Live Review: Pearl Jam At The United CenterIt was a night like Sunday that made me glad I wasn’t a diehard Pearl Jam fan—before the show that is. Otherwise, I might have been pissed. And let me tell you, it’s not a good idea to piss off Pearl Jam fans.
The band had promised its fans the opportunity to score hard-to-come-by tickets for the band’s gig at the United Center through “Ten Club,” the official Pearl Jam fan organization. Yet, after waiting in a Will Call line longer than the list of people who Bernie Madoff stiffed, many club members (seniority aside) were treated to nosebleed seats in the 300 level.
“These are the worst fucking seats I’ve had for a show in years,” said the obsessive fan seated a row behind me, in the quite-acceptable-by-my-standards section 109. We’ll call him Bob. Now Bob may be a spoiled fan for complaining about lower level seats, but I sympathized with a dedicated fan who had been to more than 40 shows. While fan club members may have been ticked, for me the experience couldn’t have been any sweeter. Call it karma. Call it luck. Call it my alleyway towards rock ecstasy. However you want to spin it, my very first Pearl Jam experience was pure bliss. Not only was I treated to seats in the lower level near Bob, and better yet a straight shot view of Vedder and company tearing off the crowd’s faces all evening, but I was also witness to a rock performance that knocked me down, spun me in circles and made me realize that the jagged muscle of the boys from Seattle is still alive and well.
With the stadium lights still dimly hovering above the crowd, the echo of a piano reverberated around the arena, now packed with restless fans. The lights dropped, the stadium erupted and one of the most influential bands of the ’90s sauntered onstage.
It was a homecoming for Evanston-native Vedder, who made several mentions throughout the evening to his childhood in Chicago. “Why go home?,” Vedder implored before the first note of the evening was played. “I am home.” Without hesitation, the band gracefully crept its way into “Long Road,” a fitting opening tune for an alternative powerhouse that has paved a long trail towards worldwide acclaim since 1991’s surprise spectacular debut Ten—a level of sustained stardom few bands will likely experience in today’s age of “What can you do for me now?”
From the get-go one thing was clear: Pearl Jam delivers a non-stop rock assault in concert. Some bands layer on the theatrics so thick you’d think they were dressed in drag. Others play the waiting game in between tunes. Not Pearl Jam. From the moment the first tune finished, you could barely count to twenty before the next melody ripped out your heart. “Corduroy,” with its pounding bass line and crashing cymbals led to the instantly recognizable drum intro to Ten’s “Why Go,” from drummer Matt Cameron, before the band got a bit thrashy with “God’s Dice” off 2000’s Binaural.
Some people swear that Ten is Pearl Jam’s best album, never to be topped. I for one, have always stuck to my guns believing that Vs. is the band’s golden ticket. So needless to say, as lead guitarist Mike McCready effortlessly tossed around the intro to “Dissident,” with his wailing guitar lines complementing Vedder’s throaty vocals, the smile could not be wiped off my face.
“This next one goes out to Schaumburg. And Naperville. And Elgin. And Skokie,” Vedder muttered in his characteristic drunken-sounding babble. “Small Town,” a song that is nearly impossible not to like, with its sing-along melodies and sweeping refrains, ensued with the entire arena’s collective gaze directed towards the scraggly front man, wearing his classic rough and tumble attire of a black t-shirt and cargo shorts. New tunes off the yet-to be released Backspacer, such as “The Fixer” and “Got Some,” as well as the punky “Supersonic” in the encore) were sharp and pointed, while classics like “Given to Fly” and “Evenflow” sizzled with swagger. Vedder made it a point to mention, before GTF that “this song was supposed to be played outdoors under a Midwestern sky at a little venue some of you may know called Alpine Valley. Unfortunately for whatever reason that didn’t happen, but we’re gonna play it anyway so just imagine you’re outside.”
Jettisoning offstage after closing the set with a helicopter-rendition of “Spin the Black Circle,” which saw McCready and bassist Jeff Ament rolling on the ground as they shred in unison, the band reunited onstage moments later with touring keyboardist Boom Gaspar for arena-shaking covers of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” and “The Real Me.” “Thank you Pete Townshend,” Vedder said, after tearing through enthused versions that may have made Pete jealous, or maybe just flattered.
A turbulent “Alive” closed out the first encore, with McCready playing an extended solo behind his head. Vedder returned to the stage alone for the second encore to play an eerily beautiful cover of Neil Young’s “The Needle and The Damage Done,” which he dedicated to the fallen Michael Jackson. “He may be gone now, but I feel like we lost him some time ago,” Vedder explained before starting the tune.
The perennial alt-rockers closed out their Sunday night soiree with “Rats,” and “Rearviewmirror,” Vs. favorites, as well as “Smile,” which saw rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and Ament swapping roles as Vedder trilled away on the harmonica with fluidity and swag. The lights went on and Vedder paid the crowd his appreciation with a soulful rendition of “Yellow Ledbetter,” culminating in McCready doing his best Hendrix impersonation with a reverb-laced rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
As McCready singed the hairs off the collective neck of the audience, Vedder sat front and center staring down his bandmate with awe. Still a kid at heart, with energy and passion for his craft, Vedder, even in all his rock glory, can appreciate what his band is capable of. While not a diehard Pearl Jam fan before Sundays show, at that final moment of the show, I could finally relate to Vedder—for I had been an awestruck observer throughout the night as well—sitting in my seat eyeing down the band that helped define alt-rock.
As I started to walk out of the venue, spent from the evening, Bob leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Now you can say you’ve seen the best rock band in the world buddy.” I knew that Bob was clearly biased, but yet I couldn’t help taking what he said to heart. Pearl Jam may not be the best rock band to ever grace a stage, but based on Sunday’s performance, they sure as hell come close.
Live Review: Pearl Jam @ United Center 8/23/09
"We've got a lot of emotion to get through tonight." Eddie Vedder started off the evening with that statement at last night's Pearl Jam concert at the United Center before launching into "Corduroy." It's hard not to be filled with emotion with songs so passionate and enduring, and of course, Vedder's deep, fervent vocals. He took the stage in shorts, a move not a lot of rockstars could get away with and still look like a rockstar, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Eddie Vedder.
As if there was any question as to where Vedder calls home, after the group finished the song "Why Go" he said, "Why go home? I am home," which was answered by wild cheers from the audience. He then pointed out, as any Chicagoan knows, that if you're born in Chicago you'll always be from Chicago, and that if you ever live here, Chicago will always be in you. It's with moments like that that Pearl Jam makes an arena full of people feel like a group in an intimate venue. They even got the whole place to sing Happy Birthday to friend Mike Richter who couldn't make it to the show.
They didn't play much new material from their forthcoming album, Backspacer, saying that they'd "probably fuck it up," But many of the standards were there, including a few covers. Paying tribute to their roots and in thanks to Mr. Pete Townshend, they covered two different The Who songs--"Love, Reign O'er Me" and "The Real Me." Always one to make a statement, Vedder also acknowledged Michael Jackson's death by telling how he loved Motown when young, but then suggested that we really lost him a long time ago and played Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done."
After thanking the crowd for coming and humbly asking "We did okay?" they ended the show in true rockstar style, playing one more song as the house lights came up inside the United Center, Vedder even lighting up a smoke as they closed out the night with a Hendrix-style rendition of our National Anthem.
Extra tickets were released for tonight's show, but one word of advice if you're picking up tickets at will call, get there early because lines were crazy long last night, and I'm sure you don't want to be standing in the parking lot when one of your favorite bands takes the stage.
To see more photos from last night's show, check out the rest of Tankboy's set on
Chicagoist.
