Great review jerseyjammer1! Couple highlights for me...hearing some backstory to Theo with the Sox and Cubs and then watching them jam to Better Man together. As a life long Sox fan, that was pretty cool to see. I was also psyched to hear Golden State live. Eddie brought so much energy to the stage that night and played some rare tunes. I was surprised at how packed it was when we got in because we were near the front of the GA line. I wasn't expecting such a late start for Eddie either and my buddy and I had to leave before the end, which was a little bit of a bummer. Still had a blast and glad we packed in the game and the show...although I'll be in slow gear today. One other side note- man, there were lots of Cubs fans at Fenway yesterday!
"How do afford your rock 'n roll lifestyle?"- Cake
Incredible experience. I was 5th in GA line and was about 10 ppl deep stage right.
First off, if this place was 900 capacity, Im guessing 700 were VIP and let in early. Unfortunately, a lot of ppl felt the VIP necklace passes gave them access to barge in front of anyone they wanted. I've never seen this happen as much as last night. Not a typical PJ crowd. I saw 3 near fights as a result.
As for the show, it was an awesome experience. Eddie played for 1 hour and 50 minutes. He came on at about 11:15 so it was a late night The Opener of Cordoroy into Not For You was pretty amazing. And then he called an audible and did Elderly Woman. I also got to hear songs which I never thought I'd hear live, such as History Repeats and Golden State. And Im a big Bruce fan so was pumped to hear Bobby Jean.
I thought Hard Sun was a perfect closing song so I was surprised when they came back for 2 more . The closing song RITFW was raucous. Theo Epstein was hammered and had a hard fall on stage earlier. Then during the song he body surfed into the crowd, and then when he got back to stage, Eddie jumped into us on his back too. Then Theo grabbed both the Cubs and Red Sox World Series trophies and passed them into the crowd. I got to hold each of them as I passed them back. Unfortunately the trophies started to get dismantled and security jumped in to take them back. Theo was in a bit of a panic regarding the trophies. A lot of the VIP pay8ing customers. We're hammered bc it was so late and being idiots.
Such a great night with a lot of baeball banter. Earlier in the night, Mookie Betts and Andrew B of the sox played some karaoke type game with Sean Casey and Ryan Dempster. Bernie Williams and Peter Gammons also played well earlier in the night. Seth Myers was in the crowd.
Also, during the night Eddie was raving about the two shows at Fenway last summer and said he hopes to play there again!
This was the highlight of the night for me. Eddie's into about listening to taillight's fade over and over was great and you tell Bill was choked up. Buffalo Tom is my other favorite band and this was a dream come true. All the feels!
Running on little sleep since I had an early AM flight a few hours after the show, but here goes...
I was front row at Hot Stove in 2015 and this one blew it out of the water. Met some great PJ fans and enjoyed another day of waiting in line to grab a good spot. Saw Eddie enter the venue from his ride and he said a quick hello to us as he passed by. Got in and held a spot throughout the show front and center. Great small venue like the Metro in Chicago, stage is low and was positioned real close.
The Hot Stove bands were all on point and did a great job. The MCs did a good job improvising while bands were setting up, including the "Name that Tune" game someone else mentioned. They auctioned off a cowbell signed by Will Ferrell and the winner got on stage and played "Don't Fear the Reaper" for a little bit. It's all in good fun.
Eddie comes out on stage with a "Who the fuck is Theo Epstein" shirt, and you can tell how solid of a relationship he has with the guy. When they jammed together it was no different than any other musician. Theo was buzzed, and he tried a few rockstar moves with little success, and you can see Eddie just shaking his head at times. The crowd surfing of Theo, then Eddie, then the two curse-busting World Series trophies was epic. Bonus points for watching Theo get really concerned that the trophies weren't coming back to the stage.
Eddie treats these shows as professionally as any other show. He added "Small Town" on the fly because the crowd was already singing along. The covers were fantastic, Comfortably Numb was the strongest I've seen it yet, and Hard Sun/Garden State were so good to see live. Getting a view of the setlist and lyric sheets in front of him showed an appreciation for being prepared. Being close enough to hear him call changes to songs was an added bonus.
As for crowd interaction up front, Eddie was gracious as always. He tossed his coat to the person to my right (although security took it 5+ songs later). A kid to my left managed to thank Eddie after "Comfortably Numb" for a few seconds and later on got a PJ/Red Sox cap. I was the fortunate guy who Eddie sought out a beer between songs and handed it to me. I turned around and showed him my "All the Way" jersey and he gave a sign of approval.
Man, what else, so many good little moments:
Late in the set Eddie realized he had his name on the screen behind him the whole time and was all WTF. A few songs later it comes up again and he jokingly gives the screen a quick middle finger.
When Eddie gave me the beer he implied I was Ben Zobrist. A few people said hi to me after the show but I didn't piece everything together until someone asked for my autograph
Eddie's more in depth explanation of his Fenway rant about Red Sox fans booing the Cubs was pretty funny. He compared it to two friends on death row, and when one gets released from prison he's like "fuck that other guy"
"While fans watched Pearl Jam's induction into the Rock Hall on HBO, Eddie Vedder performed a covers-filled set featuring tracks by Talking Heads, the Rolling Stones and the Who – as well as familiar renditions of Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd and Neil Young songs – at the annual Hot Stove Cool Music benefit concert at Boston's Paradise Club."
tschav, you were in a great spot! did you help eddie with the lyric pages during some of the cover songs? Seemed like he was looking down at you. Also, what did Theo say to Eddie when Eddie started the Theo for President rant? Im guessing Theo cut him off saying not to discuss any politics. It was pretty abrupt.
So I don't post often but seeing as I was one of the few actual fans who got into the show I figured I would fill some people in. My thoughts are similar to the few I have seen above. First off I was lucky enough to get a ticket off a ticket broker minutes after Eddie was announced, so I paid in hindsite a small price to see him at a venue like this. I got there about 6 pm, grabbed some dinner and lined up around 7pm. I was about the 12-15 person in line. They opened the doors a little after 8. When I got inside I would say more than a third of the club was filled with comped tickets/ VIP's/ corporate sponsors. Middle management out for the night in their best khakis and tommy bahama shirts. Group pics with " Sue from accounting, and Bill from HR". I am not going to judge my fandom versus anyone else's but I would bet 75% of the people there have not been to a rock show or a place like The Paradise in over 30 years. I honestly felt like I was at the wrong venue at times. That being said there was not a lot of crowding/ pushing/ shoving which was nice. A few people tried to " bully" to the front but that wasn't happening to me.
I was on the left side of the stage about 4 people deep from the front and was surrounded almost entirely by people with red lanyards. There was a few real fans . I knew something was up when minutes before the doors open there was maybe 100 people in line to get inside.. I think that the fans/ general public had access to maybe 300 tickets MAX.
Early bands were cool. Too much auctioning ( I know its charity but they kept trying to get more $ from a crowd that wasn't going to pay it) and the " name that tune" game was an AWFUL time killer.
I was hoping for a little more solo stuff from ed without a backing band, but overall no complaints on the set. I feel very fortunate to be able to be there. I give Theo and Ed props for crowd surfing with that crowd. I thought somebody was falling for sure. I will say that if that crowd was a typical PJ crowd, I do not think the club could handle it.
Hartford 96
Mansfield 98 x 2
Mansfield 00 x2
Mansfield 03 x 3
Boston 04 VFC x 2
Hartford 06
Boston 06 x 2
Hartford 08
Mansfield 08 x 2
EV Boston 08 x 2
Hartford 10
Boston 10
EV Providence 11
EV Boston 11
EV Hartford 11
Worcester 13 x 2
Hartford 13
Buffalo 13
Baltimore 13
Fenway 2016 x 2
Hot Stove 2017 Fenway 2018 x 2
For those of you that purchased VIP tickets, was it worth the cost? (Aside from the great Eddie performance)
I did not have VIP tickets, but if you take Ed out of the show, the tickets were only worth face value at best. No where close to $ 1200/pair.
Hartford 96
Mansfield 98 x 2
Mansfield 00 x2
Mansfield 03 x 3
Boston 04 VFC x 2
Hartford 06
Boston 06 x 2
Hartford 08
Mansfield 08 x 2
EV Boston 08 x 2
Hartford 10
Boston 10
EV Providence 11
EV Boston 11
EV Hartford 11
Worcester 13 x 2
Hartford 13
Buffalo 13
Baltimore 13
Fenway 2016 x 2
Hot Stove 2017 Fenway 2018 x 2
For those of you that purchased VIP tickets, was it worth the cost? (Aside from the great Eddie performance)
I've done it twice - $600/per for this night, $750/per for the 2015 Chicago show. It's not cheap by any means, but it's a charity show and I've done a few of them in the past (Katrina benefit, Eddie & The Who, etc) because of the unique nature of the venue/guests. There's no rail, so you pretty much are right against the monitors - which also means you're close enough that you realize you gotta be extra respectful of their space to not interrupt the show.
There were a lot more VIP/PJ fans than you'd think. Once we got in there was friends/family/corporate guests already walking around (yellow lanyards), but they weren't grabbing space by the stage as the PJ fans (red lanyards) started rolling in. I'm sure they could play bigger shows and sell more lower-priced tickets, but they're raising $1million even in these small events.
tschav, you were in a great spot! did you help eddie with the lyric pages during some of the cover songs? Seemed like he was looking down at you. Also, what did Theo say to Eddie when Eddie started the Theo for President rant? Im guessing Theo cut him off saying not to discuss any politics. It was pretty abrupt.
The A/C was tossing some of the lyric sheets around, but me and the people around me were helping put them back. As for the Theo conversation, I'm sure it was Theo avoiding any more talk than he already faces once those Forbes articles deemed him a business god.
Hey Tschav - Its your rail buddy here from Boston. Great review of the show! My 17 year old son was the kid who got the hat from Ed after thanking him for playing Comfortably Numb (he said thank you so much I love that song as he was shaking Ed's hand and Ed said back "I know, I can tell" then gave him a quick hug, then went to the stage and grabbed the PJ/Sox hat and put it on his head!!!). Never thought that we would be helping Ed with lyric sheets and getting sweated on by Ed...Theo handed me both trophies to pass back to the crowd. At one point Theo bent down and asked me and my son "where the fuck are the trophies?" and I just pointed behind me. It was also hysterical when Theo tried to jump off a speaker and almost fell on top of us. He spilled Ed's drink over the setlist right in front of me (sadly - I tried to get it and it fell to pieces as it was soaked). Awesome as well when Theo and Ed went crowd surfing over the top of us. In addition to all of that, having Ed play for 2 hours was a complete surprise and he and everyone else sounded great. So in answer to the question, where the VIP tickets worth it??? PRICELESS!!!!!
Hey Tschav - Its your rail buddy here from Boston. Great review of the show! My 17 year old son was the kid who got the hat from Ed after thanking him for playing Comfortably Numb (he said thank you so much I love that song as he was shaking Ed's hand and Ed said back "I know, I can tell" then gave him a quick hug, then went to the stage and grabbed the PJ/Sox hat and put it on his head!!!).
This is so f'n cool. What an experience for you and your son. For Ed to say, "I know, I can tell" is just the coolest thing ever. He's not up there just going through the motions. He actually recognizes the impact he and the music has on his fans. Priceless experience indeed sir!
Hey Tschav - Its your rail buddy here from Boston. Great review of the show! My 17 year old son was the kid who got the hat from Ed after thanking him for playing Comfortably Numb (he said thank you so much I love that song as he was shaking Ed's hand and Ed said back "I know, I can tell" then gave him a quick hug, then went to the stage and grabbed the PJ/Sox hat and put it on his head!!!).
This is so f'n cool. What an experience for you and your son. For Ed to say, "I know, I can tell" is just the coolest thing ever. He's not up there just going through the motions. He actually recognizes the impact he and the music has on his fans. Priceless experience indeed sir!
Well said and thanks Bbiggs! Agree 100% on the not just going through the motions comment and the impact of the music on on the fans. I know for many of us this is a huge reason why we love this band so much...
This show is approaching legendary status! I keep smiling as I reflect on the entire evening and share details with others.
1996 - Columbia, MD & Augusta, ME 2013 - Worcester, MA (Lightning Bolt Release) 2016 - Fenway Park I and II 2017 - HSCM (EV) Boston, MA 2018 - Seattle I, Fenway Park I and II 2021 - Ohana Festival (EV/EV/PJ) 2022 - EV (Beacon Theater II & Newark) 2023 - Austin, TX I & II
Comments
9/26/96, 9/28/96, 10/2/96
6/14/98, 9/13/98, 9/15/98, 9/16/98
8/3/00, 8/29/00, 8/30/00
7/2/03, 7/3/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03
9/28/04, 9/29/04
5/24/06, 5/25/06
6/28/08, 6/30/08, 8/1/08, 8/2/08
5/17/10
10/15/13, 10/16/13
8/5/16, 8/7/16
9/4/18, 9/4/18
RITFW:
I was front row at Hot Stove in 2015 and this one blew it out of the water. Met some great PJ fans and enjoyed another day of waiting in line to grab a good spot. Saw Eddie enter the venue from his ride and he said a quick hello to us as he passed by. Got in and held a spot throughout the show front and center. Great small venue like the Metro in Chicago, stage is low and was positioned real close.
The Hot Stove bands were all on point and did a great job. The MCs did a good job improvising while bands were setting up, including the "Name that Tune" game someone else mentioned. They auctioned off a cowbell signed by Will Ferrell and the winner got on stage and played "Don't Fear the Reaper" for a little bit. It's all in good fun.
Eddie comes out on stage with a "Who the fuck is Theo Epstein" shirt, and you can tell how solid of a relationship he has with the guy. When they jammed together it was no different than any other musician. Theo was buzzed, and he tried a few rockstar moves with little success, and you can see Eddie just shaking his head at times. The crowd surfing of Theo, then Eddie, then the two curse-busting World Series trophies was epic. Bonus points for watching Theo get really concerned that the trophies weren't coming back to the stage.
Eddie treats these shows as professionally as any other show. He added "Small Town" on the fly because the crowd was already singing along. The covers were fantastic, Comfortably Numb was the strongest I've seen it yet, and Hard Sun/Garden State were so good to see live. Getting a view of the setlist and lyric sheets in front of him showed an appreciation for being prepared. Being close enough to hear him call changes to songs was an added bonus.
As for crowd interaction up front, Eddie was gracious as always. He tossed his coat to the person to my right (although security took it 5+ songs later). A kid to my left managed to thank Eddie after "Comfortably Numb" for a few seconds and later on got a PJ/Red Sox cap. I was the fortunate guy who Eddie sought out a beer between songs and handed it to me. I turned around and showed him my "All the Way" jersey and he gave a sign of approval.
Man, what else, so many good little moments:
- Late in the set Eddie realized he had his name on the screen behind him the whole time and was all WTF. A few songs later it comes up again and he jokingly gives the screen a quick middle finger.
- When Eddie gave me the beer he implied I was Ben Zobrist. A few people said hi to me after the show but I didn't piece everything together until someone asked for my autograph
- Eddie's improvisation of lyrics on Wishlist to talk about Theo and the Cubs/Sox championships was incredible
- Eddie's more in depth explanation of his Fenway rant about Red Sox fans booing the Cubs was pretty funny. He compared it to two friends on death row, and when one gets released from prison he's like "fuck that other guy"
- Bernie
Williams and Peter Gammons can play a mean guitarMore pics from the night here: https://goo.gl/photos/mPkbiLgqpgwZyMadA
Rolling Stone writeup w/videos:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/eddie-vedder-covers-talking-heads-the-who-at-boston-benefit-w479648
Thank you very much for sharing these! Awesome pics! Now, if only there is an audience recording somewhere, life would be complete...
http://www.vanyaland.com/2017/04/30/photo-gallery-hot-stove-cool-music-at-the-paradise-with-eddie-vedder-and-boston-music-scene/27/
And yes, hopefully there's a recording that'll surface.
I was on the left side of the stage about 4 people deep from the front and was surrounded almost entirely by people with red lanyards. There was a few real fans . I knew something was up when minutes before the doors open there was maybe 100 people in line to get inside.. I think that the fans/ general public had access to maybe 300 tickets MAX.
Early bands were cool. Too much auctioning ( I know its charity but they kept trying to get more $ from a crowd that wasn't going to pay it) and the " name that tune" game was an AWFUL time killer.
I was hoping for a little more solo stuff from ed without a backing band, but overall no complaints on the set. I feel very fortunate to be able to be there. I give Theo and Ed props for crowd surfing with that crowd. I thought somebody was falling for sure. I will say that if that crowd was a typical PJ crowd, I do not think the club could handle it.
Mansfield 98 x 2
Mansfield 00 x2
Mansfield 03 x 3
Boston 04 VFC x 2
Hartford 06
Boston 06 x 2
Hartford 08
Mansfield 08 x 2
EV Boston 08 x 2
Hartford 10
Boston 10
EV Providence 11
EV Boston 11
EV Hartford 11
Worcester 13 x 2
Hartford 13
Buffalo 13
Baltimore 13
Fenway 2016 x 2
Hot Stove 2017
Fenway 2018 x 2
9/26/96, 9/28/96, 10/2/96
6/14/98, 9/13/98, 9/15/98, 9/16/98
8/3/00, 8/29/00, 8/30/00
7/2/03, 7/3/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03
9/28/04, 9/29/04
5/24/06, 5/25/06
6/28/08, 6/30/08, 8/1/08, 8/2/08
5/17/10
10/15/13, 10/16/13
8/5/16, 8/7/16
9/4/18, 9/4/18
Mansfield 98 x 2
Mansfield 00 x2
Mansfield 03 x 3
Boston 04 VFC x 2
Hartford 06
Boston 06 x 2
Hartford 08
Mansfield 08 x 2
EV Boston 08 x 2
Hartford 10
Boston 10
EV Providence 11
EV Boston 11
EV Hartford 11
Worcester 13 x 2
Hartford 13
Buffalo 13
Baltimore 13
Fenway 2016 x 2
Hot Stove 2017
Fenway 2018 x 2
There were a lot more VIP/PJ fans than you'd think. Once we got in there was friends/family/corporate guests already walking around (yellow lanyards), but they weren't grabbing space by the stage as the PJ fans (red lanyards) started rolling in. I'm sure they could play bigger shows and sell more lower-priced tickets, but they're raising $1million even in these small events. The A/C was tossing some of the lyric sheets around, but me and the people around me were helping put them back. As for the Theo conversation, I'm sure it was Theo avoiding any more talk than he already faces once those Forbes articles deemed him a business god.
Hello friends, here are some pictures from Hot Stove Cool Music last weekend. @PearlJam @pgammo http://ow.ly/Gkov30boKrn
2013 - Worcester, MA (Lightning Bolt Release)
2016 - Fenway Park I and II
2017 - HSCM (EV) Boston, MA
2018 - Seattle I, Fenway Park I and II
2021 - Ohana Festival (EV/EV/PJ)
2022 - EV (Beacon Theater II & Newark)
2023 - Austin, TX I & II
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-world-series-trophy-damaged-report-20170502-story.html
Hahaha whoops, just a little too much partying