The Vic 03/15/99
Going back to last night I couldn’t really sleep because my heart was just pounding and I was so nervous about possibly meeting silverchair at the signing they were doing at Tower records. Little did I know, that the day would be much more than I ever could have expected. So I first wound up going to the vic at about 4:30pm for a show that was to start at 7:00pm. Anyway, it was freezing cold out and I wasn’t very warmly dressed. So about a little after five I saw my friend Sarah arrive and I called her over to me. At about 6:15 or so they started letting people in and I dashed off to take my official spot (that I’ve had for 3 out of the 4 previous silverchair shows that I’d been to) which is right in front of where Chris stands, but my spot was taken so I grabbed the one in the row behind that. After another long wait Grinspoon came on and they were awesome! I really liked their sound and I need to buy their CD soon!! But the people around me had some crazy idea that their lead singer was Daniel.. although this man had brown hair and rather tan skin.. oh well! So they played for awhile and then there was another break and Lit played.. I didn’t really care for them, although the rest of the people in the pit seemed to love them. After they finished I debated over if I wanted to leave the pit or not, and I decided I probably should since I’d rather be alive if the possibility of meeting silverchair came true. Shortly there after I found Sarah’s friend Liza who told me that Sarah
had found Pete Walton whom she was going to meet up with and that he said she could go backstage. This of course thrilled me and the two of us were on a mission to find Sarah. Well after checking around the whole place a few times and talking to silverchair’s sound guy and sending him to look for Pete, silverchair came out and so we went to a place we could see. The concert was the most fantastic show I’ve ever been to... I can’t completely remember the setlist .. but I know they started with Israel’s’ Son, and then Emotion Sickness..
after that they played Abuse me, and then Slave.. Ana’s Song(Open Fire), Suicidal Dream, another new song, then I think a solo version of Tomorrow,
followed by Miss You Love, Madman, The Door, Pure Massacre, Freak, and Anthem for the Year 2000(with the Daniel: We are the Youth Crowd: We are the Youth. Thing back and forth for awhile which was very cool) and during that song I had to clap along like Daniel said happened in his dream. Then for their encore a new song and than No Association. In-between songs some of the things Daniel said were:
“Thanks”
Something along the line of “Chicago has been my favourite city for a week,
it has the best places, the best people, the best balconies..” and more about what he loved about Chicago.
“This next song is a new song.. and yeah.. I hope you like new songs..”
Something about “Where we’re from rock is not dead, and you guys in the states are bringing it back, so rock on. And you guys at your little ... typing things .. you just keep being smart and bring rock back into your lives”...
He also said alot more things .. but those I can’t remember. I have to say that silverchair has really grown in the year that I haven’t seen them.. and that Daniel has added alot more descriptive movements to his performance. In case any of you were wondering Daniel was wearing a very glittery black shirt and black pants,
Chris was wearing orange or red ADIDAS and a blue polo type shirt, and Ben was wearing just Kahkies. Anyway after the show was over Liza and I went off to find Sarah and when we found her she informed us that we were going to get to go backstage thanks to Pete. So we waited around until the building was pretty much empty and than Pete gave Liza and me Neon Ballroom stickers and then he checked to see if it was alright if we went backstage.. and sure enough it was. So we went into the room which had the food .. (a bowl of fruit) and there was a sign up that said in orange marker “Be our mate and clean off your plate” and then Sarah, Liza and I waited around awhile .. with periodical checks from Pete and then finally Chris came walking in..(he’d changed his clothes into a orange sweatshirt with white stripes on the sleeves .. I think and some kinda pants..)
and he said hi to all of us and we got introduced and then he signed Sarah’s poster and then he grabbed a Banana from the fruit bowl and Sarah started laughing cause we had previously been talking about how she wanted to eat the piece of fruit and he goes “Oh, did you want it? Cause if you wanted it you can have it” and Sarah was laughing and goes “No that’s alright” and then he checked again and still it was alright with her that he ate the banana and then he walked off.. after a bit then Ben came in.. and he said hi to all of us by name,
and Sarah asked if he could sign her poster and he goes “No, I don’t do signing..” and she goes “Oh okay..” and then he starts laughing and is like “No! I was only joking! Of course I’ll sign it” and then he stood around drinking his budwiser (which he said tasted really bad.. but that he’d need to drink some sort of alcohol before the signing at tower records) so basically he stood around and we talked with him for quite awhile about the shaving his head incident which he cleared up was because his hair got like all tangled in his drum sticks and whatnot and that they were a bit drunk but not like smashed.. and our stupid curfew law in IL which he was shocked to find out we had.. he said that if they had that in Australia “We would have kicked their asses!” and he suggested to us that we get an Australian exchange program or something. um, he also showed us his old fake Ids from when he was underage..and he asked us how old we were and Liza goes “well how old do I look?” and he’s like “12 and a half” and we started cracking up and then we told him we were all 16 and he looked down at the floor and was like “God, I’m going to be 20 soon! Where do the years go?” and we laughed at that as well. Then Sarah asked if she could have a picture with him and he goes “No.. I don’t take pictures” and then she’s like “Well.. Alright..” and he’s like “No! God, I’m only joking” and then she was trying to figure out who could take the picture but then he’s like “Well, why don’t we do a self-take?” and she’s like “Okay” so he grabbed the camera and he took the picture of the two of them together. Sarah also sugested that Ben go out and play in the snow and he said: “Oh, no, I hate the snow! Well.. except for snowboarding.. but I’m not very good at that..”. Sarah, Liza, Ben and I also talked about some other things too.. but I forgot what. Then after some time had passed Daniel came walking (and his voice was really horse sounding by his point) in and Pete introduced Sarah and he shook her hand and said hi and then Liza was like “I”m Liza” and he shook her hand and then he turns to me and goes “And what’s your name?” and I’m like “Oh, I’m Heidi” and he’s like “Hello Heidi and he shook my hand too. Then Sarah wanted a picture with him, as did Liza and than Sarah asked if I wanted one too and I’m like “Yeah..” so I got my picture taken with Daniel (who buy the way had some very cool glitter around his eyes and had changed his clothes into jeans (with his wallet chain and a red t shirt with something on the front of it) and then they had to go off to the signing.. as did we.. So then I got picked up by my dad and we drove to tower.. at Tower records there was a mass of people all around the building and so after a littler while I saw Pete again and talked to him for a bit and then Sarah joined me in line to get the new CD signed which took quite awhile.. but once I got up there Daniel looked over at me and smiled and says “Oh hey!” and I’m like ”Hi..” and than Ben looked at me and smiled too and goes “Oh you’re back” and I started laughing and I went “Yup... I had to come back and get your autograph” and so I got my Neon Ballroom signed, and that was it! But I thought it was really cool that they actually remembered me.. and you know I’m so incredibly glad I got to actually hang out with them for a bit because they were just how I expected them to be.. and they were so incredibly nice and just like they were my friends or something.. they didn’t seem to have any ego problems at all which was wonderful. I mean all 5 years of my silverchair devotion I’ve felt like I’ve almost known them.. and I had all these ideas about what they’d be like in person and they were all pretty much right! After every silverchair show I’ve been to in the past I’ve always said “This was the best night of my life!”
and once again, I fell it is true.
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