"This is the first gig we've played in two and a half years", Art Alexakis announced ten songs into Everclear's concert. "How're we doing?" Of course, the thunderous acceptance he had been hearing for the past forty minutes already answered that question, but who could deny him the accolades after that long of a pause?

After opening the show with the mandolin-driven "Theme From An American Movie" (and appropriate Smiley-Face backdrop curtain), Everclear lurched right into "So Much For The Afterglow", serving notice that this pop band could and would still kick out the jams. With brilliant white lights shamelessly blinding the audience in cadence to the song (why was I not cool enough to wear my Sunglasses At Night?), the band burned through familiar stompers like "Til It All Goes Wrong Again" and "Everything To Everyone". Alexakis initially sounded hoarse, he seemed to loosen up and get stronger with each song. And the band - doubled in size with the addition of a keyboard player, percussionist/drummer and guitarist - was ferocious throughout the evening.

I was surprised that they had the balls to pull out "AM Radio" early in the evening, but they did, and it kicked ass. With the keyboard handling the horn parts and Art smoothly switching guitars mid-song, the energetic crowd response elicited perhaps the best background vocals of the evening from the band. Art then played lead on a frantic version of "Rock Star" that dwarfed the studio version.

The mid-set break (and set change from Mr. Smiley Face) allowed a chance for Greg Eklund to take front and center with "The Honeymoon Song", the centerpiece of the "Unplugged" segment of the evening. The transition from that to the opening chords of "Wonderful" was clever enough to fool the audience, yet the moment of recognition was thunderous. Introducing the other two band members as "my brother Craig" and "my brother Greg", Everclear truly seemed to be a solid, ego-less unit truly glad to be out on the road and rocking. Ironic, since the album that re-launched the band in early 2000 was originally intended to be a solo record for Alexakis.

If any looseness or road rust remained, it was shaken off for good by now. "Unemployed Boyfriend", minus the girly rap from the record, is actually a pretty good song! But from that point forward it was no holds barred, culminating in a 1-2-3 punch of "Sparkle And Fade", "I Will Buy You A New Life", and "Santa Monica" (which blew the roof off the building once and for all). Returning for a three-song encore, they might have taken it up a notch with crowd favorite "Father Of Mine" (with Alexakis again contributing some stellar lead guitar work) and a smoking "Heroin Girl".

The old songs rocked and the new ones will gel; Everclear moves on from this warm-up tour to larger venues and an opening slot with (gulp!) Matchbox 20. Are you kidding? By the time Art and the boys are done with the audience, ushers will find mere protoplasm in the theatre seats where Little Robbie Thomas's minions once sat. Serves 'em right. Usually the opening band doubles as a soundcheck for the headliner and suffers as a consequence. Here Nickleback actually was provided with decent sound and lights, while Everclear was a blast of white noise for its first few songs. Of course, when the soundman is comfortably listening to the board mix on his Koss headphones, things like gymnasium reverb don't bother him. Thanks, pal.

And the less said about Nickleback, the better. I'm not certain whether they think they are The Creed Matthews Band or Pearl Bizkit, but these lame posers thought repeatedly dropping the f-bomb, switching guitars after every redundant tune and peppering their set with pot references and every tired arena rock cliché ("You guys rock!") was hip. Didn't these guys see the Spinal Tap? Time to change the bong water, boys, and then you owe me a lot more than a nickel for what you put me through. (Bill Holmes)

(C) 2001 - Bill Holmes