. The crowd was good, we stood up for their harder hitting tunes. I briefly looked behind me to see what they were seeing and it was unreal, the sea of faces and cheering was astonishing. The first set was more tame than the second, but the flashing picture screens were a great lead in. They were playing alot harder and feeling the heat dehydration by the second set. Daniel gave ua alot of facial expressions and chatter inbetween songs. Daniel can be quite funny when he wants to be.
"Thanks Kids"
"You will just love this fucking song"
"This fucking song just goes for soo fucking long"

At the end, I thought Daniel, Ben & Chris were pulling out all the stops and moves. We wanted more and they delivered.

BY LAUREN

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the second Melbourne show in the Silverchair's Across the Night tour. It was the first time I'd seen the boys perform live and they exceeded every expectation. I was absolutely enraptured.

The opening track of Act One, After All These Years, nearly moved me to tears. I was totally enthralled by the surprisingly rock-oriented performance of World Upon Your Shoulders and Tuna In The Brine, and as for Across the Night ... well, don't get me started on how amazing that was. I'd nevr seen anything performed on such a major scale. The energy was absolutely mindblowing.

Petrol and Chlorine was all it was made out to be live, it was heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Admittedly I was the only person in my row of seats dancing in my seat but I definetly enjoyed myself. By the time set two rolled around I had fallen in love with Silverchair for the hundredth time that night. Emotion Sickness opened with an absolute explosion. The huge rock atmosphere of this set was almost visible. When the screens showed the radiator bars of the Freak film clip I was totally unable to control myself! And Daniel ... well he was amazing. So charismatic, and so damned funny! And I couldn't believe how healthy he looked, dancing around, climbing onto bits and pieces of the stage and all kinds of other stage antics. Ben was a delight to watch, and when he played the intro to Israel's Son I screamed louder than I ever have! That was probably my highlight of the night, the anthemic song totally roused the crowd, even the most placid ones. I'm also glad to see Ben took his shirt off for set two, very old school of him, good bloke. I could go on for ages about how much fun I had. A surprise track too was Asylum, my favourite Silverchair b-side. I'm so lucky that I was able to see such an amazing piece of history, one that made me laugh (Daniel's funky antics and witty comments), took my breath away (the top lighting and screen work) and made me cry (Emotion Sickness ... sigh!) Thank you Silverchair for giving me the best night of my life!

thanks chair dudes!

By ALISTAIR

Its Been Said but Ill Say It.... Most Unbelievable Night Of My Life.... Pretty Much The Last Few Months Have Been Just Waiting For That Night… And It Was Worth The Wait…

Sleepy Jackson opened. Didn’t really do much for me had my mind on other things J … Lights Off… Curtains Opened.Daniel Walks Out.And The Crowd Go MENTAL. There Was Screaming And Crying (and that was just me).. Played After All These years by himself on Piano which sent chills down my spine…Went And Got His Gee-Tar And Chris And Ben Walked Out… World Upon Your Shoulders Was Unreal.. Then Tuna In The Brine… Love Your Life… Paint Pastel Princess… Petrol And Chlorine… Then Finally Daniel Spoke “Thanks Melbourne”…. then he said something along the lines of “ Next Song Is Fucking Awesome” and they launched into Across The Night…. Then Dan Started Playing A Really Slow Intro To Anas Song which was unrecognisable til he started singing and the crowd went crazy.. then Miss You Love… And Finished ‘Act 1’ With A Flawless Steam Will Rise.

Came Back And Played Emotion Sickness.. And An Unbelievable Without You…I was disappointed not to get tickets to the first show.. until… I heard a familiar Bass Intro… Israel’s Son… It Went Off Nicely… Crowd Were Deafening… They played a few more songs (cant remember order).. but between Daniel said “ We Like Melbourne… Not Many Bogans… Haven’t Got Much To Say.. Ill Come Back When I’ve Got Something charismatic… actually ive got something… should I say it Ben?… yeh I will… your gonna go crazy……. GET THE FUCK UP!!!!!….” And started playing the door… the Freak… and Anthem for year 2000.

Played a beautiful version of Asylum in the encore.

As Usual silverchair Rocked.