Powderfinger Teams Up With Silverchair

Two of Australia’s biggest bands, Powderfinger and Silverchair, are teaming up for 22 metropolitan and regional dates.

"Across The Great Divide" begins August 29th and runs for nine weeks with Powderfinger headlining.

It will be the biggest domestic tour since the days of Cold Chisel and The Angels in the 1980s, Silverchair manager John Watson said.

In fact, the idea for the team-up came when Watson returned to visit his family in Queensland and spotted a fading Chisel / Angels poster in his old bedroom.

The tour will take in 10,000- to 15,000-capacity venues, with circus tents at regional areas lacking adequately sized indoor venues.

It’s taken a year of negotiating with local councils over safety and health issues, Watson said. The tour could sell up to 350,000 tickets, given that both bands have returned after lengthy breaks this year and scored No. 1 albums. Prices range from $89.90 to $99.90.

Powderfinger singer Bernard Fanning said, "These will be our first shows for two and a half years, and the first time we will return to a lot of the regional areas. We are grateful to have Silverchair with us to carry our gear!"

Quipped Silverchair’s Ben Gillies, "If the tickets don’t sell, we can always blame Powderfinger!"

The tour will raise awareness for reconcile.org.au, a site set up to reduce the 17-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

The two bands have formed a company called Powderchair for the event. A live DVD from the tour is expected.

Whether a joint recording will follow depends on "what happens on tour," Watson said.