Art Alexakis, Brendan B. Brown @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 8/2/2024
The band Everclear are no strangers to Australian shores touring here almost every couple of years or so and the next stop on Art Alexakis’s solo acoustic tour was in Adelaide at Lion Arts Factory. It you’re a die hard fan or a casual observer it was one of those where you should of been there. For fans who have not missed an Everclear tour this was like the jewel in the crown and one of those experiences that might just trump everything else they have seen involving Everclear. What was different? It was all the hits Of Everclear, a couple of unexpected gems, the stories behind the music and later on an interactive question and answer session with the fans.
Opening act was definitely an added bonus on this tour with Wheatus main man Brendan B. Brown playing a lively and spirited set. Given that Adelaide was overlooked for Pandemonium Rocks in April this experience in its purest form was great. I don’t recall Wheatus having ever played in Adelaide. Opening with Pretty Girl was followed by post apocalyptic love song Valentine taking up the ultimate challenge of playing the AC/DC cover Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation. Even Brendan himself acknowledged it was “so stupid” even attempting this song acoustically.
Reflecting on making their seventh album for the last nine years and re-recording their first album as the record label lost the masters. It was a bit of a “two-for” with Leroy turning in to Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl and later being blown away by an audience member pointing out the Adelaide connection. Next was Lemonade followed by a song about existential dread in Maybe Love. Opting to cut Fall In Love short as “it’s Dirtbag time” Art was watching from side of stage with Brown commenting that in Kansas they thought we were Smash Mouth adding jokingly that Art pretends he “likes me”. With that, Art was heard saying “play the fucking song” and the one that everyone wanted to hear in Teenage Dirtbag.
As Art Alexakis took the stage it was a mild response drawing the comment “is that all you got?” The crowd, albeit small, fired up and found plenty of voice starting. Art opened with saying something “you should never do to start with by playing a hit” playing a teaser of Santa Monica saying he’ll come back to that later. With the thirtieth anniversary of Sparkle And Fade next year Art said they would be back back November 2025. By Art’s own admission he said this would be a little more mellow than the usual Everclear show also talking about how people think most of his songs are autobiographical.
Song From an American Movie, Pt. 1, I Will Buy You a New Life, and Heartspark Dollarsign are terrific songs stripped back and played acoustically. OMG! Loser Makes Good was great and Art spoke about how well behaved the crowd was in the “City Of Churches” saying that repressed feeling back in the day meant when the crowd came to their show that they would go bonkers. Father Of Mine and Summerland were amongst many highlights. The cover of Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl was awesome featuring backing vocals of the fans. Every time Art spoke the crowd hung off every word which was just as entertaining as the music itself finishing the main set with Strawberry, Everything To Everyone, Wonderful and Santa Monica.
Taking a short break it was an interesting format where an audience member could step up to the microphone to ask Art a question about almost anything from the meaning of the song Queen Of The Air, what pizza he had for tea, the band’s role in the movie Loser to the song lyrics in Wonderful and the story behind Volvo Driving Soccer Mom for starters which were interspersed with a shortened version of Pale Green Stars and awesome solo tune Sunflower. Great show and we look forward to seeing Everclear back in Australia next year and maybe a nudge to bring Wheatus with them as well.
Live Review By Rob Lyon