MSG review in Daily Variety
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Fairly balanced review from a mainstream industry magazine
Pearl Jam
(Madison Square Garden; 19,400 seats. $79 top)
By DAVID SPRAGUE
Presented by Radio City Entertainment.
Band: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron. Opened and reviewed May 21, 2010. Closed May 22.
Given its status as one of the biggest bands in the rock world, Pearl Jam has always been incredibly unwavering in its embrace of the small-is-beautiful aesthetic. While just about every band of its magnitude has succumbed to the siren song of spectacle, the quintet has steadfastly eschewed pyrotechnics, visual displays and showmanship -- and, perhaps as a consequence, managed to keep ticket prices lower than virtually any other veteran arena act extant.
None of this would matter, of course, if Pearl Jam weren't capable of letting the music do the talking -- but the band eminently proved that it could at this sinewy 2 1/2-hour perf. Alternating between radio hits and relative obscurities, Eddie Vedder and company bobbed and weaved through more than two dozen songs that covered virtually every part of the emotional spectrum.
Oddly, the band seemed more at home wallowing in the darker corners of its catalog -- grinding out impressively aggressive takes on "I Got Id" and "The End" (an unsparing examination of mortality culled from their self-released "Backspacer" album) -- than setting lighters ablaze with standards like "Alive" and "Jeremy," both of which were dutifully loosed here.
Yes, there were nods to the importance of playing the Garden -- a string quartet was summoned for a suite of songs that opened the first encore, a mini-set highlighted by the impressively taut "Lukin" -- but by and large, the band members did their utmost to convince themselves (and the aud) that this was nothing more than an oversized bar gig.
To that end, they reached a zenith of sorts on the passel of covers that peppered the encores. In both a languid take on Victoria Williams' "Crazy Mary" and a spirited version of the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles" (dedicated, of course, to the late Joey Ramone), Pearl Jam shunned the cult of personality and let the music do the talking. And talk, it did.
Pearl Jam
(Madison Square Garden; 19,400 seats. $79 top)
By DAVID SPRAGUE
Presented by Radio City Entertainment.
Band: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron. Opened and reviewed May 21, 2010. Closed May 22.
Given its status as one of the biggest bands in the rock world, Pearl Jam has always been incredibly unwavering in its embrace of the small-is-beautiful aesthetic. While just about every band of its magnitude has succumbed to the siren song of spectacle, the quintet has steadfastly eschewed pyrotechnics, visual displays and showmanship -- and, perhaps as a consequence, managed to keep ticket prices lower than virtually any other veteran arena act extant.
None of this would matter, of course, if Pearl Jam weren't capable of letting the music do the talking -- but the band eminently proved that it could at this sinewy 2 1/2-hour perf. Alternating between radio hits and relative obscurities, Eddie Vedder and company bobbed and weaved through more than two dozen songs that covered virtually every part of the emotional spectrum.
Oddly, the band seemed more at home wallowing in the darker corners of its catalog -- grinding out impressively aggressive takes on "I Got Id" and "The End" (an unsparing examination of mortality culled from their self-released "Backspacer" album) -- than setting lighters ablaze with standards like "Alive" and "Jeremy," both of which were dutifully loosed here.
Yes, there were nods to the importance of playing the Garden -- a string quartet was summoned for a suite of songs that opened the first encore, a mini-set highlighted by the impressively taut "Lukin" -- but by and large, the band members did their utmost to convince themselves (and the aud) that this was nothing more than an oversized bar gig.
To that end, they reached a zenith of sorts on the passel of covers that peppered the encores. In both a languid take on Victoria Williams' "Crazy Mary" and a spirited version of the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles" (dedicated, of course, to the late Joey Ramone), Pearl Jam shunned the cult of personality and let the music do the talking. And talk, it did.
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any chance you have a link to that??
If there could possibly be a scientific formula for what makes a perfect show, almost every one of those elements were evident at the Garden Friday. Last night of the tour in a famous arena in a big city on weekend night? Check. Exuberant, sold-out crowd? Check. Marathon-length set full of rarities ("Hunger Strike," "Black Red Yellow"), favorites ("Alive," "Black") and great covers ("The Real Me")? Check. Heck, there was even a section of celebrities in the audience (Matt Damon, Michael Moore, John McEnroe) rocking almost as hard as the fans.
The 34-song, two encore break, two-hour-and-forty-five minute set, which included songs from each of the band's nine album repertoire except for 2002's "Riot Act," was notable also for the five incredibly rare b-sides sprinkled into the mix. "Breath," from the 1992 "Singles" soundtrack," nodded to a fan campaign to play that song at PJ's first Garden gigs back in 1998. "Sweet Lew," a tribute to New Yorker Kareem Abdul-Jabar, found bassist Jeff Ament taking the mic as Vedder did backup vocals and dribbled a basketball to the beat. Ben Bridwell, lead singer of opening act Band Of Horses, did Chris Cornell's part proud on the 1991 hit "Hunger Strike" by Pearl Jam/Soundgarden side project Temple Of The Dog.
Pearl Jam's more oft-played originals, old and new, also got a big reaction. The tender "Just Breathe," the current single from 2009's "Backspacer," got just as big a singalong as 1998's "Given To Fly." Vedder put a current events twist on "Daughter" add-on "W.M.A.," singing "white male Arizonian" instead of the usual "American" after saying his piece against the anti-immigrant laws just passed in that state. 1996's 62-second punk whiplash "Lukin," introduced by Vedder as both a new song and another way to skin a cat ("and who is out skinning cats anyway?") was retooled as a heartbreaking ballad.
The band fittingly brought the night to a close, house lights all the way up, with the three-part knock-out of "Alive," a raucous cover of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams," and a "Yellow Ledbetter" finished off by a "Star Spangled Banner" solo from guitarist Mike McCready before the guys lined up in a row and took a bow.
But the emotional center of the night, easily, was that moment during "Better Man." Vedder prefaced the tune by telling a story about his first trip to New York City right after Pearl Jam had formed. He'd caught his reflection in a window with the streetscape behind him and was simply in awe that he had made it to New York. Then, standing on the stage of a sold-out Madison Square Garden almost 20 years later, the whole 19,000 member crowd complete took over the singing, giving it everything they could. You might cry too.
Here is Pearl Jam's May 21, 2010 Madison Square Garden Set List:
Corduroy
Hail, Hail
Do The Evolution
World Wide Suicide
Got Some
Breath
Nothingman
I'm Open
Unthought Known
Grievance
Amongst The Waves
Present Tense
Not For You / Modern Girl
Push Me, Pull Me
Rats
Daughter / W.M.A.
The Fixer
Why Go
1st Encore
The End
Just Breathe
Lukin
Black Red Yellow
Sweet Lew
Given To Fly
Spin The Black Circle
Rearviewmirror
2nd Encore
Wasted Reprise
Better Man / Save it for Later
Black
The Real Me (The Who)
Hunger Strike (with Band Of Horses' Ben Bridwell)
Alive
Kick Out The Jams (MC5)
Yellow Ledbetter"
http://www.billboard.com/#/events/pearl ... tag=hpfeed