NY Times E.V. Night 2 Review
joebot
Posts: 372
Don't know how to post a link so here it is as a cut and paste. from the front page of the New York Times website. Whattaya think:
Michael Falco for The New York Times
Toward the end of Eddie Vedder’s one-man concert at the United Palace on Tuesday, he gave the crowd something funny-awful, something he knew it would hate: a demonstration track that was factory-programmed into a Boss loop sampler, the digital machine he would use later to layer his vocals. It was an instrumental R&B slow jam — obviously slick and canned compared with the chest-bellow folk-rock Mr. Vedder had been putting forth.
Eddie Vedder performing at the United Palace in Washington Heights, where his songs included many cuts from the recent soundtrack for “Into the Wild.”
He seemed to find it the epitome of insincerity. “Aww, yeah,” he murmured over the sound in an umber bass-baritone, imitating Barry White. “Ohh, baby.” The crowd squealed.
It was comic relief and easy aesthetic demagoguery. (It made me wish Mr. White were still alive, to counter-imitate the buffalo sensitivity of Mr. Vedder.) It also demonstrated the elements that Tuesday’s show, part of Mr. Vedder’s first solo tour, lacked: swing, artifice, lightness, whatever could add some emulsion to two hours of brooding and righteousness. Brooding and righteousness can be very good, and so can folk-rock politics. But backed by Mr. Vedder’s middling, power-strum guitar playing, it was all too much.
After Mr. Vedder’s beginnings with Pearl Jam in the early ’90s, his lyrics moved from sputtering anger to semi-acceptance of fate. The characters in his songs can embrace the void and be amazed by nature, but they aren’t Buddha. They reserve the right to be skittish and moody. “I’ve got my indignation, but I’m pure in all my thoughts,” he sang in “Guaranteed.” It’s a more enlightened variation on beautiful-loserdom, and his voice is right for it — tremulous, patient, with streaks of anger and fear.
“Guaranteed” was one of many songs in this show, the second of two nights at the theater, from his soundtrack to Sean Penn’s film “Into the Wild.” On one, “Hard Sun,” he worked with his opening act, Liam Finn. He also sang some of his contributions to the soundtracks of the Jack Johnson surf film “Brokedown Melody,” Tim Burton’s fantasy “Big Fish” and the antiwar documentary “Body of War.”
His non-Pearl Jam discography is sprinkled all over the place, but to his superfans it is all one entity. They sang along like fire, indulged him when he forgot some lyrics, laughed at his mumbled introductions, cheered when he called out Exxon Mobil.
When he undermined his natural grandiosity, he was at his best. This tended to happen in soundtrack songs so short they didn’t need a bridge (“Guaranteed,” “Goodbye”) and in cover versions. Mr. Vedder has a history of mixing indie-rock diffidence with stadium-rock charisma, and he knows he’s part of a long tradition of American counterculture. So the set included an admirably wide range of covers personal and polemical: songs by Daniel Johnston, John Lennon, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Tom Waits. And he used the folk process to change the words of a Phil Ochs song, firing away at the president, vice president and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. “Here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of,” he sang to each one. “Find yourself another country to be part of.”
Eddie Vedder, with Liam Finn, will perform Thursday at the New Jersey
Michael Falco for The New York Times
Toward the end of Eddie Vedder’s one-man concert at the United Palace on Tuesday, he gave the crowd something funny-awful, something he knew it would hate: a demonstration track that was factory-programmed into a Boss loop sampler, the digital machine he would use later to layer his vocals. It was an instrumental R&B slow jam — obviously slick and canned compared with the chest-bellow folk-rock Mr. Vedder had been putting forth.
Eddie Vedder performing at the United Palace in Washington Heights, where his songs included many cuts from the recent soundtrack for “Into the Wild.”
He seemed to find it the epitome of insincerity. “Aww, yeah,” he murmured over the sound in an umber bass-baritone, imitating Barry White. “Ohh, baby.” The crowd squealed.
It was comic relief and easy aesthetic demagoguery. (It made me wish Mr. White were still alive, to counter-imitate the buffalo sensitivity of Mr. Vedder.) It also demonstrated the elements that Tuesday’s show, part of Mr. Vedder’s first solo tour, lacked: swing, artifice, lightness, whatever could add some emulsion to two hours of brooding and righteousness. Brooding and righteousness can be very good, and so can folk-rock politics. But backed by Mr. Vedder’s middling, power-strum guitar playing, it was all too much.
After Mr. Vedder’s beginnings with Pearl Jam in the early ’90s, his lyrics moved from sputtering anger to semi-acceptance of fate. The characters in his songs can embrace the void and be amazed by nature, but they aren’t Buddha. They reserve the right to be skittish and moody. “I’ve got my indignation, but I’m pure in all my thoughts,” he sang in “Guaranteed.” It’s a more enlightened variation on beautiful-loserdom, and his voice is right for it — tremulous, patient, with streaks of anger and fear.
“Guaranteed” was one of many songs in this show, the second of two nights at the theater, from his soundtrack to Sean Penn’s film “Into the Wild.” On one, “Hard Sun,” he worked with his opening act, Liam Finn. He also sang some of his contributions to the soundtracks of the Jack Johnson surf film “Brokedown Melody,” Tim Burton’s fantasy “Big Fish” and the antiwar documentary “Body of War.”
His non-Pearl Jam discography is sprinkled all over the place, but to his superfans it is all one entity. They sang along like fire, indulged him when he forgot some lyrics, laughed at his mumbled introductions, cheered when he called out Exxon Mobil.
When he undermined his natural grandiosity, he was at his best. This tended to happen in soundtrack songs so short they didn’t need a bridge (“Guaranteed,” “Goodbye”) and in cover versions. Mr. Vedder has a history of mixing indie-rock diffidence with stadium-rock charisma, and he knows he’s part of a long tradition of American counterculture. So the set included an admirably wide range of covers personal and polemical: songs by Daniel Johnston, John Lennon, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Tom Waits. And he used the folk process to change the words of a Phil Ochs song, firing away at the president, vice president and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. “Here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of,” he sang to each one. “Find yourself another country to be part of.”
Eddie Vedder, with Liam Finn, will perform Thursday at the New Jersey
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Comments
Poor bastard.
The Times are actually considered overall as liberal
Maybe if I had his good free seats, I may have thought differently.
More of a mid-line paper nowadays.
Music criticism will always be a sort of taste-centered craft.
I don't think he said anything terrible. Ed's solo show isn't the greatest thing going, and it was brooding and righteous. The only thing I will say is that it's the second leg, not the first stint at it.
You realize this was a concert review, right? It's not SUPPOSED to be "objective." It's SUPPOSED to be personal opinion?
The guy didn't like the show (I don't think ... it's kind of hard to tell). WHo cares?
for the least they could possibly do
You are joking right? Its arguably the most left-leaning (prestigious) publication in the entire country.
This guy needs a life and a clue.
Fair point, but you can't tell me there is not evidence that this guy is bringing preconceived notions to the review. It's obvious he is reading into certain behaviors by Vedder and forming an opinion based on his pre conceived views. Agreed Vedder can be a little righteous, but there was obvious disdain for the fans as well, which is bad critique.
Uh, how can a review be anything but subjective? Isn't that kind of the point of critics? To offer their opinion?
Well maybe he is bringing in preconceived notions to the review - doesn't everyone? Unless they've never heard of Eddie Vedder and are just going to the concert on a whim? And if he doesn't seem to like the fans, well it's not bad critique, it's again just his opinion. You can't be objective about this.