Everclear's first Australian show of the ‘So Much For The Afterglow’ 20th anniversary tour attracted the kind of crowd you’d expect for an album released in the '90s.
There were fewer millennials and more Gen Xers at The Tivoli Theatre (29 September) making the event feel like a high-school reunion, attended by the alternative kids who never really lost their edge.
This was a reunion for the Everclear too, made apparent as they walked on stage all in suits looking like the prom band you wish your high school hired.
There was a warm welcome the moment they appeared, diving straight into the title track from ‘So Much For The Afterglow’. Sometimes crowds take a little warming up, but everyone was into this from the first verse.
The band kept the energy 'up' proceeding into ‘Everything To Everyone’, with both floors of The Tivoli joining in for the chorus.
Once they’d made their presence known, frontman Art Alexakis talked about how happy they were to be in Brisbane for the start of the tour promising tracks from ‘Sparkle And Fade’ and ‘World Of Noise’ later in the night.
Settling in the jackets came off, sleeves rolled up and the vested band rocked on with ‘Normal Like You’. Announced as a song about love, ‘I Will Buy You A New Life’ seemed to resonate perhaps more so with couples. The bittersweet lyrics of ‘Father Of Mine’ rang loud and clear for many more.
Everclear discussed starting out in Portland, how after each album critics would put them down claiming the next album would be a bad one. It was a slap back for critics that this album, which went double platinum, included ‘One Hit Wonder’ written about the naysayers; singing “they cannot hurt you unless you let them”.
Track after track, you could tell every song was someone's favourite with 'Heroine Girl' taking off as well as 'Nervous & Weird', and every other track from ‘…Afterglow’.
For fans of the album, there was insight into what was behind many songs. Art asked “has anyone dated that person their friends and family all hated? I’ve dated and been that person”, just before the band started ‘Heartspark Dollarsign’.
They switched to acoustic to play ‘Strawberry’, before announcing they'd be at the merchant table to meet and greet at the end of the night.
Things picked back up with the ‘Romeo + Juliet’ soundtrack hit ‘Local God’. Playing 'Wonderful' from their 2000 album ‘Songs From An American Movie Vol. One…’ proved to be popular; there was hope in the air they'd be doing an anniversary tour for this album in a few years.
Playing to the crowd, they finished on a high point with one of their best performing songs in Australia; ‘Santa Monica’. Proving its popularity, everyone joined in to finish the set.
