“So as much as it’s been fourteen years away from Australia for the band, it’s been fourteen years of waiting by a lot of this eager crowd who loved every second of tonight’s show and I can tell you one thing it won’t be another fourteen before they’re back.”
Sydney band ‘Ashes’ who won their place opening the night tonight set the pace for the night as the crowd started to make their way in on this chilly Friday night in Sydney but I have to say those few that were here early to witness the set by ‘Ashes’ were warmed up quite quickly with a great set of hook laden songs and a great presence both visually and musically. Needless to say I have a new EP in my collection after their set.
‘Emperors’ from Perth up next to me were great, not knowing what to expect, what I got to hear was a catchy set in a very SR-71 / Dashboard Confessional / Weezer type vein at times. It was a set of catchy almost power pop mixed with a fresh vibe. Great stuff, will be keeping an ear out for these guys in the future.
A seriously impressive crowd is now here tonight to get their 90’s nostalgia fix, and as the thumbs up emerged from the curtain signalling go time, the curtain drew open to a roaring reception for a band gracing Australian shores for the first time in 14 years. Everclear are back and they didn’t waste any time diving straight in to ‘Father Of Mine’ and it didn’t stop from there. ‘You Make Me Feel Like a Whore’ was a fun crowd sing along as to be expected and I have to say straight out, this incarnation of Everclear, now a five piece is one tight unit. These guys are all great players and their sound is great, regardless of requests for more vocals from the front, it sounded pretty good where I was.
A little love song (as Art coined it) called ‘Heroin Girl’ had the crowd jumping and fists pumping and we’re only three songs in… I can tell we’re in for a treat tonight. What’s great to see is the reception received after so many years away that has Art smiling like a Cheshire cat and I can’t see that grin won’t be going away in a hurry. ‘Amphetamine’ was rockin’ with an awesome outro that had everyone clapping along. ‘Wonderful’ which was a big song for the band received a rousing reception and a sea of ‘na na na na nas’ from the adorning crowd was truly wonderful to watch, pun intended.
Slowing it down a little with ‘Song from an American Movie Part 1’ where Art asks “Is it ok if I fuck up my own song?” Well he did, and it was as he very quickly and moved on to ‘Strawberry’ solo on an acoustic which was a great moment of the night. Turning it back up we get a clever rock medley was used for band introductions including the likes of ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Smoke On the Water’, ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ as we’re then treated to ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Rock and Roll’ by Led Zep where keyboard player Josh stepped out to take the vocals and it was awesome, that cat can sing…
‘White Men in Black Suits’ was great and now it was time for a new one ‘Be Careful What You Ask For’ from their new album ‘Invisible Stars’ received the reception you’d expect new material does at a show but I dug it as I’ve been across the new album since May. I love the new material in fact and as the song finished, those that didn’t know it now did and were ok with it, well if the sales of the new album were anything to go by after the show that is…
‘Local God’ which was on the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack is up next and wow Art wasn’t kidding when he told me in our interview with us that the fans love this song here. ‘Heartspark Dollarsign’ was one that I personally had been waiting to hear for a long time and it was worth the wait tonight, it sounded great, but then ‘Everything to Everyone’ got everyone jumping and rocking out and an obvious fan favourite, mostly to the guy crowd surfing having the time of his life tonight.
‘Santa Monica’ of course received the biggest reception of the night and rightfully so, this is the song that much of the crowd here discovered Everclear with back in 1995 and for many they had been waiting years to hear live and sing back at the top of their lungs, me included… The band left the stage with huge smiles plastered on their faces.
Returning for an obligatory encore, ‘So Much for the Afterglow’ had more energy than a can of red bull tonight, this was almost the song of the night for me, it was delivered with passion and it showed. ‘Electra Made Me Blind’ followed by ‘I Will Buy You a New Life’, a song very personal to Art finished off the night and it was the perfect way to end such a fun nostalgic night. To hear so many songs from two prominent albums released in 1995 and 1997 played tonight (well over half of ‘Sparkle & Fade’ and ‘So Much For The Afterglow’ respectively) was just so cool and those here to see it felt exactly the same way. The set lasted just over an hour, of course I would’ve loved to hear more but that’s just coming from a live music fan and a fan of Everclear.
So as much as it’s been fourteen years away from Australia for the band, it’s been fourteen years of waiting by a lot of this eager crowd who loved every second of tonight’s show and I can tell you one thing it won’t be another fourteen before they’re back.
Read our interview with Art Alexakis here…
Read our review of Invisible Stars here…
Essential Information
Venue: The Hi Fi – Sydney
Date: October 12 2012
Supports: Ashes, Emperors
Website: www.everclearonline.com
Set List:
Father of Mine
You Make Me Feel Like a Whore
Heroin Girl
Amphetamine
Wonderful
Song from An American Movie Part 1 – (10 Seconds of it anyway)
Strawberry – Acoustic
Rock Medley
White Men in Black Suits
Be Careful What You Ask For
Local God
Heartspark Dollarsign
Everything to Everyone
Santa Monica
So Much for the Afterglow
Electra Made Me Blind
I Will Buy You a New Life
Catch Everclear at their last two Australian shows
Saturday 13 October HiFi. Melbourne
Tickets: www.thehifi.com.au / www.moshtix.com.au
Sunday 14 October Capitol. Perth
Tickets: www.oztix.com.au
