Top 1990s alternative band to return to SteelStacks for 1st time in a decade

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A band that in the late 1990s and early 2000s had a dozen Top 40 hits on Billboard’s Alternative Singles chart will perform at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, it was announced.

Everclear, the Portland, Oregon, band best known for its Alt-chart-topping hits “Santa Monica” and “Everything to Everyone,” will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 18, in Musikfest Cafe.

Tickets, at $40-$55, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at the ArtsQuest websiteor at the ArtsQuest Center box office at 101 Founders Way.

VIP meet-and-greet ticket with an “intimate acoustic performance,” photo and autograph session with the band also will be available. The price was not immediately released.

Everclear rose to popularity with other Northwest grunge acts in the mid-1990s, debuting with its 1993 album “World of Noise.”

Bouyed by relentless touring and alternative radio’s support of the singles “Santa Monica,” “Heroin Girl” and “Heartspark Dollarsign,” the band’s sophomore album, 1995’s “Sparkle and Fade,” hit platinum and broke the Top 25 on Billboard’s overall Albums chart.

But the band had its biggest success with the 1997 follow-up “So Much for the Afterglow.”

It went double-platinum, with the chart-topping “Everything to Everyone” and modern rock hits “I Will Buy You a New Life” and “Father of Mine.”

Continuing success

Everclear continued its success with the 2000 disc “Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile,” which also sold platinum and was its highest-charting disc on the overall Albums chart at No. 9.

That disc included the songs “Wonderful” and “AM Radio,” both of which hit the Top 15 on various singles charts.

Its last high-charting single was “When It All Goes Wrong Again,” which hit No. 12 on the Alternative singles chart in 2000, though it continued to have minor hits through 2003’s “Volvo Driving Soccer Mom.”

Everclear’s most recent disc of new music was 2015’s “Black is the New Black,” which peaked at No. 11 on the Independent Albums chart.

It released a live album, “Live at the Whisky a Go Go,” in 2023.

The only remaining original member of Everclear is vocalist/guitarist Art Alexakis, though guitarist Dave French has been with the band since 2003 and bassist Sam Hudson since 2009.

Everclear last played the Lehigh Valley with Sugar Ray, Lit and Sponge in the multi-act Summerland Tour at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem in 2016.