Globe and Mail - Toronto Night 1
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060511.wxpearl11/BNStory/Entertainment/home
After 15 years, still kicking out the jams
ALAN NIESTER
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Pearl Jam
At the Air Canada Centre
In Toronto on Tuesday
Grunge is dead! Long live the Kings of Grunge! When Pearl Jam burst out of the Seattle alternative rock scene in the early nineties, it was one of a handful of ground-breaking acts that included, among others, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Of these so-called Big Four of the movement, Pearl Jam is the sole survivor of the bunch. But even more importantly, it continues to prosper and grow. Fifteen years on, Pearl Jam finds itself not only at the top of the charts again (with its single World Wide Suicide and new album Pearl Jam) but also continues to fill stadiums and hockey arenas with its coterie of ultra-devoted fans. Tuesday night, the Seattle quintet performed the first of two nights at Toronto's Air Canada Centre in front of 20,000 raucous fans, formally launching its first full-scale North American tour since 2003.
Pearl Jam's revitalization may be pinned largely on the fact that the band seems to have made a sharp return to its grunge roots. Tuesday night, it opened its more than two-hour performance with a handful of kick-ass rockers from its new album. Both Severed Hand and World Wide Suicide are similar-sounding but both very aggressive numbers, pushed along by the relentless rhythm section of Jeff Ament and Matt Cameron, and guitar work (from Stone Gossard and Mike McCready) right out of the thrash-metal songbook. Other new songs such as Marker in the Sand and Life Wasted, while slightly tempered, still retained much of that newly rediscovered grunge punch.
As ever, the band's sound revolves around the vocal strengths of singer (and sometime guitarist) Eddie Vedder. While not a technically gifted singer by any means, and a man whose vocal range stretches from rumbling tenor to, well, rumbling tenor, Vedder for the most part gets by on emotion and intensity. With his hair grown out again to early-seventies shoulder length, and a scruffy beard that made him look vaguely messianic, Vedder was as powerful vocally as he has ever been. "Seemed like this side of the border would be a safe place to lift off," Vedder told the crowd early on, capping off a batch of songs from the new album before leading the outfit into a pair of classic favourites, Better Man and Even Flow.
Since this was Pearl Jam and all (a band not given to excess, at least in terms of stagecraft), this was a relatively minimal production. A few lasers flashed out periodically, and the lighting was adequate at best. Seats were sold to the sides and back of the stage, which meant that for a large percentage of the crowd, Vedder's vocals sometimes got lost in a mix that was occasionally muddy. But there was no denying the energy levels emanating from the stage. From the opening crunch of Severed Hand right through to the last notes of the second encore (the band finished, typically with Yellow Ledbetter, which had been preceded by a furious version of Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World), this was one of the most dynamic performances possible, a swirling mix of sound and motion.
Despite the possible fear that this show might be given over too much to the new album, that really wasn't the case. Once the first four songs of the evening were dispatched with (and frankly, they did set the tone for the evening by providing a hefty opening kick), the band only returned there on a few other occasions. Unemployable had a kind of vaguely Bruce Springsteen feel (Vedder introduced the song by noting that many immigrants were leaving the U.S., "returning to Mexico to get the best American jobs") and McCready's Inside Job was sluggish.
All of which meant that the crowd experienced a rich selection of classic Pearl Jam. Daughter, dropped in mid-set, was a crowd sing-along favourite. Jeremy and Alive were anthemic in stature, and saved for the encores. Others, like Corduroy, Not for You and Why Go, were sprinkled throughout for rediscovery.
Since its inception, Pearl Jam has been one of the hardest-working touring bands out there, a fact that explains why it has remained so popular despite albums that have fallen well short of the standards the band set for itself in its early days. But judging from Tuesday's galvanizing performance, fatigue has yet to set in. This was Pearl Jam at its incendiary best, and it's frankly hard to imagine that the performance could have been any better than it was.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060511.wxpearl11/BNStory/Entertainment/home
After 15 years, still kicking out the jams
ALAN NIESTER
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Pearl Jam
At the Air Canada Centre
In Toronto on Tuesday
Grunge is dead! Long live the Kings of Grunge! When Pearl Jam burst out of the Seattle alternative rock scene in the early nineties, it was one of a handful of ground-breaking acts that included, among others, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Of these so-called Big Four of the movement, Pearl Jam is the sole survivor of the bunch. But even more importantly, it continues to prosper and grow. Fifteen years on, Pearl Jam finds itself not only at the top of the charts again (with its single World Wide Suicide and new album Pearl Jam) but also continues to fill stadiums and hockey arenas with its coterie of ultra-devoted fans. Tuesday night, the Seattle quintet performed the first of two nights at Toronto's Air Canada Centre in front of 20,000 raucous fans, formally launching its first full-scale North American tour since 2003.
Pearl Jam's revitalization may be pinned largely on the fact that the band seems to have made a sharp return to its grunge roots. Tuesday night, it opened its more than two-hour performance with a handful of kick-ass rockers from its new album. Both Severed Hand and World Wide Suicide are similar-sounding but both very aggressive numbers, pushed along by the relentless rhythm section of Jeff Ament and Matt Cameron, and guitar work (from Stone Gossard and Mike McCready) right out of the thrash-metal songbook. Other new songs such as Marker in the Sand and Life Wasted, while slightly tempered, still retained much of that newly rediscovered grunge punch.
As ever, the band's sound revolves around the vocal strengths of singer (and sometime guitarist) Eddie Vedder. While not a technically gifted singer by any means, and a man whose vocal range stretches from rumbling tenor to, well, rumbling tenor, Vedder for the most part gets by on emotion and intensity. With his hair grown out again to early-seventies shoulder length, and a scruffy beard that made him look vaguely messianic, Vedder was as powerful vocally as he has ever been. "Seemed like this side of the border would be a safe place to lift off," Vedder told the crowd early on, capping off a batch of songs from the new album before leading the outfit into a pair of classic favourites, Better Man and Even Flow.
Since this was Pearl Jam and all (a band not given to excess, at least in terms of stagecraft), this was a relatively minimal production. A few lasers flashed out periodically, and the lighting was adequate at best. Seats were sold to the sides and back of the stage, which meant that for a large percentage of the crowd, Vedder's vocals sometimes got lost in a mix that was occasionally muddy. But there was no denying the energy levels emanating from the stage. From the opening crunch of Severed Hand right through to the last notes of the second encore (the band finished, typically with Yellow Ledbetter, which had been preceded by a furious version of Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World), this was one of the most dynamic performances possible, a swirling mix of sound and motion.
Despite the possible fear that this show might be given over too much to the new album, that really wasn't the case. Once the first four songs of the evening were dispatched with (and frankly, they did set the tone for the evening by providing a hefty opening kick), the band only returned there on a few other occasions. Unemployable had a kind of vaguely Bruce Springsteen feel (Vedder introduced the song by noting that many immigrants were leaving the U.S., "returning to Mexico to get the best American jobs") and McCready's Inside Job was sluggish.
All of which meant that the crowd experienced a rich selection of classic Pearl Jam. Daughter, dropped in mid-set, was a crowd sing-along favourite. Jeremy and Alive were anthemic in stature, and saved for the encores. Others, like Corduroy, Not for You and Why Go, were sprinkled throughout for rediscovery.
Since its inception, Pearl Jam has been one of the hardest-working touring bands out there, a fact that explains why it has remained so popular despite albums that have fallen well short of the standards the band set for itself in its early days. But judging from Tuesday's galvanizing performance, fatigue has yet to set in. This was Pearl Jam at its incendiary best, and it's frankly hard to imagine that the performance could have been any better than it was.
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