January 16, 1999

London Camden Electric Ballroom

Three young men unduly blessed with good looks and technical proficiency who, in the course of a painfully protracted set, can muster little more than a load of bass-heavy powerchord bluster and no

Silverchair singer Daniel Johns raises his hands above his head. "We are the youth," he bellows. "We are the youth!!" And just in case you hadn't heard him the first two times, "We are the youth!!!" It sounds like a statement of defiance; a big 'fuck you' to the oldsters and squares who push the kids around.

It isn't, though.

Australia's Silverchair are 19-year-olds who have sold four million records worldwide and are about to release their fourth album, 'Neon Ballroom'. If juvenile culture can be defined in terms of a morbid obsession with Nirvana and the sound of Seattle, then they are indeed 'the youth'. That their teenage sound should incorporate such a shocking dearth of originality is just something for the rest of us to worry about.

For here are three young men unduly blessed with good looks and technical proficiency who, in the course of a painfully protracted set, can muster little more than a load of bass-heavy powerchord bluster and nothing that you could dignify by calling a melody, even opportunistically titled single 'Anthem For The Year 2000'.

Impossibly wealthy before they are 20, it's time for Silverchair to wonder what they'll do for the rest of their lives. If the money runs out, Woolworths are always on the lookout for shelf-stackers.