Pearl Jam Tour, Night 5: Seattle
It Happened Last Night
Pearl Jam / Photo by Alex Crick
When you're Pearl Jam, Key Arena is your living room and your family is 17,000 screaming Seattleites.
Monday night the hometown heroes opened the latest stop on their world tour with a sold-out, two-hour set that was simultaneously casual and thrilling, heavy on collective singalongs, goosebump moments, and, to the crowd's elation, several first-time events: The core quartet was joined by a four-piece string section -- including drummer Matt Cameron's wife on viola -- to debut a pair of tunes from the just-released Backspacer, and later a four-piece horn section for a cover of the Who's "The Real Me."
PHOTOS:
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Photos by Alex Crick
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Said frontman Eddie Vedder, gazing into the Key Arena crowd for the first time since PJ's 2003 performance at the same venue, "It's a special night for us. We're trying to get this rocket ship off the ground. I see some friends and I think I see some neighbors."
Of course -- he lives on the waterfront in West Seattle, a 15-minute drive from the arena's back door. And though Vedder claimed, in light of Backspacer's generally positive vibe, that the band wasn't gonna get political, he had to agree with President Obama on one pertinent issue: "We too think Kanye West is a jackass."
Stage production was low-key, comprising minimalist lighting, a typewritten Pearl Jam logo draped behind the band, and, next to Vedder's mic stand, a few bottles of red wine that he drank from throughout the night. "Long Road," a lost cut from Neil Young's PJ-backed Mirror Ball, opened the show, but it was the second number, "Corduroy," that fully revved both the crowd and the band. Guitarist Mike McCready hopped like a cheerleader while guitarist Stone Gossard was stoic and Jeff Ament swung his checkerboard bass. By the middle of the song all three were clustered headbanging around Cameron's drum kit.
From there old and new mixed seamlessly. "Amongst the Waves" nodded to the grandiosity of the later "Given to Fly," "Evenflow" shared a vocal cadence with "The Fixer," and "Gonna See My Friend" bristled with the punkish energy of "Worldwide Suicide." Live, it's easy to understand why both the band and fans have immediately embraced Backspacer as an essential entry in Pearl Jam's catalog, which stretches back almost 20 years -- the songs hold their own.
The band left the stage after an hour and a quarter. They returned to encore with the string quartet, and the resulting acoustic numbers, "Just Breath" and "The End," were plaintive, delicate and beautiful, Vedder's vocals heartbreaking.
On most nights, the encore highlight would've been the horn-led "The Real Me," a triumphant wall of noise that the song's writer, the Who's Pete Townsend, could be proud of. But there are few rock 'n' roll moments more ecstatic than the concert-closing "Alive" with the house lights on and the crowd drowning out the singer, putting a perfect capper to a Pearl Jam concert in Seattle.
Set List:
Long Road
Corduroy
Gonna See My Friend
Got Some
Hail Hail
Amongst the Waves
Daughter
Even Flow
Johnny Guitar
Unknown Thought
Worldwide Suicide
Elderly Woman
Off He Goes
Down
Save You
The Fixer
Life Wasted
First Encore:
Just Breathe
The End
Inside Job
Rearviewmirror
Given to Fly
Do the Evolution
Betterman
The Real Me (The Who cover)
Second Encore:
Indifference
Alive
WATCH: Pearl Jam Superfan Zack Newman's Live Video Blog
7 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By beoptevryday
09.22.09 3:06 PM
i like the review...it gives me the insight of where eddie is at this moment with his preformances....set list not of my liking...but who am i to critized a band throught that with so many fans?....i do pay attention to the wine driking and obama comments....i do drink and is wine in fact....i just don't appreciate eddie wasted as he preforms....about obama is just enough....the guy won...bush is out ...let it go..is like rush limbaugh and the clintons...i will keep an eye on their other shows coming up...to see if is worth going to see them here in san diego...thank you spin for your review...and i like the correction from wseattlepjfan.....we have enough people in the media just coming up with stories....with all do resspect to spin...we like to know facts...one good fact is spin is there when music is!
- Posted By beoptevryday
09.22.09 3:07 PM
thanks for the correction...
- Posted By Anonymous
09.23.09 10:07 PM
I also wish they'd keep the politics out of it..Too many celebs put political activist onto their title, but haven't done the research in the politics to really claim such a title..PJ haven't been too bad about it, but folks they know have been (sean Penn, Jeneane Garofalo..etc)..Obama won, it's old news, why stir the anger/resentment in the fans who don't like that he won? It's pointless. If they want to talk about something, let it be about something current, like Congress and the health care bill..but not unless they read the bill first to know exactly what is in it and what they are talking about...that's what I mean when I say they don't do the research. One should never endorse or slander something they have not even read.
And thanks to the wseattlepjfan for the correction, I was confused for a minute where the author said he lived on the waterfront..
- Posted By Anonymous
09.30.09 2:30 PM
I was fortunate enough to see both shows in Seattle this past week. The first night was nothing short of great, but night two was flat out spectacular. I'm all good and fine with them getting the crowd favorites like Small Town, and Evenflow out of the way on the first night. Usually the true core fan shows up for both shows and they treat you to some rare gems on night two. With that said, I'd like to share a few highlights from #2 that didn't get reviewed above.
When I say rare gems I mean songs like:
All Night from the Lost Dogs compilation. Not many people are familiar with it, but this is one seriously rocking song. How many songs have a blistering guitar solo coming right out of the first verse? Yep, check, its here.
Can I get Dissident, Faithful, and Present Tense for the cost of my ticket please? Yes, yes you can.
Oh, could you please bring the RAWK w/ Lukin, Not For You, and Go? Oh, and you'll add on Comatose w/ Mike McCready going ape-shit for no additional charge? Thank YOU.
Oh, this was just the first set? And we have two encores to go? Of course we do.
Lets let Eddie do his solo accoustic thing for a couple of songs so all the ladies get all frothed up and ready for post-show activities. Then how about some Black where the crowd takes over the singing duties so Ed can simply smile in admiration. Might as well build the tempo back up with In My Tree before we blow minds w/ Spin The Black Circle. And scene.
Okay, 2nd encore, how about a "one time only" rendition of Supersonic appropriatley titled "Supersonics" with altered lycrics in tribute to the much missed Seattle Supersonics whom formerly called Key Arena home.
That was fun. Lets Do The Evolution, a Who Cover, take everyone by surprise with Porch, and then let Mike serenade everyone with thee one and only Yellow Ledbetter. And its just not over yet is it? NO. The Ledbetter outro will of course smoothly surge into a Hendrix-esque version of the Star Spangled Banner.
Let them drink their wine I say. This is the only group in existence who can play a fresh 30 song set in six consecutive shows. THATS MATERIAL. Undeniable.
Wanna hate? Worry about moving out of your parents house first. You are 35 now.
Don't like the two minutes of politics discussed in a two hour show? Smoke a doob and tell your lover how much you love them. All you need is love right?
I AM OUT OF HERE! Thanks!
09.22.09 2:19 PM
please check your facts.
pearl jam did not play key arena in 2003...the last time they played there was 2002.
eddie vedder does not live on the waterfront.