The Across the Great Divide tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

bands

Powderfinger Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer ...

and

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

in 2007. The tour featured concerts in 26 towns across Australia and multiple shows in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. According to Powderfinger frontman

Bernard Fanning Bernard Fanning (born 15 August 1969) is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist of Queensland alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989. Born and raised in Toowong, Brisbane, Fanning received ...

, the aim of the tour was to "show

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

both bands are behind the idea of

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedra ...

". Both bands aimed to increase awareness of the efforts of

Reconciliation Australia Reconciliation Australia is a non-government, not-for-profit foundation established in January 2001 to promote a continuing national focus for reconciliation between Indigenous (i.e. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) and non-Indige ...

to reduce the current 17-year gap in

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

between the average Australian life and that of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. A triple DVD set was released with the same title as the tour on 1 December 2007 with the Melbourne performances for both bands and backstage occurrences from the tour.

Background

Prior to the tour, Powderfinger and Silverchair performed numerous MySpace-exclusive concerts, with only 200 tickets made available. The majority of tickets were sold within 30 minutes. Unlike many conventional tours, the ''Across the Great Divide'' tour entered many regional centres across the country, which was supported by the districts the bands went into, being regarded by some as "phenomenal". At nine weeks long, the tour was the longest yet for both bands. The tour began in Silverchair's home town of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, and then moved directly north to Powderfinger's home city

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, before continuing to other parts of Australia. Tickets went on sale on 9 July and the shows in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Wollongong all sold out within half an hour. The Gold Coast and Newcastle shows sold out by mid-morning, and Perth also sold out within hours. Extra shows were announced in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Wollongong, Newcastle and Perth to meet the high demand. Powderfinger and Silverchair appeared onstage together for the first time in the tour on 8 September, in Sydney, performing a cover of

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

's " Substitute" to close the show. Fanning said of the performance, "This is the very first time we've done this", and it was reported that he and Johns showed a mutual affection and respect for each other and their bands. Together, the band wrote the song "Jake", which they recorded and released as a free 39 second ringtone on the tour's website. On 9 September, while performing at Sydney's

Acer Arena The Sydney SuperDome (currently known as the Qudos Bank Arena) is a large multipurpose arena located in Sydney, Australia. It is situated in Sydney Olympic Park, and was completed in 1999 as part of the facilities for the 2000 Summer Olympics. ...

, Fanning made news for attacking the 2007 APEC Australia Summit in Sydney. In a pause between songs, Fanning described the participants in the summit as "fuckwits". The Ballarat show originally scheduled for 16 September, was postponed due to a fifteen-metre tear in the performance tent, which is being used in regional areas as the concert arena, where large enough venues are not available. The concert instead went ahead the next night.

Show format

As the show entered many rural and regional centres, many locations did not have arenas or stages available, and for these locations, a tent was constructed in which the bands would perform for their audiences. An illustration of this tent was shown at the bottom of the promotional posters and the cover of the DVD of the tour. The performances schedule consisted of three main parts, beginning with the supporting artist performing one set, followed by Silverchair and then Powderfinger would play the final set of the night. The two bands united for only three performances onstage at the one time throughout the tour. The supporting artists varied from location to location. These artists included

Epicure Epicureanism is a system of philosophy developed by Epicurus ca. 300 BCE. Epicurean or epicure may also refer to: *Epicure (gourmet), a person interested in food, sometimes with overtones of excessive refinement *'' The Epicurean'', 1827 novel w ...

, Dan Kelly,

Expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

Youth Group Youth Group is an Australian rock band based in Newtown, New South Wales. Built around the vocals of singer Toby Martin and production of Wayne Connolly, the sound of Youth Group is reminiscent of indie rock artists such as Teenage Fanclub, Pa ...

The Scare ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American television series that premiered on January 20, 1998 on television network The WB. It was created by Kevin Williamson, who was the executive producer until the end of the show's second season. Paul Stupin shared ...

Nabarlek Nabarleks (''Petrogale concinna''), are a tiny species of macropod found in northern Australia. They are a shy and nocturnal animal that resides in rocky hollows and forages in the surrounding area. Their diet is grasses, sedges, and ferns foun ...

Blue King Brown Blue King Brown are an Australian urban roots ensemble formed in 2003 in Byron Bay by mainstays Nattali Rize and Carlo Santone. They have released three studio albums, ''Stand Up'' (October 2006), ''Worldwize Part 1 – North & South'' (August ...

The Beautiful Girls The Beautiful Girls are an Australian roots music group founded in Sydney in 2001 by Mat McHugh, Clay MacDonald, and Mitchell Connelly. They have released three extended plays, '' Morning Sun'' (2002), ''Goodtimes'' (2002), and '' The Weight ...

, Something With Numbers,

Kev Carmody Kevin Daniel Carmody (born 1946), better known by his stage name Kev Carmody, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter and musician, a Murri man from northern Queensland. He is best known for the song "From Little Things Big Things Grow", ...

Kisschasy Kisschasy are an Australian rock band that formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 2002. Their line-up consists of lead vocalist Darren Cordeux, bassist Joel Vanderuit, guitarist Sean Thomas and drummer Karl Ammitzboll. The band released two gold cert ...

, Andrew Morris, Wire MC and

Street Warriors Street Warriors are an Australian hip hop group. The group is made up of brothers Abie and Warwick Wright from Local Knowledge.Brisbane Entertainment Centre The Brisbane Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall, Queensland, Australia. The centre is managed by ASM Global. The arena has an array of seating plans which facilitate the comfort of ...

, ''Rave Magazine'' reviewer Simon Topper comments Silverchair as "Visually stunning, and giving goosebumps during '

The Greatest View "The Greatest View" is a song by Australian rock band Silverchair, released on 28 January 2002 as the first single from their fourth studio album, ''Diorama''. This is one of three songs which made it onto the album (the other two being "World ...

' and '

Straight Lines In geometry, a line is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature. Thus, lines are one-dimensional objects, though they may exist in two, three, or higher dimension spaces. The word ''line'' may also refer to a line segmen ...

', Silverchair still elicit the screaming throng mentality, although it's not until final blast '

Freak A freak is a person who is physically deformed or transformed due to an extraordinary medical condition or body modification. This definition was first attested with this meaning in the 1880s as a shorter form of the phrase " freak of nature ...

' that anything resembling a mosh starts." Topper's comments of Powderfinger are equally positive, though defines them differently as "still just a bunch of blokes who could just as easily play a beer garden, but happen to have written some of this generation's anthems." Law enforcement representatives praised the tour's low rate of incidents, some attributing the success to the maturity of the crowds, with Wodonga police officials commenting that less than 1,000 of the 8,000 people in attendance at the Wodonga show were under the age of 18 and that the average age of attendance was "about 30

ears old An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists ...

Tour itinerary

Notes

{{Silverchair Powderfinger Silverchair 2007 concert tours 2007 in Australia