Photo: Chris Buck 

In 1991, Mark Eitzel and his American Music Club released Everclear, an anti-Americana masterpiece. The San Francisco collective remain quietly prolific but AMC is not a marquee act. For Eitzel and company, success comes with adoration rather than sales, producing more resolve than wealth. If for only one night in London, that resolve was front and center. Before a strong crowd, Eitzel was garrulous, emotive and genuinely happy. Europe warmed to Eitzel’s working- man’s poetry long before America did, and almost two decades later, the comfort level shows. He looked at home, carefree, roaring out stanzas fiercely. 

American Music Club’s curiously titled new album The Golden Age comprised much of the 50-minute set. Although Eitzel’s hat was creased and his face wrinkled, he sounded refreshed. “The Dance” was restrained but powerful, with whiffs of light grunge, while lead-off track “All My Love” was gorgeous, a hymn for a cottage built on shallow ground—doomed but beautiful. It all harked back to the good ol’ days, but remained in the present. Still, while Eitzel wanted to move forward, the old songs, “Miracle on 8th Street” for example, dominated the crowd response.