cerejanebellum
Just back from the Newy show. Here's a breakdown/synopsis... feel free to ask any questions!
I arrived about 7:45 due to wardrobe and hair malfunctions and there was a huuuuge merch lineup. I felt a bit awkward as I was there alone, so I grabbed a soft drink and stood around awkwardly as I didn't want to get stuck in the merch line when the show was about to start.
We were let in about 8:10, and I was in the 4th row stage left. The crowd was a real mix of ages - there was a super cute kid with his mum, Daniel seemed to know them somewhat or perhaps they've met, as he shook the kids hand vigorously a couple times. I was seated next to a lovely couple who were probably my age (45) but the woman told me I looked too young for Silverchair, so that was lovely 💕 Behind me was a girl probably in her teens who gave me a Young Modern bracelet she'd made à la TS bracelets, which was adorable and I love it.
The prelude was Daniel acting as radio host of Future Never radio - doing funny intros in that kind of theatrical voice he does sometimes (think YM era concerts). Before the Greatest View played he said he was watching all of us from his "private box". During the prelude they played: If you keep losing sleep, Thieving birds pt 3, Greatest View, Preach, Across the Night, When we take over, Emotion sickness, Mansions. There might have been another but I don't think so.
The actual show started about 8:40, with Dylan Lewis coming out. He is a great host- really natural and funny without being cheesy. He also really seems to care deeply about Daniel and the music and just art/creativity in general. He intro'd Luke Elben who came out in a sweatsuit that was sort of lavender tie-dyed graffiti and he joked that Dan had done his washing.
When Dan came out, he was wearing a Prince Purple Rain tshirt with the sleeves cut off, a large silver chain and black shorts, and had on what appeared to be a purplish-grey (?velvet) fedora on that was awesome. He didn't seem nervous at all - very jokey and all smiles. Dylan remarked on how he'd been nervous at the Sydney show but he felt relaxed this time because he was in Newy and this was his family. Dan himself remarked that a couple of times, and asked for the house lights to be turned up a few times so he could see everyone.
Like in Sydney, they opened with the Freak performance with What So Not. The audience seemed to really get into it.
When they started to discuss and play the demos, Dan and Luke kept getting ahead of themselves and discussing the Emotion sickness one that was coming next. It was quite funny and sweet, and they kept saying how Dylan was really keeping them on task.
The first demo was the All the time in the world one from Neon ballroom (same as Sydney). They didn't talk about it too much except when Dylan asked Dan why it didn't go on the record he said that sometimes he makes things just for him. I don't think they played quite the whole thing.
The second demo was Emotion Sickness, which had been found and sent by Julie (Dan's mum) to Heath because she thought they should definitely use it for the evening. Dan hadn't heard it since he was 17. It was really cool- even on the little 4-track demo you could hear the shape of it and imagine the orchestrations and how they'd fit in. Dan said after that maybe he should release that one for free and seemed enthusiastic about it, but then later said "I'm going to get in trouble for that", so not sure what that meant exactly or if he'll upload it to the guitar pick, etc.
The third demo was called Take One (I believe) and it was very cool. Electronic but heavy, very melodic. Dylan said it reminded him of Johnny Rotten's post Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd., and I can kind of see that. Dylan asked when it would be released etc etc and Daniel never really addressed that.
One of the best parts was when Dans childhood friend James came up and showed a few pics of them as kids and talked about playing cricket and football with Dan. He said the best part about what he was contributing was that you couldn't google it.
Which brings me to my personal disappointment about the evening - it was pretty obvious Dan and crew were more restrained with what they were saying and with playing more/whole demos because of the Sydney show being recorded. Dylan, Dan and Luke all separately referenced it being recorded and "well we know it'll end up on the internet" and said "thanks Reddit" at least three times. The only shout outs were to the film crew, Heath (who was there) and Daniel's mum (who was there but I didn't see her). There was no mention of Ben and Chris.
Obviously I wasn't there at the Sydney show, but I'd be super curious to see what the difference in overall vibes were like... from people's descriptions of Dylan becoming emotional and some of Dan's comments etc, I think tonight may have been more guarded. I've seen a couple IG lives that kind of referenced the same thing. I was also surprised at the way the conversation part ended - it seemed kind of abrupt, Luke just sort of suddenly signed off and peaced out, and then Daniel did too but in such a way that I personally was a bit like wait a minute! We'd like to give you a standing ovation! Maybe I was just oblivious but I was confused as to whether they were coming back again.
After a short interval during which "new" music played, we went back in to watch the movie. The interval music was cool - there was one song about a river that sounded really beautiful and to my ear almost had elements of classical-style guitar playing. There was another new song I can't remember much about at the moment but I genuinely liked it.
About the movie - I don't have much to add to the previous descriptions, except to say that I in no way took anything in the film as a hint or suggestion that Silverchair are getting back together. The soundtrack is cool and I'd like to get a copy of it or perhaps it will be uploaded to the pick.
I do think they'll do something releasable in the future because they had a videographer - at least I think he was recording and not just doing stills.
Ultimately I do think the night would have benefitted slightly from being a little bit more scripted just to give a little bit more time to the demos etc, but it felt genuine and Daniel seemed healthy and happy and in good form.
Ok_Macaroon125
Hi guys,
I was lucky enough to go to both Sydney and the Newy show. In intermission I wrote a bunch of notes on my phone but was too tired to write them up properly last night. I won't touch on what others have already said, instead here are my additional comments/clarifications.
Sydney was better from an information perspective, and at times we got some nice insights into his process and also some fun anecdotes (having Paul Mac helped too). Newy was a completely different vibe- it was straight hilarious chaos. Dan was so hyper that there wasn't much conversation at all and certainly no actual answers to questions, just brief jokes and mucking around, but it was arguably more fun as an experience. Dylan earned his paycheck attempting to hold it together... and only barely managed! It was funny seeing him have to almost play the calm, straight man just to offset Dan's energy. It was nice seeing Dan so loose and joyful, and interacting with the crowd. In other words, it was a really special and really fun night that everyone seemed to enjoy.
Both nights they spoke for about an hour and a half. Both nights begin with a voice recording of 90's Dan and were personalised to the individual venues. Much of the audio/visuals otherwise were the same and Freak live at Laneway with Whatsonot was played at both.
Dan didn't talk about releasing the Emotion Sickness demo, he was talking about potentially 'giving' us All the Time in the World... but I suspect he was just caught up in the moment.
In Sydney, as others have written, Dan made a few Silverchair comments including: 'it's hard for Chair fans as when I decided to end it, we didn't get a chance to say goodbye'. He also gave shout outs to Ben and Chris twice ('despite what you've read, shout out to Ben and Chris) after a Chair demo. In a sweet moment that I haven't seen anyone else mention, when Across the Night demo (Mangrove session) was being played and the bass part in verse kicks in (accents the third beat of the bar- very groovy) both Dan and Paul Mac looked at each other smiled, nodded and started rocking to the bass part- it felt like a nice acknowledgement of Chris' playing. In Newy, Dan didn't mention them.
During the Newy show, they brought up one of Dan's oldest friends who talked about the sporty side of Daniel when he was younger. This friend said he wasn't musical at all and so couldn't talk to any of that. He said he and Dan continue to regularly facetime and poked a joke at Dan's expense saying that his daughter could sing Straight Lines pitch perfect, but unfortunately only the Jay Leno version. They also brought up the director and producer of the short film- only real thing we got from that was that the posters/items/props in the Dan character's 90's bedroom are the original ones from Dan's real room and were all kept by his mother.
In terms of the demos, enough has already been said about All the Time in the World so I'll just add some details about the new ones. (FYI They didn't actually cut the demos by much at all.)
Emotion Sickness was an acoustic guitar, electric guitar and vocal demo that his mum had found. He said he hadn't heard it until the day before since the 90's. It cut out at the end of the 'Get Up' part. It didn't feature the half time heavy section (that was added by the band when rehearsing) and I wouldn't be surprised if Dan hadn't yet written the slow section at the end of the song. The song was very much a work in progress. The guitar line part was almost entirely there, the basic structure and the melodies were pretty close to the final product- but as many songwriters do, Dan was scatting the 'lyrics' (making up sounds and words to get the consonants and melody right) so he clearly hadn't written the words yet, though there a few moments where you could hear him mumble/scat something that ended up guiding/turning into the actual words.
The demo for Hello (from Silverchair album 6) was just under two minutes... but my feeling was the song wasn't so much cut short, but rather it was a work in progress experiment by the band that hadn't yet been shaped into a finished song. The song was the most avant garde thing I've heard from Silverchair. It was a groove based around a marching snare drum. It reminded me of Sg Peppers era Beatles in vibe with a touch of YM in there. It had Daniel singing a very uncharacteristic melody. As with Machina Collector Dan was using his 'modern' post-YM style voice and delivery. After the song played Daniel joked that 'I always knew it was a masterpiece' and implored the newspapers to write a headline using that statement.
Of all the unheard stuff from both Syd and Newy, Take One was my favourite. It is very catchy, indie, anthemic and polished. The song is synth heavy but could easily be played by a band and sound the same. Of all of Daniel's new stuff (including FN) this has commercial radio single written all over it. There's a cool guitar/synth part that reminds me of the phased guitar in Without You throughout. The song went for about two and half minutes but Dylan said after that it had been cut down due to people recording Sydney. (Weirdly this makes me think this one will actually be released in the future.) The structure and shortened cut actually worked perfectly for a radio single and you wouldn't have known it was cut as it ran a full two verses, choruses and beautiful vocal harmony outro.
Daniel was asked a few times at both shows about future plans/releases etc... but didn't really answer seriously and he certainly didn't give the sense he had anything planned so as for what's next- that's anyone's guess.
The VIP package inclusions were identical at both venues. Happy to answer more questions on that if anyone wants to know.
About the film: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD
It's 23 minutes long. Having watched it twice, there are a lot of little details/easter eggs I missed the first time including the appearance of the Delorean Dan actually owns, brief moments shot in the Newy High music corridor and his former (pre-demolishing) living room, a Guy Pearce cameo and Dan's airbnb rental property (Merewether Beach Shack) doubling as the exterior of 90's Dan's family home. Russell Crowe narrates it and it is beautifully shot. The soundtrack and orchestration is predictably sublime and Rasmus as Daniel is great. I won't say anything about the story or my thoughts beyond that because everyone will get a chance to see it and make up their own minds in a few weeks.
Any other questions about anything I'll do my best to answer!