Setlist: Given To Fly, The Fixer, Severed Hand, Corduroy, Hail, Hail, U, Immortality, Setting Forth (Vedder), Not For You, Olé, Even Flow, Cropduster, Daughter/Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones), Habit, Push Me, Pull Me, Just Breathe, Jeremy, Why Go
Encore 1: Nothingman, I Remember You (Ramones), Better Man/I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Ramones)/Save It For Later, Black, State Of Love And Trust, Porch
Encore 2: Brain of JFK, Unthought Known, Crazy Mary (Victoria Williams), Search And Destroy (The Stooges, avec Mark Arm et Steve Turner de Mudhoney), Alive, Yellow Ledbetter
Highlight was during Mikes solo in Even Flow, Ed was taking his smoke break at the side and looked over at our section and noticed my wife begging for some of his wine. After making a gesture to us, asking if we had a cup, and us showing we had one, he came over and poured us and the guy next to us a healthy dose.
If I can ask one thing when I am dead would you lay me down by the river bed? let me wash away let it take me back from where I came all I am and all I was is just blood and dirt and bones and mud and I'm better off that way I'm better off that way
Paris 2006, Turin 2006, Lisbonne 2007, Manchester 2009, Berlin 2010, EV Solo Providence 2011, EV Solo New York 1&2 2011, Stockholm 2012, Oslo 2012, Milan 2014, New York 2016, Milan 2018, Barcelone 2018
I asked myself 'where to begin' with this review and the opener was an instant answer... In given to fly Eddie sang 'he made it to the Hammer, had a smoke in a tree' which drew a HUGE response from anyone in the crowd that understood the reference. From that moment on it felt like the crowd was another instrument being played by the band. Obviously the veteran PJ fans know the catalogue well and are always responsive, but Hamilton was the loudest and most active crowd I can remember being a part of. Thousands of people packed into an aging arena that felt more intimate than its size, recalling tonight's energy is still giving me a rush.
A few songs in, Eddie marveled at the crowd: "In Toronto Uncle Neil told us you're going to have a great time in Ottawa, but just wait until you see them in Hamilton" (dont quote me on this haha, Im excited to hear how close I got on the recording!) This drew an even louder roar than the 'Hammer' lyric.
After Immortality (I think?) Eddie pointed out the sections that were rocking to Mudhoney, Mikes side of the floor and 200 level stage left. He told the crowd they were seeing two of the worlds best in Dan Peters (mudhoney drummer) and Matt Cameron who wanted to play the next song.
Not for you was the point in the show where I really noticed how much Ed was meandering around the stage. His enthusiasm and intensity were higher than I've seen it in a couple years, and I started to focus on him. When Eddie sang 'all thats sacred comes from youth' the image from PJ20 of young Mike and Jeff in the courtroom popped into my head. This made me scan from Eddie to them just in time to see them laughing at eachother, a moment that really stood out for me at this show: Eddie's singing about youth. A band I love, having a ton of fun on stage on their 20th anniversary tour. Am I that old? Wow. At least my aging eyes were catching the right things at the right time!
In an era where too many popular bands 'call in' familiar setlists, I felt blessed to be watching the chemistry and enjoyment that was exploding from the the stage tonight. This was Pearl Jam's 7th show in the past 12 days and it really felt like they were hitting their stride. Attitude can be everything sometimes, and mine was locked in on enjoying each moment of this concert to the fullest.
The crowd responded well to Ole and were treated to a perfectly placed breather. Ed joked that for tax purposes he wanted to correct an article in the paper that reported donations of $500M instead of the actual $500k. He gave a very heartfelt thankyou to Laura, and pointed her out a few rows from the stage with the lights on. I turned to my friend beside me saying how special that moment must have been for her, how much Im sure she deserved it, and how happy it made me. Ed said Mike wanted to play Evenflow for her, and I feel like it showed during his solo.
If I was wrong about the drummer love following immortality, it followed Evenflow. Ed mentioned Cameron wrote the music to the next song and they started Cropduster.
Daughter ended with an outro that foreshadowed the encore. If Eddie knew Blitzkrieg Bop was a hockey rink anthem, its a good thing he didnt play it that way. The native Hamiltonians brains would have exploded and they would have missed the rest of a great show haha
Speaking of exploding, my bladder was doing that from tons of preshow beers at the Honest Lawyer, so I ran up the steps as Habit started. Urinal lines were nonexistent (great!) and huge beer lines were also great, because I didnt miss a moment more than I had to! On the way to the bathroom I dug the view from the top of the steps, and when Just Breathe started I decided to walk back up. The 'birds eye' view by myself was very tranquil. Once again I was fortunate to experience a 'right place, right time' moment when the entire crowd EXPLODED at the first notes of Jeremy.
That was my cue to rush back to my seat, and 10 seconds later I was rocking out with one of my best friends. Why Go was a loud, passionate closer and Eddie put an exclamation mark on the set by smashing his mic stand as he exited. Two items were simultaneously thrown at the stage from different directions, and in a pretty athletic move Ed caught them both without breaking stride. The look of satisfaction and amusement on his face must have matched mine as I sat down in my seat. What a killer set.
Nothingman opened the encore. In addition to being one of my favorite ballads, it felt like the perfect tempo for a crowd that had screamed their faces off for the set closers. Turned out it also set the mood perfectly for Ed to open up about it being the 7th anniversary of Johnny Ramone's passing, one of his best friends. He told the story of being in the room when he drew his last breath surrounded by loving friends and family. Ed told the crowd that holding his 3 month old daughter that day made him understand the circle of life and went into a very sincere and emotional 'I remember you.'
The crowd was very respectful, I cant wait for the goosebumps reliving this moment when the recording comes out. Their eerie silence juxtaposed with the eruption at the riff to Betterman was incredible. It seemed Ed was channeling/honoring Johnny throughout the song, the Ramones 'I wanna be your boyfriend' in the outro confirmed that for me. In hindsight, it was no coincidence that 'I remember you' was bookended by Nothingman/Betterman.
Black, State of Love and Trust, and Porch put the crowd in a frenzy that had the foundation shakin at Copps Coliseum. Another sick run of songs, another mic stand smashed, another exclamation point. It was almost 11 pm, the point where most shows are cut off in Canada, and the band left the stage.
During one of the encores, Eddie thanked the crowd for being so incredible (my words, not his.) While he was right, its possible he was just buttering us up before a request haha. He said he wanted to send the tape of this show to his friend who regularly surfs 60 to 100 foot waves, surfer Laird Hamilton. He demonstrated how he wanted it to sound and conducted the crowd with a wave of his hand. He also led the crowd in the wave, which kept momentum for a few laps around the Coliseum, but didnt have the power of the 'seated' waves you get at baseball games.
To start the second encore Eddie pointed out a sign on stage left, saying something along the lines of 'they took the time to make it big enough for me to read it, we're gonna play it!' As luck would have it, that sign was for Brain of J.
Crazy Mary was great, especially seeing the crew hauling out gear for some guests as it ended! Eddie said that there were many great 'Detroit' songs, and they were going to play one ... at this point my quotes are just blurs of what might have been said, I think he said they soundchecked it (or dicked around w/ it backstage) .. but tiredness is setting in and Im hesitant to type that. I wondered during the song if their choice to perform this song was connected to Johnny
Alive and Yellow Ledbetter finished a show that left vets and 1st timers picking their jaws up off the floor. Eddie walked into the crowd to sing Alive, holding one fans hand for what seemed like the entire song. During YL he smashed a tambourine over his head and wore it like a necklace, his smile matching the one everyone on the band was showing off all evening. Instruments were put down and many high fives exchanged long before Mike finished soloing. Incredible setlist, incredible performance. A true highlight of my 10 year career as a concertgoer
When rock groups reach a milestone like their 20th anniversary, they usually prepare some slick road show looking back on a gloried past, retro videos flashing behind them. The tour is set in stone with each stop getting exactly the same show and faithful reproductions of “the hits.”
Not so with Pearl Jam. No pre-packaged pap for the pioneers of grunge. Their fans wouldn’t want it and neither would the band.
At Copps Coliseum on Thursday night, the five members of Pearl Jam celebrated their 20th anniversary together by doing pretty much what they’ve always done through their storied career.
No video screens, no ostentatious backdrops or multi-tiered stages, no speeches (well, maybe a few after the wine started flowing) — just 170 minutes of rock ‘n’ roll, including two monster encore sets that lasted more than an hour.
It was raw, ragged and wonderful.
In traditional Pearl Jam form, the band kept the more than 13,000 fans guessing from song to song. The Copps concert had little resemblance to the Ottawa show the night before or the two performances in Toronto Sunday and Monday. It’s like they shredded each set list after every show and started fresh the next day.
In Hamilton, Eddie Vedder and the boys came to party.
“We saw our good friend Uncle Neil (Young) in Toronto,” Vedder told the crowd. “Just to let you know what he saying behind your back, he said Ottawa would go well but wait until you get to Hamilton. He said Hamilton is going to be awesome … and Uncle Neil is never wrong.”
Uncle Neil guessed right. The Hamilton show was indeed ‘awesome.’
In a rare nod to the charts, Pearl Jam gave the fans all three hits from the band’s debut album, Ten. About an hour into the show, they roared through the ever-popular Even Flow, with a Mike McCready guitar solo allowing Vedder to uncork the first of several bottles of wine. A few songs later,Vedder swaggered to the microphone and led the band into Jeremy, their tragic anthem to teen suicide. He saved the twisted motherly love of Alive for the end of the night.
Hearing Even Flow, Jeremy and Alive all in the same show made the night remarkable enough. But there was much more – rarities like U, standards like Given to Fly, Betterman (tagged with The Ramones’ I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend), Corduroy, Porch and Black, as well as a fast-paced rocker, barely two weeks old, called Ole.
The crowd seemed to know the lyrics to all the songs as well as Vedder, sometimes even drowning him out. On Daughter, the audience played a perfect call-and-response game with the Pearl Jam frontman.
There were also tender acoustic moments like Just Breathe and Nothingman. Vedder seemed to be close to tears when he honoured the seventh anniversary of the death of his friend Johnny Ramone by singing I Remember You.
But as I said, it was a party.
Things got more raucous as the wine kept flowing. Feeling mischievous, Vedder even brought opening act Mudhoney on stage to perform a hastily put-together cover of Iggy Pop’s Search and Destroy.
“We practiced this one before the show, but that was like two bottles of wine ago,” Vedder laughed. Actually, he had lost count. It was more like four.
Perhaps the highlight of the night was Crazy Mary, a take-one-down-and-pass-it-around song that captured the moment well. Vedder was having fun. He smashed microphone stands and did crazy little dances on the monitors.
He even brought out an extra bottle out to share with the audience. He passed out cups and smoked a cigarette while McCready lit into yet another blistering guitar solo (there were plenty on the evening, especially on the show closer, Yellow Ledbetter).
It wasn’t long before Vedder dived fully into the audience, supported by a couple of shakey security guards. It was like the Crazy Eddie of old, the guy who used to climb up the speakers and throw himself head first into the crowd.
Who needs garish sets, video effects, pyrotechnics and props to celebrate an anniversary when you got Crazy Eddie on stage?
Tour 2006: Marseille / Paris / Bern / Bologne / Verone / Milan / Turin / Pistoia Tour 2007: Madrid / Venise (annulé) / Londres / Nimeque / Werchter / Dusseldorf Tour 2009: Rotterdam / Manchester / Londres Tour 2010: Dublin / Belfast / Arras / Werchter Tour 2012: Manchester I & II / Amsterdam I & II / Werchter / Arras Tour 2014: Amsterdam I & II / Milan / Berlin Tour 2016: Philly I & II / NYC I & II
c'était pas loin 
