Summerland, feat. Everclear, Toadies, Fuel, American Hi-Fi at Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (30 July 2015)

Everclear Setlist So Much for the Afterglow Everything to Everyone Heroin Girl American Monster The Man Who Broke His Own Heart Fire Maple Song Wonderful Father of Mine I Will Buy You A New Life Santa Monica with members of American Hi Fi, The Toadies, and Fuel Outro: Semisonic's "Closing Time" Toadies Setlist New Song I Come From The Water Away Belly Of A Whale I Burn Push The Hand Possum Kingdom Heart of Glass (Blondie cover) Tyler Fuel Setlist Untitled Time for Me to Stop Bad Day Shimmer Puppet Strings Soul to Preach To Hemorrhage (In My Hands) American Hi-Fi Setlist Scar The Break Up Song Built For Speed Another Perfect Day Lost The Art of Losing Flavor Of The Weak Tour Dates 08/01 Denver Country Fair Denver, CO 08/04 Revolution Garden City, ID 08/07 Whitney Peak Hotel Reno, NV 08/08 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, NV 08/09 Marquee Tempe, AZ 08/13 Club Nokia Live Los Angeles, CA 08/15 Regional Sports Complex Fresno, CA 08/16 Riverside Municipal Aud Riverside, CA Read More Everclear It's 1990 all over again with the annual "Summerland Tour". The 90s nostalgia tour was created by singer/guitarist Art Alexakis from Everclear, which would explain why they have headlined Summerland since its inception … Toadies Still rubberneckin’… After a successful two legs to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their defining album, Rubberneck; Fort Worth, TX band Toadies …

Last Thursday was a true "throwback Thursday" as the Summerland Tour came to Mill City Nights, featuring Everclear, The Toadies, Fuel, and American Hi-Fi. All the bands were personally introduced by Everclear's singer Art Alexakis. Since he curate the Summerland Tour, I felt he personally knew everyone and shared a mutual respect and genuine friendship.

American Hi-Fi

The show started with American Hi-Fi. They are one of those bands that, had this been 8-10 years ago, I would have been all over the place. I would have been jumping and screaming. Last night I just stood there. It wasn't that they weren't good, they sounded the same as they always have, it was just that I couldn't really relate to the lyrics anymore. One of my favorite songs by them, "The Art Of Losing", is about starting a riot. I used to scream to that song growing up.

They ended their set with their biggest hit, "Flavor Of The Weak", but it was not the last we saw of singer Stacy Jones - who would later double as Everclear's drummer.

Fuel

Fuel was next. Despite being called "post-grunge", the truth is the band existed well before 90s grunge. Originally known as Small the Joy, they decided to change their name to something unsearchable (Fuel) in the mid-90s.

They played it safe and ended with their biggest hit song "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)". Like Art Alexakis would later say, all the bands will play the hits - but they also writing and releasing new music. In the case of Fuel, their latest Puppet Strings came out last year, and they previewed "Soul to Preach To" for us.

Toadies

Art Alexakis had the best introduction for Toadies, they write songs about beauty, pain, rock, love, madness... it's all there in the lyrics to their songs. Like all the bands on the bill, it's just pure rock and roll, no backing tracks, no synths.

It's been a long time since the Texas band wrote new music, having toured extensively for the 20th Anniversary of Rubberneck (which we covered last year). With that said, I did get a chance to listen to their forthcoming Heretics album, set for release September 18th, 2015, via Kirtland Records. The new record is a little stripped down (yes, singer Vaden Todd Lewis did break out the acoustic guitar during their set) and included a different version of their hit song "Possum Kingdom" and a cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass".

Although normally "Possum Kingdom" would have instantly been the highlight of the show (on account of the massive singalong), but I really love seeing the double floor toms for "I Burn".

Art Alexakis

Everclear is definitely in my top 5 favorite 90's bands. There was something about their music, lyrics and look. Art Alexakis was definitely my first man crush. He was so cute with the sleeves of tattoos and the bleach blonde hair swooping across his forehead. Nothing has changed. Over 15 years later, their music is just as good and Art is still just as adorable as the pictures from magazines of him that I had clipped and stapled to my wall (sorry about the staples dad!).

Setlist

Each song from all of the bands was an anthem from the summers back in my childhood. Every note took me back to the summers my brother, mom and I would spend at the local swimming pool called "Holiday Pool". To this day, whenever one of these songs comes on the radio, we call it a "holiday pool song". I could smell the chlorine. I could taste the fun dips and lemonade. I could feel the sun against my skin. I could feel the never fading sunburn itch on my back. I felt like I was right back at the pool.

Before I knew it, it was 11:30 and time for Everclear. Everyone in the crowd seemed to be expecting the same thing.. being able to sing along to those hit 90's songs and have a good time. That's exactly what we got... with their three biggest hits saved for last: "Father of Mine", "I Will Buy You A New Life", and "Santa Monica" (featuring members of Fuel, Toadies, and American Hi-Fi). I'm sure they didn't sound like they did in their prime. You could tell Art was having a hard time keeping up with the words but that was okay, the crowd was there to sing every word right back him. They played the hits, they played the old, they played the new, they played everything you wanted to hear.

I crossed Everclear off of my concert bucket list with a smile on my face. They were far from perfect as far as the music went, but they were everything I wanted them to be... they were perfect for a "Throwback Thursday".

Everclear at Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (30 July 2015)

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