Yesterday was a true “throwback Thursday”.

American Hi-Fi, Fuel, The Toadies, and Everclear all on one stage. It didn’t even seem real.

I love new music. I’m always one of the first out of my friends to hear of a band or I’m the only one that’s heard of a certain band. Obscure is my middle name. I love those bands that nobody has ever heard of. I love going to a show and being the only one there and then going to see the same band again in a few months and get surrounded by hundreds of people. The exception to this? 90’s music. I was raised in the 90’s and am definitely a 90’s girl through and through no matter how much I try to deny it.

Everclear is definitely in my top 5 favorite 90’s bands. There was something about their music, lyrics and look. Art Alexakis, the singer, 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!).

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.

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 is about starting a riot. I used to scream to that song growing up. Last night, all that was going through my head was… let’s not start a riot.. let’s start a retirement fund and other adult stuff.

They were followed by Fuel and The Toadies. Honestly, I only knew the hits songs from both bands but they weren’t bad. The Toadies had an awesome stage show although I’m pretty sure they are all old enough to be my grandparents. Fuel, eh, not my cup of tea but they had a lot of energy on stage and really brought back the 90’s grunge feel.

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. 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”.

Line Up:

American Hi-Fi

Fuel

The Toadies

Everclear

Venue: Mill City Nights

Sausage Fest Meter- 2 out of 10

Average Age of the Crowd- 74.. okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a wee bit, but I was definitely one of the youngest people there

Crowd Surfers- None

Spotted Flying Through The Sky- None

Broken Bones- Apparently some dude slipped on the stairs going downstairs and cracked his head open.

Drunkards Taken Out By Security- None but a kid in front of me got kicked out for smoking weed

Found in the Pit- These people are too old to know what a pit is

Overheard on the stage- The singer of American Hi-Fi mumbled into his microphone, “We are almost 40 years old and still singing the songs… Jesus.”