Silverchair 11/16/07

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I got into Silverchair at the age of 17 not long after Frogstomp was released in 1995 when the band members were only 15 years old. In the following years I consumed each of their albums released but somehow never had the chance to see them in concert. Fast forward 12 years from Frogstomp to Friday the 13th (gasp!) in July of 2007 and Silverchair was set to begin their first US tour in five years in San Diego to support Young Modern, their fifth (and at the time of this writing final) album that had just come out earlier in the year. Well it turns out the curse of Friday the 13th came to fruition as my first time seeing Silverchair would be delayed to November 16th thanks to a bout of laryngitis in frontman Daniel Johns.

It was worth the wait. The band was tight and demonstrated a level of virtuosity that is rare. There was one point in the show where a fight had broken out so Daniel stopped playing and said something along the lines of “We’re lovers not fighters mate, now turn to the person next to you and give them a hug” then the band picked up right where they left off. I was impressed with the vocal range that Daniel Johns displayed and especially enjoyed the epic “Emotion Sickness,” gut wrenchingly beautiful “Ana’s Song,” and heavy “Freak” but the new stuff sounded great as well. According to Silverchair’s Fan Club the band and long time road crew regard this show as one of the best five they have ever done. Did I already say it was worth the wait?

SETLIST: Young Modern Station, Emotion Sickness, Israel’s Son, Reflections of a Sound, Insomnia, Ana’s Song (Open Fire), Those Thieving Birds, Part 1/Strange Behaviour/Those Thieving Birds, Part 2, The Greatest View, Straight Lines, The Door, Mind Reader, If You Keep Losing Sleep, Freak

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