I went Wed. night to see a triple bill at Webster Hall: Everclear, Soul Asylum and Cracker. The ticket price was fantastic, and being a longtime Everclear fan I simply couldn't resist. Alicia and I Met up with B'More John and got there early... the venue was small, a great place to get up close to the stage.
I have seen Everclear before, going all the way back to a Tower Records in stores appearance/signing for "So Much For The Afterglow" in 1997. Soul Asylum I had never seen, although I certainly had been a big fan of their songs all through High School and College, and Cracker I knew a few songs but was really looking forward to finally seeing live, especially considering the Camper Van Beethoven roots.
Cracker hit the stage first, and gave a relatively short but entertaining set. The singer didn't seem particularly interested in audience interaction or stage banter, but the Guitarist made up for that in spades, even taking over vocals on a song. His energy level and enthusiasm was through the roof, and it really helped to elevate their set.
Soul Asylum hit next, and gosh-darn it, just blew us all away. Their show was SO fun and performed with SUCH entertaining enthusiasm as well as technical prowess and unbelievable showmanship that I am now and forever a Soul Asylum convert. They simply should NOT be missed, under any circumstances. Their set was jam-freakin'-packed with hit after monster hit, many of which I forgot was even them, and hadn't heard for maybe 10 years. I was in 90s audio bliss heaven. A Wyclef cover (kudos to Alicia for calling it!) along with a long, jokey series of musical "stand up" style one liners (absolutely hysterical) followed by "Stand Up and Be Strong" joined onstage with their guitar techs! Ha!
Everclear finished the night, and what they lacked in Soul Asylum's technical musicianship (and light show) they made up for in fantastically catchy punk-alt-pop. Sort of out-of-tune (as always) but WAY LOUDER and WAY more distorted and jumpier, much to my delight they hung back on some of their older songs, not just radio hits like "I Will Buy You A new Life" but awesome rockers like "you Make Me Feel Like a Whore," "White Men In Black Suits," and even an AMAZING solo-acoustic "Strawberry." "Wonderful" was just that, and to close up the night (and in support of their newest album, a collection of cover songs) they pulled LITERALLY 30-40 girls and women from the audience up onto the (small) stage to sing along and dance with 8-6-7-5-3-0-9!!! A Weird, fun end to a crazy night.
Everclear is the type of band, who, through all of their popularity ups and downs, has always maintained a very tight connection to their fans, with Art personally maintaining the mySpace page and responding and reaching out to fans. This night, he said that after the show, the entire band will meet at the back of the room (they had some tables stet up) to meet all the fans, get pictures, sign things (no purchase necessary!) etc. We waited and got to meet and greet them, with each of the band members (Art in particular) being funny, gracious, conversational, and just plain NICE NICE NICE.
If you have never seen them, do yourself a favor and go! If you HAVE, but it's BEEN a while, go AGAIN... their catalogue is so deep that you're bound to have a great time, and with the price and location of a triple bill like this, you'd pretty much be crazy NOT to want to go!
Thanks again to all 3 bands for a great night, and Thanks again to Art and Everclear for going above and beyond to connect with your fans!
without further adieu, my posting: I couldn't find a 'boot of anything from this show (yet!) but I DID find a fantastic Show Soul Asylum did in May of this year (St. Paul, MN)... not the exact setlist, but similar enough, and the sound quality is great... take a listen... if you like it, go see these bands, and buy their albums! None of this "piracy" isn't really "stealing" crap!!! Hit Everclear up on myspace too! It really IS Art writing back to you!
Download: Soul Asylum: St. Paul, MN - May 3, 2008
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