Silverchair tear up the Commodore

July 21, 2007 | 989 views | Trackback | |

A big night tonight topped off what will otherwise be a fairly quiet weekend for me. Two big events in the one night meant Michelle and I were scooting all around town in the unseasonal pouring rain here in Vancouver, but we had a fantastic time all around which made up for the wet stuff.

To kick things off we headed out to GM place to catch the Steve Nash Foundation Charity Classic - an all-star basketball game of sorts put on by BC's favourite son and 2-time (2004/05 & 2005/06) NBA MVP Steve Nash (ie. he's an incredible basketball player with some honours rivaling those of greats Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan).

Immigrating from South Africa where he was born, Steve is renowned around these parts as the "Canadian Kid" from Victoria (on Vancouver Island) who made it to the big-time. He is widely regarded as one of the nicest professional sportsmen on the planet and it's his charity events like tonight's annual "Classic" that reaffirms this notion. Michelle actually met Steve yesterday at a promotional photo call and reported that everything positive said about the guy is completely justified. I am more than just a little bit jealous about that encounter by the way...

Anyway, the game was more an entertainment spectacle for families and especially kids more than anything else, but everyone "in the house" seemed to be all smiles and there was plenty of charitable donations and other activity going on, so I guess Steve can consider tonight yet another successful event for his foundation.

Leaving about 5 minutes from the end of the game in order to beat traffic, Michelle and I made our way back into the center of town to find a park and scurry our way to mighty "The Commodore Ballroom" on Granville Street in time to catch the opening tune of Aussie rock outfit "Silverchair's" set.

Hailing from Newcastle on Australia's East Coast, the three lads - Daniel Johns, Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou have come a long way since they burst onto the Aussie music scene in 1995 at the tender ages of not much more than 15 with their hit debut album "Frogstomp".

Their current "Young Modern" tour has already taken in a few US dates, and will continue to move on through other parts of the US and Europe over the next couple of months in the lead-up to their epic Australia-wide "Across the Great Divide" tour with fellow legendary Aussie rockers "Powderfinger" (I'm forever going to be choked over the fact I won't be home for that one).

Tonight, however, was MY chance to see the power and poetry of the mighty Silverchair in the packed, sold-out confines of Vancouver's "Commodore Ballroom". The boys certainly brought their "A-games" with them as they rocked out a selection of songs from past and present albums in a set that, while a good length, left Michelle and me yearning for more.

The highlights for me were definitely the tracks "Straight Lines", "If You Keep Losing Sleep", "Open Fire", "Without You", "Home Among the Gumtrees" and Daniel's Koala joke! Haha!

Is it any surprise that with the obvious exception of when "O.A.R." hit town, my two absolute favourite concerts so far this year have both been Aussie acts?? "Wolfmother" were nothing short of awesome when they hit town, and now "Silverchair" have etched their names on my favourite concerts totem pole.

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