Live Review: Everclear, The Mercy Kills, Hangar 18

Father Of Mine... more like Nostalgia Of Mine. It was Throwback Tuesday at Sydney's Metro Theatre, where an arguably older than average Metro clientele came together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the '90s most iconic post-grunge rock albums, Everclear's So Much For The Afterglow.

New Zealand rockers Hangar 18, who reformed last year after a 16-year hiatus, kicked off the show with a mixture of older tracks and new material including their new single IDKY. Their performance wasn't quite dynamic enough to get the small crowd going, but what Hangar 18 lacked in energy Melbourne band The Mercy Kills made up for. A mixture of Guns N' Roses and Suzi Quatro, the quartet knocked out an enthusiastic and enjoyable set of glam rock'n'roll with their newest track End This Way one of their strongest.

Then - with the familiar, rousing vocals of title track So Much For The Afterglow - Everclear took to the stage, quickly jumping into the wild "song about Susan" and setting the energetic pace for the rest of the night. Journeying methodically through the A-side of So Much For The Afterglow, the crowd was in a tizzy as the band smashed out hit after hit for the first six songs, including love-anthem I Will Buy You A New Life, the angsty Father Of Mine and crowd singalong favourite Everything To Everyone. Art Alexakis' vocals were kept in good company the entire time with a rousing choir from the crowd singing along to each song in amazing clarity.

Instead of breaking up their setlist with newer tracks from 2012's Invisible Stars or 2015's Black Is The New Black, Everclear chose to revisit their first two albums, handpicking three songs from 1993's World Of Noise and 1995's Sparkle And Fade. Heroin Girl, Heartspark Dollarsign and Fire Maple Song ticked all the boxes for the more diehard fans in the room and provided a fluid segue to the more rock, less pop B-side of So Much For The Afterglow. El Distorto De Melodica highlighted the band's instrumental talent, the guitar playing was absolutely wicked and the song a delight to be heard live. It was probably the highlight of the B-sides, which had some classics like Like A California King and Sunflowers but lacked the singalong charm of the first few songs.

Everclear's encore filled out a perfect set for their long-standing fans with Local God from the 1996 Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, bittersweet Wonderful and one of their most famous tracks Santa Monica finishing off the night, accompanied on vocals by a blissfully happy crowd.