Review of London concert in Irish Star Sunday

Heineken Helen

I did a search and couldn't find this review. Anyway, last Sunday I was sitting in Dublin airport on my way back to England and was leafing through a paper and found this:

'There was no Irish date on Pearl Jam's current whirlwind tour of Europe.

So there were plenty of T-shirt-clad fans at Dublin Airport on Tuesday bound for London - as the Seattle five-piece played a sold-out show at the spectacular O2 venue there.

Most non-fans' reaction when told Pearl Jam are on tour is: "are they still going?"

Fact is, this almost 20,000 capacity London show sold out in minutes, as do most of their dates.

And with good reason. These guys get better with age, and kept to the hits and crowd favourites throughout the night.

They opened with a spine-tingling Release, from debut album Ten, on which Eddie Vedder's rich baritone filled every corner of the marvellous arena.

The band blasted through rockers Animal, Corduroy and Why Go before lighting up the stage for the mid-90's sing along anthem Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.

We even got a taste of three songs from forthcoming album Backspacer. The first single, The Fixer, is their poppiest effort in a few years while Supersonic and Get Some need a bit of work to get right live but still sound punchy and full of promise.

A ripping Even Flow sent the place wild as lead guitarist Mike McCready played the solo with his axe behind his head. Lesser known singles like I God ID and Light Years were equally well received.

Classic Ten track Black provoked another sing along to the outro that impressed even Vedder, getting increasingly blotto on his bottles of red wine.

How his voice lasted for the tonsil-shredding Blood is a miracle but it was extraordinary, as was the harmonica led Footsteps, originally an early b-side.

A cover of The Who's Love Reign O'er Me was spectacular and showcased the keyboard talents of Boom Gasper, now in the band for nine years.

There was still time for a rockin' Do the Evolution and a hugely euphoric Alive - the song of the night.

Want more? Better Man, standard covers Crazy Mary and Leaving Here, an extended take of another Ten Track, Porch, and closer Yellow Ledbetter with the house lights on had London (and the other assorted nationalities) stunned but knackered.

What a night - roll on Dublin 2010'

Written by Paul Mallon in Star Sunday.

evanser

thanks for the post. Boom has been in the band for 9 years???? wow does time fly

Heineken Helen

evanser wrote:

thanks for the post. Boom has been in the band for 9 years???? wow does time fly

That's exactly what I thought :shock:

Well we didn't get a concert, but at least we got a review

Veddernarian

evanser wrote:

thanks for the post. Boom has been in the band for 9 years???? wow does time fly

He first appeared on Riot act which was recorded in 2002. That would make it 7 years. So maybe the 9 was an error as was the "I God ID". I always see small errors like these. A common error is the spelling of Mike's last name. A lot of people don't get that right.

Heineken Helen

Veddernarian wrote:

evanser wrote:

thanks for the post. Boom has been in the band for 9 years???? wow does time fly

He first appeared on Riot act which was recorded in 2002. That would make it 7 years. So maybe the 9 was an error as was the "I God ID". I always see small errors like these. A common error is the spelling of Mike's last name. A lot of people don't get that right.

I typed it out quickly as there was no link for it... so blame me for the 'I God Id' and any other spelling mistakes... I just thought I'd share and I thought I did ok with the spelling considering I didn't look at the screen once while I was typing

The article says 9 years... I dunno, I'll leave it up to others to investigate.

Veddernarian

Heineken Helen wrote:

Veddernarian wrote:

evanser wrote:

thanks for the post. Boom has been in the band for 9 years???? wow does time fly

He first appeared on Riot act which was recorded in 2002. That would make it 7 years. So maybe the 9 was an error as was the "I God ID". I always see small errors like these. A common error is the spelling of Mike's last name. A lot of people don't get that right.

I typed it out quickly as there was no link for it... so blame me for the 'I God Id' and any other spelling mistakes... I just thought I'd share and I thought I did ok with the spelling considering I didn't look at the screen once while I was typing

The article says 9 years... I dunno, I'll leave it up to others to investigate.

Wow! You typed all of that? Thanks for taking the time. I would have had many typos if I would have attempted that. Thanks again!

Heineken Helen

Veddernarian wrote:

Heineken Helen wrote:

Veddernarian wrote:

He first appeared on Riot act which was recorded in 2002. That would make it 7 years. So maybe the 9 was an error as was the "I God ID". I always see small errors like these. A common error is the spelling of Mike's last name. A lot of people don't get that right.

I typed it out quickly as there was no link for it... so blame me for the 'I God Id' and any other spelling mistakes... I just thought I'd share and I thought I did ok with the spelling considering I didn't look at the screen once while I was typing

The article says 9 years... I dunno, I'll leave it up to others to investigate.

Wow! You typed all of that? Thanks for taking the time. I would have had many typos if I would have attempted that. Thanks again!

no probs. I've been meaning to post it for a week but didn't get the chance.

chime

Thanks for typing that up Helen

... and the showcasing of Boom's talents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Dre0VbdPY

Heineken Helen

chime wrote:

Thanks for typing that up Helen

... and the showcasing of Boom's talents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Dre0VbdPY

yeh yeh, that's all well and good but... how long's he been in the band?

Fifthelement

Great review Helen. Thanks for taking the time to write it out and to post it

chime

Heineken Helen wrote:

chime wrote:

Thanks for typing that up Helen

... and the showcasing of Boom's talents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Dre0VbdPY

yeh yeh, that's all well and good but... how long's he been in the band?

The only info I can give is that when I saw them in 2000 he wasn't there :P