MUSIC REVIEW ; Pearl Jam Rocks Perfect Storm of Restraint, Trademark AngstPEARL JAM, with TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS At the Comcast Center, Mansfield, last night and tomorrow.
If you told Eddie Vedder in 1991 that his band would be the new Grateful Dead, he would have bristled. Or maybe he would have socked you in the jaw. But almost two decades into its career, Pearl Jam has become an evergreen touring act capable of filling the Comcast Center twice over.
Last night, at the first of the Seattle megaband's Comcast gigs - Vedder and crew play tomorrow as well - its cult was in full effect. A nearly 20,000-strong army of fans was as devoted as any Deadhead crowd. (What? You thought String Cheese Incident was really going to last?)
The former grunge band - the grunge genre hasn't really fit this straight-ahead rock band for 10 years - began slowly. The atypically jammy "Hard to Imagine" borrowed a bit from the loopy Dead. But after that, the guys showed just how and why they've reinvented the paradigm of a cult supergroup.
Quickly, Pearl Jam launched into a rage-heavy section of the set. The band may be full of mellow family men now, but they're aces at accessing that epic angst in a hurry. "Why Go" and "Hail, Hail" immediately turned the venue into a boiling pit of angry, rushed, wild rock.
The drums and space of the new millennium is Pearl Jam's quiet/ loud, small/big dynamic. "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town," with its melodic driving acoustic guitar, felt intimate and gentle while still being a big, cathartic, communal moment for thousands. But the band smartly followed the ballad with a gigantic, reach-all-the-way-back-to-the-lawn-seats "Corduroy." Then, a few songs later, the ethos of "Elderly Woman" was back with the lonely and pensive "Off He Goes."
Although the band played a few newer songs, the majority of the set was pulled from its '90s catalog - which is why Pearl Jam's been able to remain beloved. Both the center of the show and the exploding final encore were rooted in well-known classics.
At this point, "Even Flow" is a new standard every bit as massive as "War Pigs" or "Highway Star." But thanks to the group's total commitment to the song and lead guitarist Mike McCready's solo, it didn't feel dated or tired - McCready has thankfully long-since ditched his metalish, Mick Mars tone for Neil Young's worse-is- better style.
And "Black,""Better Man" and "Alive" - all part of the encore - kept the energy of the finale spiking. Bands as popular as Pearl Jam can't typically deliver cutting critiques of the Iraq War and have most of the arena cheer. But when you write some of the best songs of the last 20 years and perform them with supernova intensity, you're given plenty of latitude.
Ted Leo, a great choice for an opener, was pretty much ignored - the place was about 5 percent full during his excellent set of intelligent punk rock. See Leo at the Paradise next time he's around and you'll see why Pearl Jam tapped him.
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Once again, Pearl Jam packs them in, then packs a wallop
Eddie Vedder belts out a song during Pearl Jam's concert Saturday.MANSFIELD - If ever there was a summer that definitively proved that Pearl Jam has reached the rarefied strata as a touring outfit and forged an unbreakable bond with its audience, 2008 is it. Now 17 years into their career, and two years removed from their most recent release, the Seattle rockers were able to do something that in these difficult economic times few others - including R.E.M. and Stevie Wonder - have been able to this season: Fill the Comcast Center. Twice.
And the quality of that full house Saturday night was equally impressive as nearly 20,000 disciples sang along with Eddie Vedder with a show-stopping, Sunday morning fervency for nearly the entire varied 2-hour and 10-minute set. (Even though Vedder said the band was going to test the crowd's endurance this was a shorter, curfew-abiding show for the quintet - plus keyboardist Kenneth Gaspar - which was just fine since longer and better are not necessarily synonymous.)
A large part of the appeal is the manner in which the band members have become masters of pacing and song selection. Fans can count on frenzied versions of the familiar (the whipsmart "Why Go," a blistering "Corduroy"; hearing a few choice deep cuts like the Stones-y "Faithful" was a treat) and more contemplative yet no less cathartic anthems ("Better Man," "Given to Fly").
It's also helpful that band members other than Vedder are worthy of focus. It would've been easy Saturday night to get lost in the impeccable work of drummer Matt Cameron, whose tastefulness is equaled by his sheer muscularity. And watching Mike McCready stagger, circle, and bounce as he ripped off solos that meshed arena rock bluster and punk energy was a show all by itself.
Vedder, of course, remains the star attraction, and his brooding baritone bray was in fighting shape, shining especially bright on a cover of the Who's dramatic "Love Reign O'er Me," the growler "Once," and the ruminative acoustic protest song "No More War," dedicated to paralyzed Iraq war vet and "Body of War" documentary subject Tomas Young. Earlier in the show and prior to that song Vedder voiced puzzlement over the presence of a recruiting station for the Marines at the show.
The band capped the show with the itchy rhythms of "State of Love and Trust" and the slithering dread of "Alive," imbuing their original shot across the bow with a reassuring sense of dedication.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists entertained the few curious and in-the-know fans who bothered to show for its opening set of smart but willfully abrasive punk rock.
Pearl Jam returns to Mansfield tonight to play the final show of its US tour.
Publié : Mer Juin 11, 2008 9:51 am
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