Silverchair Live: Young, Loud, And, Yes, Definitely Freaky

-------------- Concert review --------------

Silverchair, Local H and Handsome, last night at Mercer Arena.

"Body and soul, I'm a freak! I'm a freak!"

OK, Daniel, we believe you! We believe you!

Daniel Johns, the lead guy of Silverchair, is obviously a freak for hard-pounding, high-screaming, ear-splitting, no-frills rock 'n' roll.

The skinny, blond 18-year-old singer-guitarist-lyricist was a powder keg last night, exploding all over the Mercer Arena stage, abusing his guitars and tossing his mane of tangled hair. In baggy, light-colored T-shirt and pants, he glowed in the spotlight like an overgrown kiddie from hell, yelling out his anger at the world.

Although he and his two mates, Australian lads about the same age, played for only one hour, they crammed so much energy into it that you couldn't have asked for more.

And the audience was slam-dancing and pogoing and body-surfing so frantically, they probably couldn't have taken much more. As it was, there were young men staggering out of the mosh pit with bloody noses, bleeding heads and injured limbs, all from the grinding maw of humanity down front. Some of the survivors wore their bloody clothes like a badge of honor.

Always intense, the Silverchair boys have turned up the heat on their spring tour of North America. Last night was only the third date in the tour, so they were primed and ready - although the momentum was slowed a few times by electronic glitches ("This is our hum. We take him with us wherever we go," Johns deadpanned as feedback screeched from his monitors). While Johns remained as boyish-looking as ever, buzz-cut bassist Chris Joannou looked beefier - like an American football player - and newly shorn drummer Ben Gillies seems to have grown up fast.

The direct line that 1990s hard-rock bands have to 1970s heavy-metal bands was underscored during the song "Abuse Me" when Tony Iommi, 49, guitarist with the legendary Black Sabbath, joined the band, looking awfully respectable with his short hair and slightly bemused look. From the cheers of the crowd, the fans remembered the contribution of Ozzy Osbourne's old band.

The set featured "Freak," "The Door" and other songs from the band's newest CD, "Freak Show," as well as "Tomorrow," "Pure Massacre" and "Suicidal Dream" from its debut "Frogstomp" CD.

Local H stoked the crowd with a set of equally hard-driving rock, but with whiny, boneheaded lyrics, like "If I was Eddie Vedder, would I be any better?" The band did put out a lot of sound for a trio, however.

Another rocking band, Handsome, opened the long, loud show with a short set.