My ears are still ringing from last nights Silverchair/Powderfinger double bill, Across the Great Divide show at Rod Laver Arena. From where I was, the stadium appeared to be at near capacity.
Support act for the night was Expatriate. They put on an entertaining half hour or so of music, but I have to say, playing the support slot must be one of the toughest gigs in music!
Silverchair and Powderfinger both played full sets with Silverchair coming out first. They played quite a few songs from their latest album, Young Modern, as well as a mix of their older stuff. The tracks from Young Modern really stood up well live. Young Modern is an eclectic album, musically it jumps all over the place, and before hand I wondered how they’d be able to pull off tracks like Thieving Birds live.
Powderfinger followed with their set consisting largely of songs from their new album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. They also played a few tracks from Vulture Street and Odyssey Number Five.
At the end of the show Powderfinger were joined onstage by Silverchair to blast out a quick rendition of the Who song, Substitute.
I have to say Dream Days is not my favorite Powderfinger album, so their reliance on material from that album means that I’d have to hand the battle of the bands title to Silverchair.
In my opinion, Silverchair really stole the show. There is so much more light and shade in their music, which really stood out in comparison to Powderfinger’s more ‘meat and potatoes’ style rock. That’s not to say that meat and potatoes is bad, just that Silverchair had a far more varied library of material to draw from, which I would argue, made for the better show.
If you get a chance to catch the Across the Great Divide tour, I’d highly recommend getting along (if you can find a ticket!). It was definitely entertaining, and also fantastic value for money. Two of Australia’s biggest bands, playing full sets, all for the price of one!
Now I think it’s time I caught a little more shut eye…