On a wet and windy Tuesday in the fabulous Fleece venue in Bristol, alt-rockers Soul Asylum brought their A game and rocked a full house with a cracking opening set from Everclear transporting everyone back to the simpler times of the early 1990’s, where we all had more hair and less wrinkles.
Everclear kicked their set off at full speed with ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Everything to Everyone’ and the already full room started bouncing and didn’t stop until the last note. With the majority of the set coming from the earlier albums, tracks such as ‘Heroine Girl’ and ‘Wonderful’ got an amazing reception and the energy from the stage swept throughout the venue.
Mid-set, the pace slowed and ‘Strawberry’, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘I Will Buy You a New Life’ enthralled the audience. The band were tight and the partisan crowd couldn’t get enough. They finished off at pace as they blasted ‘Heartspark Dollarsign’ and ‘Santa Monica’. After a quick check of the clock, there was just enough time to smash out a cover of The Vaselines ‘Molly’s Lips’. A brilliant start to the night and a solid hour set of alternative rock to blow the cobwebs away.
Next up, the main event, and from the opening riff of ‘Somebody to Shove’, it was clear that the 2022 version of Soul Asylum had lost none of its grit, none of the power from their 90’s heyday. It was full on alt-rock from the start, running head first straight into ‘Got it Pretty Good’ and ‘Freaks’. Next up was one of my all time favourite Soul Asylum tracks, ‘Misery’ from 1995’s Let your Dim Light Shine. Dave Pirner’s vocals haven’t changed a bit with a mix of gentle tones with an abrasive edge. With the crowd singing back the “Frustrated Incorporated” lines the place came alive again.
Tracks from the 1992 Grave Dancers Union album formed the heart of the setlist, with ‘Without a trace’, ‘99%’ and ‘Black Gold’ taking me right back to my teenage days when grungy, alt-rock ruled the airwaves. Interestingly there were only a couple of tracks from their latest 2020 release Hurry up and Wait, a release heavily hampered by the outbreak of Covid.
Ryan Smith on guitar, in his fingerless gloves, didn’t stop moving all night and jumped and flew around the stage with boundless energy. But, even after all these years, Pirner’s voice remains so strong and the songs? they sounded even better now than they did in their heyday, nearly 30 years ago. The 3 song encore left the crowd with nothing more to give and after over a 4 year wait since they were last in the UK, they couldn’t have been more satisfied.
A fantastic night in Bristol with 2 incredible bands that can still do it at the highest level. Dave Pirner is a legend and didn’t disappoint on any level.
Words and Pictures Glenn Morrison