Everclear, The Ataris and The Pink Spiders at August Hall in San Francisco

After over 30 years Everclear is still going strong, their 30-date headlining tour hitting San Francisco’s August Hall on a dreary Tuesday night along with The Ataris and The Pink Spiders. An early show, the VIPs were lined up along Mason Street well in advance of 6 pm doors, leaving enough time to pick up their swag bags before grabbing a spot up front.

Being an early show, it wasn’t a surprise that folks continued to dribbled in slowly during The Pink Spiders’ energetic opening set, likely prompting a number to reconsider their late arrival, and by the time The Ataris took the stage around 7:20 pm the crowd was clearly primed and ready rock and roll. While The Pink Spiders may have been new to most of the audience, it was immediately clear as they launched into “In This Diary” that there were a lot of Ataris fans in the house. Indeed, a healthy dose of songs off of So Long, Astoria got the crowd singing along even before the band busted out “that cover” (aka Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer”).

Everclear took the stage at 8:30, frontman and sole original band member Art Alexakis all smiles as they launched right in to “So Much for the Afterglow.” While not a huge venue by any measure, the show felt particularly intimate as the band and crowd really locked into a groove, no doubt fueled by a relaxed and jovial mood on stage.

The evening included a raft of classics with tunes from So Much for the Afterglow and Sparkle and Fade taking up most of the set — that early one-two punch of “Heroin Girl” and radio hit “Father of Mine” kicked the energy into high-gear for the newer material including “Sing Away” which was released as a studio recorded bonus track on their latest album, Live at The Whisky a Go Go.

While probably not a huge surprise to fans that have been following Everclear, a well-executed Thin Lizzy cover is always a welcome addition to any setlist, queueing up a wrap-up to the night a few minutes before 10 pm with fan favorite “Santa Monica” followed by a frenetic cover of The Vaselines’ “Molly’s Lips” that left the San Francisco crowd sated but likely looking forward to the next opportunity to catch Everclear live.

Setlist