Everclear – Powerstation October 1, 2017

“Who here bought the album when it came out?” Everclear frontman Art Alexakis asked the crowd. This was met by a great response, “well then you’re f**king old!”.

Twenty years after the release of their breakthrough double platinum album So Much For The Afterglow, Everclear proved they are still going strong and showing no sign of slowing down.

I made my way to Powerstation to catch Everclear, the second band hailing from Portland to grace the Powerstation in the space of just one month closely following The Dandy Warhols.

I first heard of Everclear back in 2012 when they played the Juice bar after being absent from these shores since 1996. I had never made an effort to listen to them until recently so i was not sure what to expect.

By the time opening act Hangar 18 took the stage just after 8:50, the venue was packed with many punters, predominantly middle age fans (who were probably my age when they bought the record at the time of its release).

Hangar 18 played a quick set of songs that sounded like hard rock Bon Jovi’esque and then segued into more smooth jangly, power pop songs. The crowd swayed and bounced along to their music and seemed to be quite happy at the end, despite being eager to see who they truly came out for.

Everclear took to the stage at 9:58 to many cheers as bassist Freddy Herrera demanded that the crowd “make some noise”. They instantly unleashed in to opening track from their top selling album, So Much For The Afterglow. The crowd bopped along but unfortunately the sound was not too clear. Alexakis sounded as if he was singing into a cup and the guitars were quiet, but  they struggled along as roadies were scuffling around on stage trying to fix the problem, but never the less, the crowd was already having the time of their lives.

The plan for the night was to play every song in order from their twenty year old album so of course next up was the second track Everything to Everyone. The sound was much clearer and the band sounded tighter. The bassist proved to be the most enthusiastic member of the band, jumping around and getting close to the crowd as they reached out for him.

Between songs the crowd got to witness Everclear’s great stage presence and listen to them discuss the band’s history.

By the fourth song on the setlist I Will Buy You a New Life, it was clear that the band had great chemistry between one another, getting up close to each other and sharing the same mic to harmonise.

After blasting through the first half of So Much For The Afterglow, they took a break to play some other hits that were not on the album, first being Heroin Girl. The crowd was hyped and jumping but not every show can go without a little awkwardness, in this case Alexakis knocking the microphone off the stand resulting in the song being restarted but he manage to laugh off the small accident.

By the end of the show, Everclear proved conclusively that they would not be slowing down anytime soon. The fans loved it and the band could see this and showed their appreciation.

The band finished just after 11 but made an appearance at the merch table to meet their longtime fans and show their generosity.

For a band that has been around for over twenty years and gone through many lineup changes, in their afterglow, they are still as bright as ever and shone brightly on this cool damp Auckland evening.

Jonathan Strock

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Setlist

• So Much For The Afterglow
• Everything to Everyone
• Normal Like You
• I Will Buy You a New Life
• Father of Mine
• One Hit Wonder
• Heroin Girl
• Heartspark Dollarsign
• Nervous and Weird
• El Distorto de Melodica
• Amphetamine
• White Men in Black Suits
• Sunflowers
• Why I Don’t Believe in God
• Like a California King
• Strawberry
• Local God
• Wonderful
• Santa Monica