http://worcestermag.com/2013/10/16/pear ... ster/17803Pearl Jam’s ‘Lightning Bolt’ jolts WorcesterThe clock is ticking. A storm is brewing. Will a crack of lightning strike?At 8:26 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, on a stage lit with a hue of blue, one of America’s greatest rock and roll bands stepped out of the darkness and ignited a crowd of more than 13,000 in the second largest city in New England.
Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder unleashes a vocal assault on the DCU crowd Tuesday nightPlaying for the first time at Worcester’s DCU Center – newly renovated one, at that – Pearl Jam – ensured that the City of Seven Hills would not soon forget this night. The band, featuring Eddie Vedder (vocalist, guitarist), Mike McCready (lead guitarist), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitarist), Jeff Ament (bassist), Matt Cameron (drums) and Boom Gaspar (keys and organ), launched into the opener, “Release.” Vedder cried out to the throng of echoing voices: “I am myself/Like you somehow/I’ll wait up in the dark/For you to speak to me/I’ll open up/Release me.”
Whether the band was releasing the crowd, or the crowd was releasing the band, what came next was on onslaught of uncorked energy living up to the title of the band’s newest album, “Lightning Bolt,” released the same day as the show. Pearl Jam tore through the next five songs – including their pulsating new single “Mind Your Manners” – and then Vedder took a moment’s pause and addressed the audience.
“Thank you, thank you. My word. Where are my manners? Good evening, Worchester.”
After the humorous mispronounced salutation, he stumbled into more tries including “Wooster” and “Wuhstah” and then laughed that he had already heard it said 10 different ways. No matter. The audience held on to every word, and then matched every lyric as the band continued.
Vedder’s rich baritone growled and crooned each note with weathered perfection. McCready’s guitar eviscerated eardrums with scorching solos. Cameron’s drums thundered and rolled, and Ament, Gossard, and Gaspar kept the melodies and rhythms humming.
An apparatus looking like a bamboo roof soon dropped down from the ceiling. If the band is an island, the audience is the ocean, and a monsoon of sound is the forecast. Some songs were punctuated by a series of timed lightning strikes behind the band. And large dangling light bulbs hung and bobbed throughout the show. Of course, later in the evening, the fearless Vedder grabbed onto one of them and swung out into the crowd to thunderous applause.
After all, Vedder is an expert showman. He revealed again why crowds love him. He talks to them like a group of friends.
At the beginning of the show, the camera zoomed in on a “Boston Strong” patch sewed onto the right shoulder of his jacket. As if the crowd could get any more excited, they screamed even louder. The Red Sox' comeback win, the city’s resilience after the Boston marathon bombing, and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States were also mentioned with admiration and exultation.
Besides Vedder, Pearl Jam’s collective expertise and exuberance also fuels their ability to jump around in the genres of rock, punk, folk, and grunge with sparks of blues and metal. For good reason, “Lightning Bolt” in its first day rose to the number one album on iTunes in 54 countries. With their talents and longevity, along with a classic stage presence and performance pedigree, they craft a sense of timelessness to their music.
The band finished the first set of 20 songs with highlights from the past two decades like “Even Flow,” “Corduroy,” “Got Some,” “Save You,” “Leash,” and “Better Man,” with seven new songs from “Lightning Bolt” seamlessly integrated.
The first encore found them returning to the stage and relaxing through a four-song acoustic set. While the breather may have been one song too long, they soon sent the crowd into another tizzy with “Spin the Black Circle.”
“Unthought Known” and “Porch” followed, cranking up the adrenaline for the second encore soon to come.
Pearl Jam left the stage at 11:26 p.m. Thirty-two songs. Three hours. Two encores. One brilliant night. Outside in the cool autumn air, a man in his 20s shouted from the crowd pouring out of the Center, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
With Vedder and company’s seemingly boundless energy and endurance, Wednesday night's show in Worcester is sure to evoke a similar charged response.