Photos and Review by Bethany Anna Packer
Everclear Photos HERE
Toadies Photos HERE
Fuel Photos HERE
When I finally arrived at the House of Blues last Thursday I was definitely ready to let off some steam with my favorite medicine, live music. Fighting the Fenway traffic and parking situation to get to Landsdowne St. to arrive in time for the opening performance was nothing short of a high stress situation.
I entered the venue to the sound of the Summerland tour 2015 already underway. And my stresses were instantly forgotten. Moments before my arrival, the members of American Hi-Fi had taken the stage in their very own hometown of Boston, MA. The quartet amped up the crowd with a number of their pop punk hits, really getting the fan’s attention when they broke out their past pop smash ‘Flavor of the Week’.
Following American Hi-Fi’s performance Art Alexakis took the mic. He gave a generous introduction before each set along with an ode to Boston. After a colorful introduction from Art (sporting a Boston t-shirt and a pressure boot on his broken right foot) Fuel was next to take the stage.
Personally Fuel was my favorite act of the night. From a photographer’s perspective favoritism comes with personality and performance. Neither of which lead Brett Scallions or the rest of the band lacked in. They put on an energetic, captivating performance. Their set list included old favorites like ‘Shimmer’ and ‘Bad Day’ along with tunes from their newest album Puppet Strings. By the end of Fuel’s set the audience was fully engaged and eager for more.
After another introduction and a confession from Art that he had been trying to get this band to tour Summerland for a number of years, next to perform was Toadies. The alternative rock band from Texas added flair and flavor to the Summerland line up that was different from their peers. The crowd fawned when they started into one of my personal all time favorite songs, ‘Possum Kingdom’.
American Hi-Fi’s lead singer Stacy Jones then took the stage to enthusiastically introduce headliner Everclear. From start to finish the band did not disappoint Boston with their performance. Fans belted along word after word to the songs that peppered the soundtrack of their lives, such as ‘I Will Buy You a New Life’, ‘Everything to Everyone’, ‘So Much for the Afterglow’ and ‘Father of Mine’. The band delivered us a healthy mix of their classics while also giving us a taste from their April release Black Is The New Black with new tunes ‘The Man Who Broke His Own Heart’ and ‘American Monster’. Art bounced around the stage despite his broken foot with the rest of the band putting on a killer performance as well.
After fans rallied for more, Everclear returned to the stage for an encore. The show wrapped with a version of ‘Santa Monica’ featuring a guest appearance from American Hi-Fi’s Jamie Artentzen and Fuel’s Brett Scallions.
You better believe that if you missed this show, you should be on the look-out for Summerland 2016. I am sure I will not miss it.
The Summerland Tour at The House of Blues – Boston, MA
