Everclear, LOLA @ The Gov, Adelaide 23/2/2023
The intense heat in Adelaide the last few days didn’t deter rock fans from heading along to The Gov to see Portland rockers Everclear continue their thirtieth anniversary celebrations. The band were in good form, full smiles and looked in good spirits having played the majority of shows on their biggest Australian tour to date with only Adelaide and two Western Australian shows left.
Adelaide band LOLA opened proceedings and these larrikins really know how to play and were a great fit for Everclear. Having seen them a week or so ago they continue to get better each time I’ve seen and no doubt the future looks bright. They had some great songs in their kit bag with Fuck It and What’s The Point? encouraging the crowd to form a circle. It’s pretty ballsy to take on The Living End’s Second Solution but they did it well.
Everclear took to the stage to a heroes like welcome and had plenty of firepower early with So Much For The Afterglow, Everything To Everyone and front man/ main stay Art Alexakis asking the excitable crowd ‘who wants to hear some old school shit’. Heroin Girl got the crowd jumping and it was great hearing the likes of Heartspark Dollarsign from the infamous 1995 release Sparkle And Fade. Alexakis asked the crowd who remembers them from the 90s on Triple J and Triple M when they were all over Father Of Mine.
In a flash from the past Nervous and Weird from their first album World of Noise got a look in. Hats off to Art Alexakis who revealed that he is thirty four years clean and sober adding that at sixty one he has Multiple Sclerosis and is managing things well with no plans to slow down any time soon. Having the benefit of insight and wisdom he acknowledged that “you have to appreciate the hard shit to appreciate the good shit’. The Twistinside was a reflection of that difficult period in his life. Alexakis is backed by a kick arse band in Dave French (guita), Freddy Herrera (bass) and Brian Nolan (drums) and his admiration for them was acknowledged several times during their show.
Sunflowers was dedicated to Alexakis’s mum and to all the single mums. Freddy mentioned they were last here three years ago for Hotter Than Hell, hard to believe and so much has happened since then. Fire Maple Song and Wonderful were terrific. Strawberry was a poignant moment dedicated to all Alexakis’s sober brothers and sisters put the thought “don’t judge by what you say but by what you”. So many great moments played from Sparkle And Fade including Electra Made Me Blind but the surprise for me was the Nirvana cover Molly’s Lips off Insecticide.
Alexakis spoke of Local God being a hit in Australia and nowhere else with Australian director Baz Luhrmann asking him to write a song for the Romeo & juliet film. I Will Give You A New Life reflected Alexakis’s mantra “do what gives you joy and don’t give a fuck about what I don’t need to give a fuck about”. With a Journey teaser Alexakis reminded himself that he had one job and one job only which was to play Everclear music. Summerland was so good which was followed by a promise that they would be back in two years. After finishing on the pinnacle moment and song of their career in Santa Monica there was no need for an encore as they had already blown the crowd away.
Live Review By Rob Lyon