Eve 6 Reunites For Homecoming Festivities

AARON RICHARDSON

Eve 6 played their first show since 2004 at UMW on Saturday, Oct. 20.  That’s not all, either. They had agreed to a reunion only after Giant Productions asked them if they would reunite specifically for the event.
News that Eve 6 would be playing our homecoming concert spread like wildfire through campus, usually drawing a confused reaction from students. Nobody, it seemed, had ever expected to hear from Eve 6 again after the 90s ended. But the rumors were true, Eve 6 had reunited, or two-thirds of them had, and were headed our way.
Despite people’s mixed feelings about having a resurrected 90s band for homecoming, Eve 6 delivered. Hitting the stage without an opener, the guys dusted off most of their old school live set and even played a few new tracks. In a telling sign of their three-year hiatus, the words “Eve 6” were spelled out in tape on the bass drum head.
Slowly the booze-fueled crowd began to sway to the music, which turned into jumping, which turned into an all-out mosh pit by the third song in the set. People were even crowd surfing, much to the dismay of campus police and Office of Student Activities officials. It was 1998 all over again.
If you had pushed to the front to get a closer look at the band, you were on your own. If you weren’t armpit to nostril with the sweaty drunk next to you, then you were being crushed against the people in front of you. Some of the luckier audience members even had the pleasure of being whacked in the head with a crowd surfer.
Through all the mayhem, however, it was becoming clear that Eve 6 were not mailing this one in. They sounded good. Their energy was high, their songs were tight, and it was apparent they had made an effort to make their comeback show a good one.
They buried “Here’s to the Night” and “Inside Out” into the middle of their set, and for each song the crowd went nuts. It was the only time during the show when everyone in the crowd sang along. The chorus of “Inside Out” must have been audible from the moon.
In an email to the Bullet, Eve 6 drummer Tony Fagenson said “As far as this particular show, it exceeded every expectation. We thought the crowd was fantastic, and we were really happy that people reacted to new and old material so strongly.”
The two remaining Eve 6 members, Fagenson and bassist/vocalist Max Collins, hinted in an interview with the fansite eve6mediahq.com that there would be more Eve 6 to come. “We’ve been writing constantly and there’s too many songs and ideas to list. You’ll see some of them appear on future releases,” the band said.
The alternative rock trio gained almost endless radio play in the mid-90s for their number one song “Inside Out,” commonly called “Beautiful Oblivion.” If you haven’t heard “Inside Out” by now, and I’ll bet $1,000 you have, you can hear played in the Eagle’s Nest at least once an hour, seven days a week.
Eve 6’s success peaked in 1998 when their self-titled second album went platinum. Their third release, “Horrorscope” spawned several hits including the high-school graduation tearjerker “Here’s to the Night.”
Giant Productions said that the cost of bringing Eve 6 to Mary Washington was $15,000 plus travel expenses and a hotel room, or roughly half what the Plain White T’s demanded. Not bad for a chance to say your university reunited a 90s pop icon.