by Deb Rao
– Senior Columnist —
June 29, 2013 at Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, NV. —
As the temperature soared to 117 degrees, the Summerland Tour kicked into high gear as part of the free concert series at Fremont Street Experience on June 29. This year’s line-up featured some of the top alternative ’90s bands in including Everclear, Live, Filter, and Sponge. Lead singer founder of the Summerland Tour, Art from Everclear also played emceed and introduced all of the bands onstage. It was so exhilarating to see the cohesiveness between all of the bands.
Also this was Live’s first tour with new singer Chris Shinn. Yes, just as some of the ’80s bands are sporting different front man it appears that the same trend is going for some of the alternative bands. You can blame the early ’90s for the demise of ’80s metal but the genre did spark some good bands. One of them being Sponge who opened up the show. Sponge hails from the rock and roll capital of the world Detroit, Mich. This exemplifies in their music hard, gritty, and catchy. Lead singer Vinnie Dombroski is a dynamic front man. The band opened up with the pulverizing “Wax Ecstatic.” Art from Everclear introduced the band as Sponge being the first band to take Everclear on their first tour. Vinnie worked the 16,000 capacity audience. Sporting a cool sombrero hat, the singer displayed great showmanship. Highlight of the set included the high energy “Molly”(Sixteen Candles Down The Drain)” and the poignant and “Have You Seen Mary.” Sponge is one of those bands that keep delivering good quality albums. In fact they have recently released their latest Stop The Bleeding. Sponge also performed one new song from the release called “Fade To View,” It had a great upbeat hard driving melodic beat that I will have to check out. During the last song Vinnie tried to take a risk and jump into the huge crowd to shake hands, proving he is from Detroit and surely fearless. Excellent Kodak moment.
Sponge Set List:
Wax Ecstatic
Molly (Sixteen Candles Down The Drain)
Glue
Have You Seen Mary
Fade From View
Plowed
The bands all performed around 40 minute sets. Filter was up next fronted by Richard Patrick. The bands set was very intense but I wasn’t too familiar with their music. Next up Live performed a riveting set with new singer Chris Shinn. I have to say Chris has a great sultry voice and the band sounded great. The set sparked an impromptu sing along on the last song “I Alone.” Members of Filter, Everclear, and Sponge also joined Live onstage for this song.
The four-hour show ended with Everclear. It was so great to see the line-up that Art put together for this tour. It really showed the great community between the musicians. Back in their heyday, Everclear had a great alternative punk funk sound. Tonight’s set sparked all the hits including “Father Of Mine”, “Heroin Girl” and “AM Radio.” Art’s blue guitar sounded amazing. He also mentioned during the set he was a huge Zeppelin fan and couldn’t go a day without listening to Led Zeppelin as the band burst into “Whole Lotta Love,” Highlight of the set was when Art said he wife and baby girl Arizona were on the bus, as he dedicated,” I Will Buy You A New Life.” The Everclear set ended with their hit “Santa Monica”, as Filter, Live, and Sponge joined them onstage for a grand finale.
It was refreshing to hear some of these classic alternative hits being performed. The Summerland Tour proved to be one of the best acts so far this Summer at Fremont Street Experience. Special Thanks to Megan from Fremont Street Experience for making this review possible.
Everclear Set List:
So Much For The Afterglow
Everything To Everyone
Father Of Mine
Heroin Girl
I Will Buy You A New Life
Am Radio
Wonderful
Whole Lotta Love
Santa Monica
