http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/05/11/1 ... -with.html
Pearl Jam renews social pact with fansFunny thing about integrity as it pertains to popular music. When a band or artist has it, it becomes tough to define, slippery and protean in form and expression. But when an artist lacks it—well, then suddenly you know exactly what it is.
For more than two decades, Pearl Jam has followed a career path where integrity —taking the form of a commitment to a set of musical, social and philosophical ideals —has been the guiding light.
Most often, this has found expression in things the band chose not to do. Among them: Stand still, repeat the past, perform identical set lists, gouge fans on ticket prices and form allegiances with the corporate side of the music industry.
Because of its unflinching commitment to a pure expression of its collective abilities, Pearl Jam has nurtured a relationship with its immense and incredibly loyal fan base, based on trust. The fans trust the band to treat them well and to give their all; band members trust their listeners to allow them artistic latitude.
It’s a rock ’n’ roll version of the social contract, and Monday, it was made manifest— loudly so—inside a full HSBC Arena, as Pearl Jam offered its first Buffalo appearance since a blistering set in the same building back in 2003.
Pearl Jam is a band in the truest sense of the word, and this did not happen by accident.
Early on, pressure was considerable for singer Eddie Vedder to step into the lead-singer-as-band-representative spotlight, fulfilling the rather repulsive music biz mandate that the guy out front with the sultry good looks is the star, and the stooges with guitars and drums behind him are simply workmen propping up the bloated ego at center stage.
Pearl Jam — Vedder, guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron — would have none of that. So it was a collective looking to root its music in the here and now that took the stage to rapturous reception Monday night, and not the band that hit mega-platinum with “Ten” in grunge-happy 1991.
It’s that whole integrity thing, you understand.
The band took the stage with a ferocious collection of songs, some of the angriest from recent albums. “Severed Hand,” from its eponymous 2008 album, balanced an in-your-face verse against a yearning-infused chorus. “Animal,” from the band’s second album, only heightened the tension.
It wasn’t until “The Fixer,” from the new “Backspacer” record, that the band ushered levity into the arena. Once it came, it never left, of course. But Vedder seemed to be wrestling with a desire to push the music toward some transcendent place throughout the show.
During “Given to Fly,” he looked like he wanted to. “Light Years,” which the singer dedicated to the late Tim Russert’s son, Luke, was delivered with an intensity that felt dangerous. “Evenflow” didn’t come across like a “let’s play the hit” moment but rather like an attempt to push the song toward some new vista.
So it went, all night, through some of the band’s finest songs, many of them unexpected and rarely played — “No Way,” “Grievance” into “Not For You,” a stirring reprise of the unexpected hit cover, “Last Kiss.” By the time the band made its way to Neil Young’s “F---in’ Up” in the encore section, the crowd was there, in that sort of space where the music has taken on the form of some sort of life-altering mantra. Seriously.
Publié : Ven Avr 30, 2010 9:25 am
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