Silverchair, Powderfinger: Across the Great Divide

Silverchair
Powderfinger
Across the Great Divide Tour

CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON,
PALMERSTON NORTH, AUCKLAND

OCTOBER 16-20

TWO of Australasia’s hottest rock bands POWDERFINGER and SILVERCHAIR are set to raise the roof on four of New Zealand’s biggest venues in a unique co-headline national concert tour in October.

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE will bridge the gap between us old foes -- Australia and New Zealand -- with a rock & roll tour on a scale unseen here for decades.

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE kicks off at the Westpac Arena in Christchurch on October 16 and will continue through Wellington and Palmerston North, culminating with a spectacular show at Auckland’s Vector Arena on the Saturday of the Labour Day long weekend, October 20.

The humongous Spring tour is an opportunity for thousands of Kiwi fans to partake in what will be a huge event in every location it visits. Tickets will go on sale to the general public at 9am on July 20. There will also be special presales for the members of both bands’ fanclubs plus an exclusive presale for Visa Card holders from 9am on July 20 through 5pm on July 23 (see below for all the ticketing info).

For both bands, ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE marks a return to major touring following extended breaks.

In March, SILVERCHAIR released Young Modern, their first new studio album in five years. Young Modern went straight to the top of the Australian charts. It made SILVERCHAIR the first Australian band ever to achieve the feat of scoring five No. 1 albums in Australia and is the fastest selling release of the group’s career. Young Modern features SILVERCHAIR’s comeback single, “Straight Lines”, which also topped the charts.

POWDERFINGER have just released their first studio album in four years, Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. It went straight to No. 1 in Australia and recorded the biggest first week sales of any artist so far this year, making it four consecutive chart-toppers for the 'Finger and no doubt setting Dream Days at the Hotel Existence on a path to match the multi-platinum status of its predecessors. POWDERFINGER’s album sales exceed 2 million in Australia alone and their three previous releases (Internationalist, Odyssey Number Five and Vulture Street) each won the ARIA Album of the Year Award – a critical feat unmatched by any other Australian act.

Of course, POWDERFINGER and SILVERCHAIR’s paths have briefly crossed a couple of times before. They have shared the bill at the odd rock festival over the years.

“We met the Silver chaps back in 1994 and became friends,” say the members of POWDERFINGER. “At the time, we played some festivals together and talked about doing some touring down the track. It’s only taken us 13 years to get around to it!”

The bands have formed a jointly-owned company which will act as the promoter for this special tour.

At each show, the groups will play sets of equal length with their full concert production. A special guest artist will open proceedings, then POWDERFINGER will perform followed by SILVERCHAIR. Promoters of the co-headline concert are looking for some great Kiwi bands to even out the dance card for the evenings. For further inquiries, contact: Tracy Magan tracy@pacificentertainment.co.nz.

WHEN & WHERE:

October 2007

16th Christchurch, Westpac Arena. Bookings: Ticketek www.ticket.co.nz

18th Wellington, TSB Bank Arena. Ticketek www.ticket.co.nz

19th Palmerston North, Arena Manawatu. Ticketek www.ticket.co.nz

20th Auckland, Vector Arena. Bookings: www.Ticketmaster.co.nz

VISA CARDHOLDER PRE-SALE 9.00am – FRIDAY, JULY 20 to 5.00pm - MONDAY, JULY 23

www.visaentertainment.co.nz

LIMIT 6 PER TRANSACTION

GENERAL PUBLIC ON-SALE 9.00am – MONDAY, JULY 23

LIMIT 6 PER TRANSACTION

--

SILVERCHAIR
at a glance

http://chairpage.com/

* Sold over 6 million albums (this was prior to 'Young Modern' coming out)

* Had 5 consecutive #1 albums in Australia (all their albums have gone #1)

* #1 with album 1st album 'Frogstomp' in NZ

* Album Young Modern peaked at #8 in the NZ album charts

* First single 'Straight Lines" peaked at #3 most played song on NZ radio.

* They reformed to headline WaveAid on Jan 29th 2005 @ Sydney Cricket Ground and played to a sold out crowd of 55,000 - the event raised $2,500,000 for the victims of the Asian tsunami

* 39 ARIA nominations

* They've been doing it 12 years and they are only 27!

At a glance

http://www.powderfinger.com/



* Their breakthrough album Odyssey No. 5 went Platinum plus here in New Zealand on the back of the SMASH hit ‘My Happiness’

* 5 multi-Platinum albums

* 14-Aria Awards

* 2 million albums sold worldwide

* This month, released first studio album in four years Dream Days At The Hotel Existence. The album was recorded earlier this year at none other then the legendary Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California (Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Smashing Pumpkins, Neil Young). At the helm of Dream Days At The Hotel Existence was producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliot Smith, The Vines, The Foo fighters).

* The first single lifted off Dream Days At The Hotel Existence is Lost and Running which is already top five on New Zealand rock radio airplay charts and on high rotation on Juice TV and C4.

* POWDERFINGER’S Dream Days at the Hotel Existence debuted at #1 on both the ARIA and iTunes album charts with the highest first week across-the-counter sales figures of any new release this year in Australia!

* The album has already gone Platinum in Australia and is now hurtling its way towards Double Platinum - holding the title of POWDERFINGER’S most successful first week sales ever.

* POWDERFINGER lead singer Bernard Fanning’s 2005 solo release ‘Tea & Sympathy’ spawned the massive singles ‘Wish You Well’ & ‘Songbird’ resulting in a Gold album & sold-out tour.

www.myspace.com/powderfinger www.powderfinger.com www.universalmusic.com.au

ENDS

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