It’s been more than four days since the second Pearl Jam concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre, and I am still energized by the show. Being a biased Pearl Jam fan for the past couple of decades, this concert review isn’t much of a “review” as it is a recap:
Outside the venue, artist Maxx242 began re-creating the poster he created for the concert, on a rather large canvas (more on that later).
Ben Harper & Relentless7 opened the show at around 7:20 PM.
Relentless7’s set included
1. Rock & Roll Is Free (If You Want It)
2. Number With No Name
3. Shimmer & Shine
4. Lay There & Hate Me
5. Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)
6. The Word Suicide
7. Fly One Time
8. Up To You Now, where Harper sang off-the-mic for the dramatic part of the song:
We have a few more Ben Harper & Relentless7 snapshots at DeRamos.org. Relentless7’s album White Lies for Dark Times
Pearl Jam hit the stage at around 8:40 PM. Their main set (the first of three) included
1. Interstellar Overdrive, which was not much of a complete cover, as it segues into…
2. Corduroy
3. Severed Hand
4. Got Some
5. Do The Evolution
6. Dissident
7. Given To Fly
8. Johnny Guitar
9. Amongst The Waves
10. I Got Id
11. Daughter
12. Jeremy
13. Unthought Known
14. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
15. Driven To Tears
16. The Fixer
17. Rearviewmirror
Incidentally, when organist/keyboard player Boom Gaspar hit the stage, virtually everyone cheered (as usual), “BOOOOMMMM!!!”
Pretending to hear jeers, frontman Eddie Vedder responded to the audience: “What? Was it something I said? Well, fuck you, then!”
A mixture of laughter and applause ensued. Good times.
I think Pearl Jam – known for their awesome, epic live shows – spoilt us rotten because much of the crowd fell silent and sat down at the conclusion of their main set. We assumed that they would return for at least two more encores.
And yes, they returned with a second set, which included
18. Just Breathe
19. The End
20. Lukin
21. Red Mosquito
22. Jazz Odyssey
23. Better Man (Save it for Later)
A string quartet joined the band for a trio of songs: “Just Breathe,” “The End,” and “Lukin.” According to Eddie Vedder, he and the string section did not rehearse this blistering acoustic performance of “Lukin”:
Ben Harper joined the band to play slide guitar on “Red Mosquito.”
After a strange jam called “Jazz Odyssey,” Vedder invited the crowd to sing the first verse of “Better Man”:
I must take this opportunity to thank YouTube user (and front-row sitter) “lukinwithstrings” for videotaping these awesome Ben Harper/Pearl Jam clips.
The second encore included
24. Gonna See My Friend
25. I Believe In Miracles
26. Once
27. Alive, complete with a fist-pumping crowd during the end guitar solo
28. Yellow Ledbetter (The Star-Spangled Banner)
Concluding at around 10:50 PM, the show – like virtually all Pearl Jam concerts – was awesome. Even if you aren’t a die-hard fan like me, you will still appreciate the amount of gimmick-free energy that the band projects on stage, as well as the energy reciprocated by a good crowd. The October 1st audience at the Gibson Amphitheatre was an excellent crowd.
After the show, Maxx242 had already finished the re-creation of his poster:
Maxx242 was kind enough to autograph the posters of several people who bought them earlier that evening.
It was an awesome night. This Los Angeles Lakers-inspired Pearl Jam T-shirt, made specifically for the October 1st show, was icing on the cake:
Please visit DeRamos.org for more (1), more (2), more (3), and more (4) snapshots from last week’s Pearl Jam concert in Los Angeles. Check out Pearl Jam’s latest album, Backspacer, available at Target retailers, various independent record stores, and iTunes (link will open iTunes):
