Rock and roll ages well. You can just look at Mick Jagger in comparison to Mitch McConnell (who are practically the same age), or you can watch an Everclear show. At 61, Art Alexakis and his band are still happily kicking up an alt-rock racket and having a great time doing it. After speaking to Art last month and listening to their recent live album, I was excited to catch their current tour, where they mixed in some surprises with their big list of hits.
Opening the night were The Pink Spiders, a modern power pop band I have been a fan of for a while. Playing the kind of spiky rock pulled from bands like Cheap Trick and The Knack, mixed with some modern pop-punk/emo influences, the band roared through tracks from their latest album Freakazoid, with songs like “Gold Confetti” and “Freakin’ Freaking Out” burst with spazzy energy and sharp hooks. The group kept banter to a minimum, allowing them to fit in a whole lot of songs in their opening set. The band’s shirtless, heavily tattooed bassist stood out on stage, rocking out and encouraging the crowd’s enthusiasm. The band closed their set with singles “Little Razorblade”, which was played on KROQ way back in the day, and the even better “Modern Swinger” (which SHOULD have been played on KROQ back in the day). While this group may never be as big as it should be, I’m very glad they’re still around and getting to tour the country. They deserve to be heard.
When I saw The Ataris back in April, it was their first time performing together in years, and there were certainly a few areas where the rust was showing. Seeing them this last Monday, it was clear all the cobwebs had been shaken off, as the band was in peak form (and this despite Kris Roe having been laid up with Covid the previous two weeks). The band was tight, and Roe’s vocals were stronger than ever. They started strong with “In This Diary”, with one awesome lyrical alteration (“80’s songs” was replaced by “Replacements songs”). The band dedicated “The Hero Dies In This One” to Elliott Smith, and all of their other fallen heroes, and then blasted off into a mighty “Takeoffs and Landings”. The band dipped into 1999 with a speedy “Your Boyfriend Sucks”, before getting the whole crowd to join him for their hit cover of “Boys of Summer”. It’s great how much the band has embraced this hit, as some bands best known for a cover would possibly shy away from this. And maybe The Ataris would if they didn’t have as many good songs of their own in their pocket, like 2001’s “I.O.U. One Galaxy”, or their cult classic closer “San Dimas High School Football Rules”. I think if the band keeps touring and playing as well as they did at this show, there’s going to be a reevaluation of their catalog and their placement in the pop-punk pantheon is going to rise.
Everclear were a staple of alternative radio in the nineties and early 2000s, with three albums going platinum or higher, so it’s no surprise they can still draw a crowd. What was a pleasant surprise was the mix in ages at the show – while the band’s original audience are in their 40s and 50s now, there were also members in the audience decades younger (two standing in front of me who were actively jumping and dancing throughout the band’s entire set). And for the most part, you could guess what was in the set.
The band opened with a riotous “So Much for the Afterglow” and “Everything to Everyone”, two of the smaller hits from 1997’s So Much for the Afterglow. They were good warm-ups for the crowd’s vocals, as Alexakis and his band then went into the major hit “Father of Mine”, which the crowd knew every word to. As Art said in our interview, they were going to play the hits. More interesting are the deep cuts and requests included in the set (note: sadly my request of “Hater” was not included, alas).
The first surprise was “The Swing”, a track off the Scream 2 soundtrack which isn’t even available to hear on streaming services. I had actually never even heard this track, and am sad that it isn’t available to stream as I wanted to check it out after hearing it live. The band then played “Pretty Bomb” from Black is the New Black for the first time EVER, which was likely special for the band’s die-hard fans (though in the back of my mind, I was wondering “why couldn’t they play “A Beautiful Life” for the first time ever tonight!” haha). And while the audience may not be as familiar with it yet, hopefully by the end of this tour they will all be fans of “Sing Away”, the full-band reimagining for Alexakis’ solo track that was recently released on the live album. It’s a beautiful and moving track, and sounded great.
Along with their singles, the band has a handful of fan favorites they also made sure to service to the audience; “Heroin Girl”, “Local God” (another request) and the underrated “Strawberry”, which I was reevaluating after hearing it live. This one came with a thoughtful message from Alexakis, who is now over thirty years sober, dedicating it to everyone who was fighting addiction and staying on the path of sobriety. This tied-in with an overarching theme of gratefulness in the night from the frontman – grateful to still be healthy enough to be there, despite his M.S. diagnosis, grateful for his sobriety, grateful that fans were still coming out to see them after thirty years, and generally being grateful for rock n’ roll and all it has given him.
When you leave a show by a veteran band, and can think of a number of songs by them that they didn’t play that you would have wanted to hear, it makes you realize how good they really are. There are bands that have coasted off one to two hits their whole careers. Everclear have a lot more, and if the times hadn’t changed as they did, should of had a few more. Don’t believe me? Listen to this playlist and decide for yourself!
The Indy Review 