Concert review: Resurgent Pearl Jam turns up heat in S.F.
It's one thing to hear about Pearl Jam's renewed vigor, including new, big guitar songs that bring the band as close to arena rock as it's been in a decade. It's quite another to actually see them come out so amped up that they occasionally play too fast.
It was pretty obvious Pearl Jam had fun Saturday night at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. They're on the road with Sonic Youth -- a band that can blow any headliner right off a stage should it lack the proper motivation.
Pearl Jam has always been a good, at times intense, live band, even during those years when they lacked a certain appetite for stardom. But even if they weren't at their best on Saturday, it was still pretty clear they've found an extra gear in 2006.
At times Saturday's set was inspired, at times it was messy -- which is fine when enthusiasm is the culprit and everybody in the crowd already knows the song. The second song "Go" was an effective pace-setter, with rapid-fire strobe lights highlighting an even faster vocal cadence from frontman Eddie Vedder, all of which transitioned perfectly into Mike McCready's blistering guitar solo.
The vibe continued on "World Wide Suicide," which nevertheless lost a bit of its dynamics because Pearl Jam sped things up so much. But again, enthusiasm ruled the moment, with the band clearly embracing the idea of fans pumping their fists to big guitar chords.
Any plinking around gave way to a big celebration of power rock, which worked pretty well. "Corduroy" was a loud highlight early on, with things tightening up considerably, while a guitar-wielding Vedder did his best imitation of Pete Townshend's swinging windmill move.
Things slowed down once the band got to songs like "Unemployable" and "Not For You," it was almost as if the energy level just wasn't sustainable. But the power vibe came back large on "State of Love and Trust," a great song from Pearl Jam's early days. It seemed to verify that the band is more than happy to acknowledge where they come from. But the flip side to all this energy was how over-the-top fast they played the first encore, the early Pearl Jam single "Even Flow," (though the extended guitar lead smoothed things it over considerably).
The sing-along to "Alive" was massive -- an absolute lovefest between crowd and band. Pearl Jam has never lacked loyalty among its fans, but the band seemed far more pumped-up than usual over this supposed resurgence of the band's career. It carried over to a new song, "Life Wasted," showing off the talents of the band's superb drummer and backbone Matt Cameron. He is the secret weapon of Pearl Jam's live attack.
Toward the end of the encore set, after rolling through "Spin the Black Circle," they acknowledged playing in the city that's sort of home to Vedder's hero and band de facto godfather, Neil Young (he lives in Sonoma), by kicking into "Rockin' In The Free World."
Opener Sonic Youth put on its typical guitar-jam clinic. Unlike their superb headlining set the previous night at the Fillmore, they were limited by time constraints, which didn't allow them to entirely stretch their musical legs.
Like Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth is touring behind an energized new record "Rather Ripped," which took up a big chunk of its set. Even in a limited setting, their confluence of guitars, counter-melodies, and ability to change direction while retaining momentum, was an absolute treat to watch. The Lee Ranaldo-sung "Rats" was about as straight ahead as it got -- and there was still enough airiness to make a smooth transition to Thurston Moore's "Pink Steam," a song defining the concept of guitar dynamics, with all its harmonic twists turning unexpectedly into a nice vocal melody toward the end.
They ended their set with the surprisingly (for Sonic Youth) catchy "Incinerate," a song that goes from sounding like a solid alt-rock single to dueling guitar nastiness in an eyeblink. Even if one watched them for two hours the night before, it just wasn't enough.
