Live Review: Everclear, BodyJar, AntiHeroes, Art VS Science, The Strums

With the sun shining and dirt bikes revving outside, The Strums kick off the musical component of the FMX Festival, and it’s hard to argue with their sunny, upbeat indie-leaning rock’n’roll.

Admittedly something of an odd choice for the bill, but the crowd seems a bit perplexed about what to make of Art Vs. Science. Sure there are hips waggling up the front, but most of the crowd seems more interested in sorting out bourbon and cokes. 

DJ outfit Antiheroes fare better than AVS but maybe because they strip away the nuance and play a set of hyper-kinetic electronic music. It’s a non-stop blast of bangers. That’s what the kids are calling them right, bangers?

Aussie skate punk greats Bodyjar are up to the task of reminding punters they’re, in essence, at a rock show. The tracks from 2013’s Role Model now sound as comfortable as the hits from the ‘90s.

After a mixed bag of acts, the bulk of the crowd is getting what they want as Everclear get on stage. But that feeling of satisfaction diminishes over the next hour. Though the tour poster bills their visit as a Sparkle & Fade anniversary tour on which the 1995 album would be played front to back, Everclear avoid everything but the bigger cuts from the record.

But that might not be as a big an issue if the songs all sound on point, because it’s hard to find flaw in Everclear’s output in the ‘90s. The Everclear of old prided themselves on keeping things very rudimentary. Everclear’s best songs sounded like any halfway decent musician could play them, but were great for Art Alexakis to turn a life spent in his white trash hell into angst-riddled poetry. The band succeeded on his ability to tell stories. Now he can’t tell those stories; he can’t even keep his vocals to the very obvious beat. He drops syllables at the start or end of most lines and does all the regular rock star tricks to cover his tracks – the mic into the crowd, letting the backing vocalists handle things – but the absence is too obvious to not be disappointing.

There are moments though where Alexakis can present tracks that sound as wonderfully maudlin as they should. When he picks up his acoustic guitar and plays Strawberry solo he can slow it down and let it permeate the audience’s collective consciousness. Similarly, the single from the band’s new record, The Man Who Broke His Own Heart, has noticeably fewer lyrics, and Alexakis is much better suited singing them and giving the song an emotional oomph. It’s hard to be mad at Everclear for tonight’s performance, but it’s also hard not to feel a little disappointed.