Review: Eve 6 at P&L

Eve 6 broke into the modern-rock scene in the late 1990s, and by all measures they were a successful band. One of their three full-length albums went platinum; another went gold. They had a few hits on the modern-, mainstream- and adult-rock charts. Katie Holmes appeared in one of their videos ("Tonge Tied"). After their third album flopped on the charts in 2004, they broke up. Five years later, they have reunited with a different guitar player and the same batch of songs that made them popular.

Friday night, they headlined the rock show down at the Power & Light district. Several thousand people showed up.  A lot of people, it seemed, were there for the  cheap admission -- it was free -- but most came to hear songs that meant something to them five to 10 years ago.

Nostalgia is a selling point these days, even if a song only takes you back from your mid-20s to high school, like the song "Here's to the Night." It's a stock mainstream rock ballad that became a graduation theme in the early 2000s -- a connection that alludes even the band, said Max Collins, the lead singer for Eve 6. Nonetheless, they sang it and the response was warm and fuzzy, like when Coldplay sings "The Scientist."

Eve 6 is straightforward modern rock, as mainstream as Nickelback. They get hard and crunchy, as in "Tongue Tied," but they are melodic, too, and Collins and new guitarist Matt Blair can lock-up in some nice harmonies. Their formula is limited but affective. It shows the effects of post-grunge, but at times it gets into that sound that can resemble the Goo Goo Dolls and the very latter-day Replacements  or solo Paul Westerberg, even Tommy Keene. Or Tom Petty. They covered "Running Down a Dream," and it fit in nicely with the rest of the set.

Absorbed in small doses, the music is predictable but appealing. Over the course of 85 minutes, though, the sameness and the limits of the formula (and the three-piece band) becomes more apparent. And you start noticing some of the lyrics, which can be ... well, you decide. This from "On the Roof Again": "Your heinous highness broke her hymen / Hey, man, try to quit your crying .."

They spread around the hits, playing "Leech" and "Think Twice" early and  saving the biggest bombshell, "Inside Out," for the end. The place blew up for that one, and the response wasn't lost on the band, which showered the crowd with some genuine gratidude.

The boys are working on new songs and they played a couple of those. (Crickets chirping). Chances are that five or 10 years from now those won't elicit the uproar that "Leech" and "Inside Out" did. In fact, the clock is ticking on all that old stuff, too. That's the tricky thing about nostalgia and bands and reunions. It's best to keep going for as long as you can because you can only make your first comeback once. After that, you're just another band living off your past.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Setlist: Rescue, Promise, Open Road Song, Think Twice, Little Tiny Everything, Leech, Anytime, Here's to the Night, Amphetamines, Running Down a Dream, Sunset Strip Bitch, Tongue Tied, On the Roof Again, Pick Up the Pieces, Inside Out, Superhero Girl, What Do You Think of Me Now, At Least We Are Dreaming

Comments

[Clint]

First review of a P&L show this year? I guess better late than never

[neighbor]

There are dozens of shows every week that don't get reviewed on here - why does being at the P/L have ANYTHING to do with it?

[Steve]

Just checking, never been there, and might see Filter or the Bravery later this summer. What time does the Wednesday night rock concerts start and do they normally have opening acts?

[Tim Finn]

they usually have at least one opening act. Eve 6 came on at 9:30. The headliner is usually done by 11.