[4][5] In December 1996, drummer Ben Gillies said about Freak Show, when compared to Frogstomp, "it was just more fun making this album".

[6] In February 1997, bassist Chris Joannou said about the recording of the album, "With Freak Show we were, I guess, in a way wanting to do something different, so we thought about it a bit that way -- but, really, it just happened naturally.

[8]The album's front cover image is an illustration of Grady Stiles, Jr., a sideshow performer afflicted with ectrodactyly, who used the stage name "Lobster Boy".

Although, the majority of the songs found on the album still retain emotional and angst-fueled themes that include disease and suicide.

"Punk Song #3" ("Satin Sheets") was originally recorded for Freak Show, but was omitted from the album and included on Neon Ballroom (1999) instead.

The release of Freak Show was originally slated for the autumn of 1996; it was later pushed back to avoid competition from Pearl Jam's No Code.

The album reached number 1 on the Australian charts and yielded three Top 10 singles – "Freak", "Abuse Me" and "Cemetery".

The band may still be using other peoples' riffs to guide its post-pubescent fury, but it's the enthusiasm that makes this Freak Show more than a novelty.

"[1] American online magazine Loudwire considered Freak Show to be the 9th best hard rock album of 1997.

While they may still concentrate too heavily on Pearl Jam and Nirvana, they're beginning to fuse the elements together in a more interesting way and are writing stronger hooks.

"[14] Chuck Eddy, writing for the American music magazine Spin, thought it was a better album than Silverchair's debut record Frogstomp, as Freak Show featured "punkier speedups, fancier breaks, and more dramatic climbing from quietude interlude to dude attitude".

He said: During the recording of Freak Show they were incredibly wild and young, the energy and adrenaline in the room was like the biggest sugar rush imaginable.

[20]In February 2017, Josh Leeson, writing for The Newcastle Herald, wrote that "for many Chair fans the tortured anger of Freak Show remains a treasured edition in the catalogue of Newcastle's finest musical export" and that "20 years on it maintains its own freakish charm in body and soul.

They also wrote that Freak Show is like "seeing your high school sweetheart many decades later – you don't feel the love, but you can remember how it felt.