Eve 6 ‘promises’ a natural high

The true beauty of a good concert comes from that possible high felt as you put your coat on and leave the venue. Such a high seemed to be felt by all audience members of Friday’s sold-out Eve 6 show at Avalon.

Even before the first notes of “Rescue,” the opening track of their latest RCA release, Horrorscope, the audience was bursting with excitement. When lead singer Max Collins took the stage, the screams were deafening, and, as the show would prove, rightfully so.

The Los Angeles-based band, a trio consisting of lead vocalist/bassist Collins, guitarist Jon Siebels and drummer Tony Fagenson, was signed while still in high school. They were then given more time to further develop as musicians before recording and releasing their 1998 self-titled debut which subsequently went platinum. Horrorscope, released last summer, marks their second album and successfully shows the pop-punk band’s growth and progression.

In the live show, Collins offers bass guitar duties to a tour musician in order to move around the stage more. For audiences this is quite a treat, as he seems to have undying energy and enthusiasm. Collins, with his red hair (“red as a newborn, white as a corpse,” as he calls himself in “Promise”) and long, muscular arms covered in tattoos, has an undeniable stage presence every lead singer should aspire to. At times, he makes the rest of the band seem almost invisible, minus, of course, those rare moments when a shirtless Fagenson stands from behind his drum set.

The show’s main set contained the best of both albums, including inspired versions of “On the Roof Again” and “Showerhead.” Both of these songs offer Collins the opportunity to pantomime his own lyrics. In “On the Roof Again,” the lyrics state, “he flipped the bird and then he went to the roof,” as Collins gives the audience the bird and then points upward. For “Showerhead,” he put his hand over his head as if it was a showerhead.

Halfway through the show, Collins and Siebels attempted taking a poll as to whether the crowd wanted to hear “Tongue Tied,” a single from the first album also featured on the soundtrack to “Teaching Mrs. Tingle,” or “Nocturnal,” an impressive track from Horrorscope. The crowd was split pretty much 50/50, so the band chose “Nocturnal,” unlike their show in Cincinnati, Ohio earlier this month, where they played both songs. However, this was not a loss, as the audience seemed to really enjoy “Nocturnal” as they sang along to the song’s impressive lyrics – “My aim is true/ Turn off the phone/ Let’s sleep ‘til two/ Your sad eyes take and own me/ Words are unnecessary.” The crowd was also impressive as it shouted the speedy and intricate lyrics to “Promise.”

When not pantomiming, Collins shakes his hips or jumps around or simply spreads his long arms. His interaction with the crowd is both accurate and natural. He is an entertainer in the truest sense of the word and he makes his audience wish the show would never come to a close.

The encore set consisted solely of a raucous rendition of “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” the evening’s only cover, and Eve 6’s biggest hit, “Inside Out.” As the Avalon quickly emptied, people commented to their friends what an impressive show they had just seen. They all seemed to have smiles on their faces, a glow from the beautiful natural highs of a good concert. As Eve 6’s latest single aptly proclaims, “Here’s to the nights we felt alive!”