Ever clear?

More like mostly muddy.

Everclear (the band) started off their So Much for the Afterglow: 20th Anniversary Tour celebrating their multi-platinum record from 1997 at the Crystal Ballroom on Thursday in Portland and, um, so much for that.

You know that sound of a raging party when you’re in a nearby adjacent room? The booming bass, an occasional melody filters through, the vocals barely discernible but a boisterous crowd living it up. That was the entire evening! Unfortunately that’s also what it sounded like inside the raging party.

No doubt the fans were ready to party like it was 1997 but Everclear must have brought in their 20 year old sound system, as well. Too bad. Hopefully that was the problem and a fix exists otherwise they’ve got some work cut out for them.

So much potential fun was lost in a largely incomprehensible show featuring totally washed out guitars and vocals often smothered by the bass guitar and drums. Technical glitches throughout the evening only added to this frustrating amateur hour from a veteran band with a solid resume of material whose professionalism should have dug deeper than the dapper tuxedos sported on stage.

Everclear started the evening with the album’s title track and followed in order the track listing through “One Hit Wonder” before playing “Heroin Girl” off 1995’s Sparkle And Fade. Band founder, singer and guitarist Art Alexakis encountered his first guitar issue (or perhaps first time addressing it) after “Normal Like You” and the band briefly left the stage after “One Hit Wonder” as tech hands attended to whatever problem kept cropping up.

More glitches ensued after a horrible “Amphetamine” and following “Sunflowers” Alexakis said “First show of the tour and something’s got to f*** up.” I guess. How about getting it right from the beginning, though? This wasn’t a free show. It’s unfortunate because “White Men in Black Suits” wasn’t even close to the charming version on the album. Guitarist Davey French looked like he was ripping a solo on “Father of Mine” but just a few notes came through the overwhelmed speakers.

Not all was lost though. Oh, who am I kidding? It was pretty rough and outright brutal at times. OK, in a bit of irony the instrumental “El Distorto De Melodica” provided the best shot at redemption. No vocals at least and somehow the guitars worked their way through the blaring bass mess. It wasn’t bad, but far from crisp, and not to last. As Everclear setup for the next song the reverb sounded like they had light sabers on stage. Cool effects but not what we came to hear. Their smash hits “Wonderful” and “Santa Monica” closed the evening, offering a glimpse of what could have been, but by then it was enough already.

A rough 90 minute start to the tour, to say the least. The signature tone that is Everclear was thoroughly lost and once it became apparent things were off-kilter for the duration, it was an exercise in futility. Certainly this was not the Everclear on-hand for their induction into the 2012 Oregon Music Hall of Fame when their performance totally salvaged a ho-hum ceremony.

Everclear played 18 songs and was supposed to play So Much For The Afterglow in its entirety but after announcing “California King” would be the final song played off the album, where was “Hating You for Christmas,” the final track off the album? Maybe they just forgot to play it. Or perhaps they did play it. Was it the mostly unintelligible eighth song played that night? That makes no sense considering the album was played front to back.

Actually, not much made sense on Thursday. Even supporting act Vertical Horizon struggled through sound issues and mechanical flaws, at one point in their hour long set the band left the stage for about 10 minutes after the vocal mics went out.

Nada Melodica, Solamente El Distorto.

Everclear Portland (Crystal Ballroom) Setlist:

1.       So Much for the Afterglow
2.       Everything to Everyone
3.       Normal Like You
4.       I Will Buy You a New Life
5.       Father of Mine
6.       One Hit Wonder
7.       Heroin Girl
8.       ?
9.       The Man Who Broke His Own Heart
10.   El Distorto De Melodica
11.   Amphetamine
12.   Whie Men in Black Suits
13.   Sunflowers
14.   Why I Donn’t Believe in God
15.   California King
16.   Local God
17.   Wonderful
18.   Santa Monica