Pearl Jam Brisbane Review- Time Off Magazine
There are people just turning up, people who have been sitting for hours on end waiting in line, and others that just seem to be hanging around, but as soon as the gates open, it’s a free for all to rush the front and get the ever-so-precious barrier position. Those who manage to get one are in for a long day, with first support Liam Finn arriving onstage in the early afternoon. Driving loops and the occasional drum kit crash see Finn taking to ‘Plane Crash’ to open the set with his partner in crime Eliza-Jane Barnes – while the crowd seems slightly confused by the musical experimentation, he shows great talent during ‘Long Way To Go’ using the simplest guitar riff and continually building until he has a monstrous force, before releasing it via his exploding drum hits, all while maintaining a touch of pop songwriting. It takes a while for him to win around the impatient crowd, but his performance shines through in the end.
Waltzing out to a rousing applause is the ever-adored Ben Harper with his new group The Relentless7. After some initial sound issues Harper eventually kicks into the as-yet-unreleased ‘I Will Not Be Broken’. It sets the tone for his set as he soon takes picking from each of his albums as well as inviting a special guest, Eddie Vedder, on stage for a cover of the Queen/Bowie classic ‘Under Pressure’. Ben spends most of his time sitting with his lap steel and leaves the energy to his new bandmates, who lap up the chance to play to an energetic stadium. Keeping the covers rolling, Harper pays tribute to a lost friend with a touching rendition of INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ in which his true vocal talent shines through, keeping a soulful whisper before cracking into the soaring chorus – it’s a spine tingling moment. Capping off the set with ‘Diamonds On The Inside’, Harper shows why he is so welcomed to our shores with his relaxed surf soul (that and using his lap steel as a cricket bat to hit a beach ball into the crowd).
After many hours of waiting in the scorching Brisbane sun, it was finally time for the lights to dim and the large backdrop to begin to glow, bringing Pearl Jam onto the stage with a furious ‘Why Go’. Reports of a sick Eddie Vedder at a previous Sydney show are put to rest as the man is back in full form tonight, thrashing on stage and letting out his trademark growl: with the energy all members are showing already, it’s going to be a hell of a night. Backing it up with ‘Animal’ and ‘Got Some’, they still tantalise the thousands with a double treat of the rarer tracks ‘In Hiding’ and ‘In My Tree’. Mike McCready takes to a flawless behind-the-head solo of ‘Even Flow’ before returning to priming the compacted fans with various pick tosses, waves, and working the stage, while Vedder proves his health by diving off the stage to grab a bottle of red and a packet of smokes. The grandstands fail to rise out of their seats due to the QSAC’s dubious audio, even though a majority of tracks are written with a stadium sound in mind, but the general admission areas are well and truly on fire, and after a dirty rendition of ‘Rats’, Stone Gossard strums into a heavily-unpractised local tribute to AC/DC with ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’, leading into their own hit ‘Blood’ to close the main set.
Returning for the first encore, Vedder bring his acoustic out and talks to the crowd about resting in his hotel room and learning a new term of “schoolies”, soon inviting Ben Harper back onstage to join him for ‘Red Mosquito’. A few more blistering tracks later it’s a second encore with Liam Finn for the Hunters & Collectors campfire ode ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, before building into a double punch of ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Alive’ finally getting 35,000 fans out of their seats and screaming along. Inevitably, the lights return and the infamous riff to the heart wrenching closer ‘Yellow Ledbetter’ echoes out, and as McCready plucks the final chorus, the rest of the band walk the stage thanking the fans and bowing after 30 songs and what has to be close to the best show that these five lads have given on Queensland soil.
Waltzing out to a rousing applause is the ever-adored Ben Harper with his new group The Relentless7. After some initial sound issues Harper eventually kicks into the as-yet-unreleased ‘I Will Not Be Broken’. It sets the tone for his set as he soon takes picking from each of his albums as well as inviting a special guest, Eddie Vedder, on stage for a cover of the Queen/Bowie classic ‘Under Pressure’. Ben spends most of his time sitting with his lap steel and leaves the energy to his new bandmates, who lap up the chance to play to an energetic stadium. Keeping the covers rolling, Harper pays tribute to a lost friend with a touching rendition of INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ in which his true vocal talent shines through, keeping a soulful whisper before cracking into the soaring chorus – it’s a spine tingling moment. Capping off the set with ‘Diamonds On The Inside’, Harper shows why he is so welcomed to our shores with his relaxed surf soul (that and using his lap steel as a cricket bat to hit a beach ball into the crowd).
After many hours of waiting in the scorching Brisbane sun, it was finally time for the lights to dim and the large backdrop to begin to glow, bringing Pearl Jam onto the stage with a furious ‘Why Go’. Reports of a sick Eddie Vedder at a previous Sydney show are put to rest as the man is back in full form tonight, thrashing on stage and letting out his trademark growl: with the energy all members are showing already, it’s going to be a hell of a night. Backing it up with ‘Animal’ and ‘Got Some’, they still tantalise the thousands with a double treat of the rarer tracks ‘In Hiding’ and ‘In My Tree’. Mike McCready takes to a flawless behind-the-head solo of ‘Even Flow’ before returning to priming the compacted fans with various pick tosses, waves, and working the stage, while Vedder proves his health by diving off the stage to grab a bottle of red and a packet of smokes. The grandstands fail to rise out of their seats due to the QSAC’s dubious audio, even though a majority of tracks are written with a stadium sound in mind, but the general admission areas are well and truly on fire, and after a dirty rendition of ‘Rats’, Stone Gossard strums into a heavily-unpractised local tribute to AC/DC with ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’, leading into their own hit ‘Blood’ to close the main set.
Returning for the first encore, Vedder bring his acoustic out and talks to the crowd about resting in his hotel room and learning a new term of “schoolies”, soon inviting Ben Harper back onstage to join him for ‘Red Mosquito’. A few more blistering tracks later it’s a second encore with Liam Finn for the Hunters & Collectors campfire ode ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, before building into a double punch of ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Alive’ finally getting 35,000 fans out of their seats and screaming along. Inevitably, the lights return and the infamous riff to the heart wrenching closer ‘Yellow Ledbetter’ echoes out, and as McCready plucks the final chorus, the rest of the band walk the stage thanking the fans and bowing after 30 songs and what has to be close to the best show that these five lads have given on Queensland soil.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
*BEC, Brisbane, March 1995
*BEC, Brisbane, March 1998
*BEC, Brisbane, November 2006
*QSAC, Brisbane November 2009
*EV Solo, QPAC, Brisbane March 10 and 12 2011
*Big Day Out, Gold Coast, 19 Jan 2014
*EV Solo, QPAC, Brisbane, 22,23 & 25 Feb 2014
don't know, i still have a soft spot of night 2 2006. that setlist was fucking brilliant.