Charlotte celebrates a summer of '90s nostalgia - Charlotte Observer

Ah, the Nineties.

Flannel shirts, baggy pants, AOL, and the Rachel. Rocketing tech stocks, rap-metal, the return of boy bands and Britney Spears.

It’s been 21 years since Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and Pearl Jam’s “Ten” ushered in a new era of mainstream rock radio and made “alternative” not so alternative. That sound and many of the bands who made it may no longer be chart-toppers, but the artists of the era are finding a resurgence on summer concert stages.

This weekend alone, two package tours featuring some of ’90s radio’s biggest acts hit Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre. Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Cracker, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters make up the Last Summer on Earth bill Friday, while Everclear headlines the Summerland Tour with Sugar Ray, Lit, Marcy Playground, and Gin Blossoms on Sunday.

Those aren’t the only tours featuring bands that broke during the Clinton years.

The NC Music Factory’s Friday Live! series has relied heavily on acts of the era (Cowboy Mouth, Soul Asylum) to fill its schedule. This summer also marks the return of WEND 106.5’s End of Summer Weenie Roast, which bowed in 2005. It consists of headliners the Offspring, Garbage, Eve 6, and Our Lady Peace. All those bands have been staples on the station since it debuted in 1995.

“People have been talking about doing a ’90s tour for a long time, including me. No one was doing it, and I’d been hearing it everywhere I go,” says Everclear frontman Art Alexakis, who conceived the Summerland Tour with Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath. “No one thought we would sell out. We had 5,100 people at the Greek (in Los Angeles). They opened up sections they never open up.”

Alexakis, who timed the tour to coincide with his latest album, “Invisible Stars,” is already planning the lineup for next summer.

Meanwhile, Toadies â€" which will release its third post-reunion album July 31 â€" is co-headlining at The Fillmore July 29, with fellow ’90s act Helmet.

Fans’ appetite for ’90s nostalgia “was the impetus for us to get back together,” says Toadies guitarist Clark Vogeler, who divides his time between the Texas-based band and his job as a film and TV editor in L.A. “Somebody asked us to do a show in Dallas and there were 13,000 people there. We saw that and thought maybe we should do it again.”

So why are these acts finding success on the road?

It’s the right time. Whether you were in college or elementary school during the grunge years, bands like Sugar Ray and Barenaked Ladies are of a simpler time.

“A lot of people are having hard times economically, and to have a vice like music â€" it’s almost like comfort food … bands that bring back good memories,” says A. Jay Popoff, vocalist for Lit â€" which releases its first album in eight years (“View from the Bottom”) next week. “I definitely think that music and entertainment in general has been a good escape.

“It’s like post-World War II, when big bands were just trying to cheer people up. … And it’s summertime. Sugar Ray makes you feel like you’re at a beach party, and a lot of us had songs that were considered summer anthems that came out during better times.”

It’s rock n’ roll. Commercially, rock no longer rules the charts. Sure, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and nostalgia acts headline arenas, but few rock artists have the same global presence that giants of the genre once did.

“It’s hip-hop and dance-infused pop,” Vogeler says. “New rock is pretty much gone from the radio. It’s covered a little bit in Rolling Stone and Spin. Indie rock â€" what the kids listen to â€" is different than the big, loud guitars of the ’90s. (But) just because it’s not in mainstream press or radio doesn’t mean people don’t want to hear it. I think there’s people that are hard up for rock n’ roll.”

Alexakis â€" who stacked Summerland with “a bunch of rocker dudes with no-apology rock bands” and pop heartthrob McGrath â€" is of that same school of thought. He says: “I’ll be 80 and listening to Led Zeppelin and Pixies records. It always made me excited to hear big guitars.”

(Some of) the genre’s audience is (finally) of age. Although these bands draw a number of older fans who’ve hung on, kids that grew up hearing their songs on radio are legal.

“We’re surprised to see 18- and 20-year-old dudes, but they weren’t old enough to get into the clubs back then,” Vogeler says.

Adds Popoff: “My brother (guitarist Jeremy Popoff) and I didn’t expect to see this demographic. It’s pretty mixed. There are a lot of early 20s. They’re now old enough to drink, and the first time they heard ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ they were in junior high.”

Charlotte’s Jason Howie, a former touring drummer and club manager/booker turned EMT, is the consummate ’90s fan. At 29, he says his generation is settling into adulthood and growing nostalgic.

“The ’90s were the perfect time for people that were maybe just old enough to get into music. It’s the perfect time for all that to come back. People are getting into their 30s and getting into holding on to being young.”