Powderfinger / Silverchair / Youth Group

Andy J Ryan Apr 06, 2023

Powderfinger & Silverchair – Acer Arena, 9 September 2007

The Across the Great Divide tour rolls into Sydney as two of Australia’s biggest bands combine for a slew of stadium shows.

The entree for this evening was Youth Group providing an almost medley-esque burl through some of their larger sounding songs. They are no strangers to the big stage these days and even had the crowd swaying along to their breakthrough cover of ‘Forever Young’.

Just because you have a stadium full of fans at your disposal doesn’t mean you have to use them at every given opportunity Mr Johns. We – as in the city of Sydney – were thanked about fifty odd-times, asked to give it up another dozen, instructed how to clap another handful of instances and most peculiarly asked to “make some noise so you make me feel like I am famous”.

The band covered the broad spectrum of their career from the tense, naive power of ‘Israel’s Son’ as a three piece to fleshed out brooding sparse rock brackets with an additional keyboard stage left and broad electric washes from Paul Mac driving from behind. An almost solo acoustic spot was granted for Open fire (Ana’s song) contrasted with a singlet-clad Ben Gillies led crunch through ‘I’m a freak’. The new stuff sure expands into the spatial surrounds of the stadium. ‘Straight Lines’ sees a glowing Pean of mobile phone screens raised as a modern update to the cigarette lighter tribute and ‘If you Keep Losing Sleep’ whimsically careened the set into even greater heights.

Powderfinger on the other hand filled the vast space not with faux accented platitudes but good ole fashioned guitar lines, and plenty of them. That is not to imply that the band have nothing of note to say, they most certainly do – and always have – it is just done in a more astute and effacing manner.

This whole tour had as one of its main aims to encourage awareness and action on reconciliation and Indigenous issues. It is baffling to think then to think someone in the crowd thought a response to the line ‘A black man’s lying dead’ would not be ‘whoooooo, yeah’. To give benefit of the doubt, it may’ve merely been an exclamation acknowledging the band’s particularly astute song writing and stance making as Powderfinger for al their honourable outspokenness really are a well-honed and intuitively entertaining band. The songs rattle and roll and lurch upwards into great memorable choruses that lift even the less potent sentiments into instantly poignant moments.

The sheer scale and breadth of the Across the Great divide tour is almost a milestone that these two bands are currently the two biggest bands in Australia today, sharing nine number one albums between them. What does having that sort of power enable you to do? Why call up oz-rock luminary Jimmy Barnes to come up and sing The Who’s ‘Substitute’ with you for an all star-jam finale, that’s what.