SunTimes Review

devilsontheirshoulde

From the Chicago S-T:

Eddie comes home
By Jim DeRogatison August 21, 2008 10:59 PM )
It's not easy being Eddie Vedder.

An indie-rocker at heart, the Evanston native became the second biggest rock star of his generation -- after only Kurt Cobain, of course, and look what happened to him.

Though Vedder has a wide range of musical interests, from avant-noise to freak-folk, the majority of the singer and songwriter's fans remain wed to the arena-friendly classic-rock that has only ever been part of his story.

And now, as he's crossed the country on his first solo tour, Vedder has tried to showcase a side of himself not easily heard amid the roar of Pearl Jam. But, as review after review has chronicled, he's been greeted nightly by boisterous crowds expressing what they want instead of listening to what he's offering.

"Eddd-ieee," they've howled. "Eddd-ieee!"

It's had to have been enough to make a guy consider pulling a Jeremy.

Thankfully, things were different as Vedder came home Thursday for the first of two shows at the Auditorium Theatre, the final gigs of the tour. Performing alone, alternating electric and acoustic guitar as he sat on a chair amid a simple stage set to evoke the D.I.Y. music room in an urban slacker's bachelor pad, he opened with two obscure and far-left-field covers: "Walking the Cow" by outsider artist Daniel Johnston and "Trouble" by the folkie formerly known as Cat Stevens.

What do you know? As that potent-as-ever baritone rolled like velvet through these tunes, which had to have been unfamiliar to 90 percent of the sold-out crowd, Vedder for once got the audience he deserved. "I can already tell things are going to be different tonight," he said afterwards, beaming.

The artist went on to attribute the respectful reception in Chicago versus the unruly audiences elsewhere to the fact that "people in Chicago know how to drink" and hold their liquor.

And so it went throughout the generous set, with a looser Vedder than we've often seen joking and warmly bantering with fans in between delivering well-chosen covers (Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" were two more standouts), a smattering of Pearl Jam tunes (a gorgeous "Better Man" as well as , some deep catalog cuts) and the solo songs he wrote for the soundtrack to the 2007 film, "Into the Wild."

The highlights were many, the missteps negligible, but there can be no denying that the night's most emotional moment came when Vedder was joined onstage by Tomas Young, a Kansas City native and army veteran who was paralyzed after he was shot while riding in an unarmored humvee in Iraq in 2004.

Now an outspoken anti-war activist undergoing physical therapy in Chicago, Young co-wrote the song "No More" with Vedder, and it was included on the soundtrack of the Phil Donohue-directed documentary "Body of War."

Thursday night, the vet sat in his wheelchair beside the musician. Young nodded his head ever so slightly as Vedder howled the simple but poignant words and the crowd, which remained standing after giving Young a lengthy ovation, joined with full throats on every chorus: "No more war. No more war."

It's been a long time since Pearl Jam produced a moment so simple but moving, spontaneous but theatrical and ultimately unforgettable. And fans who didn't bother to listen truly missed out.

PureandEasy

devilsontheirshoulde wrote:

It's had to have been enough to make a guy consider pulling a Jeremy.

YIKES!

jmccue7

he covered NIN????!?!

i need to hear this!

Emerald772

What's more amazing is that DeRo normally rips a new one into Pearl Jam for something or another. So the fact that even he was this amazed speaks volumes.

Emerald772

Here's his counter part Greg Kot
(btw, they have a radio show on NPR called Sound Opinions)

Originally posted: August 22, 2008
Eddie Vedder digs beyond Pearl Jam persona in solo show

Eddie Vedder sat down like he was among a few thousand of his closest friends and sang a bunch of songs, shared a few rambling stories and cracked some jokes Thursday in the first of two sold-out homecoming concerts at the Auditorium Theatre.

The pacing was relaxed, the tone all over the map: Earnest songs interspersed with loopy between-songs banter and humor. It was very un-superstar-like behavior from a singer who has fronted one of the most successful bands of the alternative-rock era, Pearl Jam.

Performing solo, Vedder had trouble sustaining the momentum over more than two hours. His plush baritone exuded a world-weary wisdom, an instrument well-suited to leading sing-alongs in an arena but not necessarily versatile enough to play the troubadour-on-a-barstool role. Nor is Vedder much of an instrumentalist, a journeyman on a variety of stringed instruments (guitar, mandolin, ukulele). But the singer’s conviction was total, his commitment to each song never in doubt. This was a night about songs, not all of them familiar to the Pearl Jam faithful.

Vedder came across as a wide-eyed fan, saving some of his best performances for the music of his heroes: Daniel Johnston (“Walking the Cow”), Nick Cave (“The Ship Song”), the Beatles (“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”), Nine Inch Nails (“Hurt”) and Neil Young (“Helpless”), among others. He also explored the melancholy core of Pearl Jam tracks “Better Man” and “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.”

Performing a portion of his 2007 “Into the Wild” movie soundtrack, Vedder exposed some of his own limitations as a songwriter. He can be righteous and self-serious to a fault. He doesn’t have much use for irony or anything approaching a dance groove. But sometimes brute bluntness has its uses. Vedder’s anti-war songs didn’t even pretend to be subtle, as he recast Phil Ochs’ “Here’s to the State of Mississippi” by naming names in the Bush administration and urging them “to find another country to be part of.” For “No More,” about a soldier’s anguish, Vedder was joined on stage by his friend, disabled Iraqi war veteran Tomas Young, who was greeted with a sustained standing ovation.

The singer was equally engaging when he let a little humor unfurrow his brow. Vedder reminisced about being in “the worst seat in the house” at the same venue in 1978 to see his first concert: Bruce Springsteen. He talked about whiling away afternoons in Wrigley Field watching his favorite player, the Cubs’ Jose Cardenal, and he addressed his fellow “foul-weather fans” in an ode to the perpetual North Side losers. As the night wound down, he sang wordless ululations and then looped them electronically to create a drone choir in the spirit of Pakastani sacred singer Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan. He did this while wearing a white lab coat, his inner mad scientist finally unleashed.

MrsOakley

Emerald772 wrote:

Here's his counter part Greg Kot
(btw, they have a radio show on NPR called Sound Opinions)

Originally posted: August 22, 2008
Eddie Vedder digs beyond Pearl Jam persona in solo show

Eddie Vedder sat down like he was among a few thousand of his closest friends and sang a bunch of songs, shared a few rambling stories and cracked some jokes Thursday in the first of two sold-out homecoming concerts at the Auditorium Theatre.

The pacing was relaxed, the tone all over the map: Earnest songs interspersed with loopy between-songs banter and humor. It was very un-superstar-like behavior from a singer who has fronted one of the most successful bands of the alternative-rock era, Pearl Jam.

Performing solo, Vedder had trouble sustaining the momentum over more than two hours. His plush baritone exuded a world-weary wisdom, an instrument well-suited to leading sing-alongs in an arena but not necessarily versatile enough to play the troubadour-on-a-barstool role. Nor is Vedder much of an instrumentalist, a journeyman on a variety of stringed instruments (guitar, mandolin, ukulele). But the singer’s conviction was total, his commitment to each song never in doubt. This was a night about songs, not all of them familiar to the Pearl Jam faithful.

Vedder came across as a wide-eyed fan, saving some of his best performances for the music of his heroes: Daniel Johnston (“Walking the Cow”), Nick Cave (“The Ship Song”), the Beatles (“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”), Nine Inch Nails (“Hurt”) and Neil Young (“Helpless”), among others. He also explored the melancholy core of Pearl Jam tracks “Better Man” and “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.”

Performing a portion of his 2007 “Into the Wild” movie soundtrack, Vedder exposed some of his own limitations as a songwriter. He can be righteous and self-serious to a fault. He doesn’t have much use for irony or anything approaching a dance groove. But sometimes brute bluntness has its uses. Vedder’s anti-war songs didn’t even pretend to be subtle, as he recast Phil Ochs’ “Here’s to the State of Mississippi” by naming names in the Bush administration and urging them “to find another country to be part of.” For “No More,” about a soldier’s anguish, Vedder was joined on stage by his friend, disabled Iraqi war veteran Tomas Young, who was greeted with a sustained standing ovation.

The singer was equally engaging when he let a little humor unfurrow his brow. Vedder reminisced about being in “the worst seat in the house” at the same venue in 1978 to see his first concert: Bruce Springsteen. He talked about whiling away afternoons in Wrigley Field watching his favorite player, the Cubs’ Jose Cardenal, and he addressed his fellow “foul-weather fans” in an ode to the perpetual North Side losers. As the night wound down, he sang wordless ululations and then looped them electronically to create a drone choir in the spirit of Pakastani sacred singer Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan. He did this while wearing a white lab coat, his inner mad scientist finally unleashed.

I don't know about the rest of you, but from now on, I'm referring to Arc as Wordless Ululations. Never give a dickhead access to a thesaurus....

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devilsontheirshoulde wrote:

The artist went on to attribute the respectful reception in Chicago versus the unruly audiences elsewhere to the fact that "people in Chicago know how to drink" and hold their liquor.

he must not have seen the guy pissing in his seat.

But it is nice to hear that for once he apparently received the respect
and appropriate behaviour from those in attendance.

washedinblack91

DickHead wrote:

As the night wound down, he sang wordless ululations and then looped them electronically to create a drone choir

what? if he did a little research he'd've known how much of a dickhead he's being :rolleyes:

luvisatower

finally a DeRogatis review that doesn't make me want to smack him

pjwhofan

Kot and DeRogatis sat about 10 ft from me last night in the Orch. Must have been on deadline as they disappeared before the first encore and I didn't see them again.

phiend226

MrsOakley wrote:

I don't know about the rest of you, but from now on, I'm referring to Arc as Wordless Ululations. Never give a dickhead access to a thesaurus....

HAHAHA!!!!!! that is great.