Amazing song! Love the way Ed sing this one and the guitar solo at the end, WOW!
1996: Paris/2006: Paris/2007: Werchter/2010:Werchter/2012: Amsterdam 1 and Werchter/2014: Amsterdam 1&2 and Werchter/2018: Amsterdam 1&2 and Werchter/2022: Werchter and Amsterdam 2
Pittsburgh 1998 • Pittsburgh 2006 • 2012 Isle Of Wight Festival • 2012 Made In America Festival • Baltimore 2013 • Seattle 2013 St. Paul 2014 • Mexico City 2015 • Philadelphia II 2016 • Ottawa 2016 • Amsterdam I & II 2018 • Wrigley Field II 2018 • Phoenix 2022 Apollo Theater 2022 • Chicago I 2023
The
first time I really heard Waiting for Stevie I cried. I was overwhelmed.
It felt like a miracle, a religious experience that cannot possibly be
explained unless you felt it too, and in that case no explanation is really
needed. But I’ll try.
Ten is the album that
made Pearl Jam famous. It is the sound of Eddie Vedder. The true Eddie Vedder. The
one spawned a million imitators, none of whom could come within a thousand miles
of capturing the magic that was so uniquely his. It was an album full of songs
that shouted from mountaintops, that stretched out into space, that felt not
only powerful, but infinite. They were less songs than they were commandments, a
message from the Gods carved into stone that contained within them the secrets
of the universe. That was how it felt to fall in love, truly in love, with Pearl
Jam in that era. To open yourself up, let them in, and then seal yourself
around them so that you might always carry them with you.
And
then, almost immediately, it was over, the band making a self-conscious choice
to not write songs like that. Eddie making a self-conscious choice not to sound
like that. Although there were some lingering echoes on Vs., by Vitalogy
they were gone. Never to return. A new Pearl Jam was born. And it was the band
I would spend the rest of my life with, that I would love with all my heart,
that would go on to make the music that soundtracked the rest of my life. With
every album their sound changed. And with every album Eddie changed. And I
changed with them. There were albums and songs I adored. Some even more than Ten.
There were albums and songs that were exactly what I needed at that moment.
There were albums and songs that unfolded over time, or that would be set aside
to be picked up later, when I was finally ready to receive them. But there has always been a part of me that
felt cheated. I didn’t need every album to be Ten. I didn’t WANT every
album to be Ten. But THAT version of the band, I wasn’t done with them.
I wasn’t ready to be done with them. But it didn’t matter. They were gone. And
they were never coming back.
I
had read the early reviews of Dark Matter. I heard that Waiting for
Stevie called to mind that 1992 Ten/Singles era of the band. But that was thirty-two years ago. The people
who made that music were not the same. I was not the same. That alchemy of
place and time and openness and need and moment was gone.
And
so, I was not ready for this song. For what it meant. For where it took
me. It was the fulfillment of a desperate
promise I never knew was made. It was the exhalation of a breath I had been
holding for thirty years.
The
huge riff. The thick base. The drum roll.
And then Eddie releases that glorious opening lyric, and his voice lifts
off into those heights only he can command. And I am somewhere other than here.
It’s not that it was unexpected. It’s that it was impossible. This was a song I
would never hear. This was a song that could not exist. And somehow, somehow, now
it does.
Waiting
for Stevie
does not sound like it belongs to Ten. It belongs to Dark Matter.
It is still very much of this moment. But it captures, it evokes, it embodies
everything that I felt back then and have been unconsciously chasing ever since.
What Pearl Jam was. What Pearl Jam could be. What Pearl Jam is. Somehow in that moment, I was simultaneously
the person I am at forty-seven, having lived a life I would not change, and sixteen
once again, with an entire future in front of me, a world where anything and everything
is still possible. I have never felt anything like it and must assume I never
will again. But there are echoes of memory I will cherish every time they drift
into focus. It was indescribable. What I
wrote here is not enough. It was just a
song. But somehow it was everything.
You
either experienced this or you did not. If you did not, you cannot understand.
If you did, you know.
Waiting
For Stevie Part II: the song
Pearl
Jam has many, many, many incredible songs. But there is a small cohort I think
of as mission statements. These are not necessarily
their best songs (though I think they are). These are the songs that, within the span of
their runtime, encapsulate the entirety of what Pearl Jam is. Not their sound, but
their purpose, their essence, their transformative potential. If someone asked
you to explain Pearl Jam these are the songs you would pick. Alive. Breath. Rearview Mirror. Corduroy.
Given to Fly. That’s really it. And
now Waiting for Stevie. Twenty-six years after Given to Fly. Should be impossible. But here we are.
There
is something of a frame story, but like Alive it’s important for what it
evokes, rather than any narrative. It’s about a young girl, plagued by anxiety,
self-doubt, uncertainty, who loses herself in music and in doing so finds
herself. But really, it’s about legitimating your fears. Sharing them. Understanding that even if you
experience them alone, the experience of them is shared, and that you are not
alone. You have value. You have worth. You have power and voice. And you will,
in time, discover them. Just hold on.
One
of Eddie’s primary strengths, probably THE primary strength he has as a
lyricist (and lyrics as the fusion of word and voice) is his ability to take
simple declarative statements and invest them with the force of primal truths.
They ring of prophecy, and at their best they feel powerful enough to reshape
reality around them. And Waiting for
Stevie begins with what is both my favorite lyric on the album and its most
important
You
can be loved by everyone, and not feel, not feel loved.
This
is not only a perfect encapsulation of the experience of adolescence, it’s NOT
a feeling we outgrow. This stays with us, always. This kind of uncertainty is
not an adolescent experience. It is a human one. It is then. It is now. It is
eternal.
The
moment is followed with “you can be told by everyone, and not hear a word from
above.” The same doubt. The same
imposter syndrome. The truths we are told that we cannot experience, that we
cannot feel. And the powerlessness that follows. This is who we are. All of us.
We
look for fonts of meaning. To validate us. To empower us. To help us feel, for
just those fleeting moments, like the people we wish we were. Could be. Are. And in Waiting for Stevie, and Dark
Matter, and Pearl Jam, we find this in their music.
Swallowed
up by the sound
Cutting
holes in the clouds
Finds
herself in the song
Hears
her own voice rising
The imagery of
music as something celestial, something that descends upon us, and in the
process lifts us up. “Finds herself in
the song. Hears her own voice rising.”
It’s not just the empowerment in that moment. It’s the connection. It’s
the ascendence she achieved for herself, through what she felt in the music, and
the people who made it, and the ones who share her love of it. As each person
lifts their own voice they carry others with them. It is a collective act of
self-creation. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been to a Pearl Jam
concert. You understand exactly what her experience is. It’s yours.
Later,
You can relate,
but still can’t stop
Or conquer the
fear you are what you’re not.
The self-defeating,
cyclical fear that you are less than. That you are diminished. That best part
of yourself is a lie, rather than the core of who you are. And again, delivered with such iron clad conviction,
soaring out into infinity, and sweeping up all of us along the way. This is her song and story. This is our song and story.
Other lyrics
explore similar dynamics. The fear that
you are less than your potential, your value, your worth. The need to love, to
trust, to have something to give and to know that it will be received, and that
it will matter. It’s Eddie’s most emotionally resonant lyric coupled with his
most powerful performance in a long, long time.
But everyone is
incredible. This only works because Jeff’s
foundation is so stable, because Mike and Stone’s guitars are huge enough to carry
the sentiment, because Matt has the strength to power it forward. Eddie’s voice
can only soar because the band provides the lift.
The song structure
is unconventional. Almost entirely a hybrid bridge/chorus. There is a ghost of
a bridge before Waiting for Stevie essentially resets for a second half
that gets overtaken by a massive Mike McCready solo. It is a messy transition,
and it takes a few seconds for the song to realign to what Mike is playing. But
it works because it is so obviously swept up in that perfect moment. It is authentic.
It is real. It poured out of him, not as an act of craft, but of necessity. The emotional punctuation of an already overloaded
emotional experience. And as this is happening Eddie’s mantra flows out and embeds
itself underneath.
You can be loved.
You can be love.
First, the
assurance that you are not alone. And second,
that what you have to give is so much more than you know.
Dark Matter feels like a live album, and Waiting for Stevie
is a perfect distillation of what is transcendent about Pearl Jam’s live
experience. It is the first time Pearl Jam has written a song that you could plausibly
imagine replacing Alive to close in a set. It is everything. It is the
first time you fist bumped during Alive’s solo. It is the first time you
closed your eyes as Eddie sang the opening notes of Release. It is your
first ‘it’s okay’ Daughter tag. Your first Betterman sing along. The
first time you screamed ‘Hello’. The first time you heard Given to Fly
accelerate. The first time you lost yourself in a Rearviewmirror jam. The
first time you sang along during the climax of Black. A lived experience. A shared experience. A
perfect experience.
The heart of Waiting
for Stevie is the heart of Dark Matter, and the heart of Pearl Jam.
The elemental reciprocity of love.
Interlude
There is a beautiful interlude that follows Waiting for Stevie. A
badly needed moment to take a breath as Eddie sings “Be mighty. Be humble. Be
mighty humble.” A reflection on the power and privilege and responsibility of
having a voice and having the opportunity to share it.
Jesus. Thank you for this. I got goosebumps just reading it in black and white. Now do the other 10 songs please!
Agreed! Absolutely mesmerizing write up. Well done and spot on
5/3/92 Omaha, NE
6/19/95 Red Rocks
9/11/98 MSG
11/19/12 EV solo Tulsa
7/19/13 Wrigley 10/19/13 Brooklyn 2 10/21/13 Philly 1 10/22/13 Philly 2 10/25/13 Hartford
10/08/14 Tulsa 10/09/14 Lincoln
9/26/15 New York City
4/16/16 Greenville 4/28/16 Philly 1 4/29/16 Philly 2 5/1/16 MSG 1 5/2/16 MSG 2 8/7/16 Fenway 2 8/20/16 Wrigley 1 4/7/17 RRHOF New York City 9/02/18 Fenway 1 9/04/2018 Fenway 2 9/18/21 Asbury Park 9/11/22 New York City 9/14/22 Camden
The
first time I really heard Waiting for Stevie I cried. I was overwhelmed.
It felt like a miracle, a religious experience that cannot possibly be
explained unless you felt it too, and in that case no explanation is really
needed. But I’ll try.
Ten is the album that
made Pearl Jam famous. It is the sound of Eddie Vedder. The true Eddie Vedder. The
one spawned a million imitators, none of whom could come within a thousand miles
of capturing the magic that was so uniquely his. It was an album full of songs
that shouted from mountaintops, that stretched out into space, that felt not
only powerful, but infinite. They were less songs than they were commandments, a
message from the Gods carved into stone that contained within them the secrets
of the universe. That was how it felt to fall in love, truly in love, with Pearl
Jam in that era. To open yourself up, let them in, and then seal yourself
around them so that you might always carry them with you.
And
then, almost immediately, it was over, the band making a self-conscious choice
to not write songs like that. Eddie making a self-conscious choice not to sound
like that. Although there were some lingering echoes on Vs., by Vitalogy
they were gone. Never to return. A new Pearl Jam was born. And it was the band
I would spend the rest of my life with, that I would love with all my heart,
that would go on to make the music that soundtracked the rest of my life. With
every album their sound changed. And with every album Eddie changed. And I
changed with them. There were albums and songs I adored. Some even more than Ten.
There were albums and songs that were exactly what I needed at that moment.
There were albums and songs that unfolded over time, or that would be set aside
to be picked up later, when I was finally ready to receive them. But there has always been a part of me that
felt cheated. I didn’t need every album to be Ten. I didn’t WANT every
album to be Ten. But THAT version of the band, I wasn’t done with them.
I wasn’t ready to be done with them. But it didn’t matter. They were gone. And
they were never coming back.
I
had read the early reviews of Dark Matter. I heard that Waiting for
Stevie called to mind that 1992 Ten/Singles era of the band. But that was thirty-two years ago. The people
who made that music were not the same. I was not the same. That alchemy of
place and time and openness and need and moment was gone.
And
so, I was not ready for this song. For what it meant. For where it took
me. It was the fulfillment of a desperate
promise I never knew was made. It was the exhalation of a breath I had been
holding for thirty years.
The
huge riff. The thick base. The drum roll.
And then Eddie releases that glorious opening lyric, and his voice lifts
off into those heights only he can command. And I am somewhere other than here.
It’s not that it was unexpected. It’s that it was impossible. This was a song I
would never hear. This was a song that could not exist. And somehow, somehow, now
it does.
Waiting
for Stevie
does not sound like it belongs to Ten. It belongs to Dark Matter.
It is still very much of this moment. But it captures, it evokes, it embodies
everything that I felt back then and have been unconsciously chasing ever since.
What Pearl Jam was. What Pearl Jam could be. What Pearl Jam is. Somehow in that moment, I was simultaneously
the person I am at forty-seven, having lived a life I would not change, and sixteen
once again, with an entire future in front of me, a world where anything and everything
is still possible. I have never felt anything like it and must assume I never
will again. But there are echoes of memory I will cherish every time they drift
into focus. It was indescribable. What I
wrote here is not enough. It was just a
song. But somehow it was everything.
You
either experienced this or you did not. If you did not, you cannot understand.
If you did, you know.
Waiting
For Stevie Part II: the song
Pearl
Jam has many, many, many incredible songs. But there is a small cohort I think
of as mission statements. These are not necessarily
their best songs (though I think they are). These are the songs that, within the span of
their runtime, encapsulate the entirety of what Pearl Jam is. Not their sound, but
their purpose, their essence, their transformative potential. If someone asked
you to explain Pearl Jam these are the songs you would pick. Alive. Breath. Rearview Mirror. Corduroy.
Given to Fly. That’s really it. And
now Waiting for Stevie. Twenty-six years after Given to Fly. Should be impossible. But here we are.
There
is something of a frame story, but like Alive it’s important for what it
evokes, rather than any narrative. It’s about a young girl, plagued by anxiety,
self-doubt, uncertainty, who loses herself in music and in doing so finds
herself. But really, it’s about legitimating your fears. Sharing them. Understanding that even if you
experience them alone, the experience of them is shared, and that you are not
alone. You have value. You have worth. You have power and voice. And you will,
in time, discover them. Just hold on.
One
of Eddie’s primary strengths, probably THE primary strength he has as a
lyricist (and lyrics as the fusion of word and voice) is his ability to take
simple declarative statements and invest them with the force of primal truths.
They ring of prophecy, and at their best they feel powerful enough to reshape
reality around them. And Waiting for
Stevie begins with what is both my favorite lyric on the album and its most
important
You
can be loved by everyone, and not feel, not feel loved.
This
is not only a perfect encapsulation of the experience of adolescence, it’s NOT
a feeling we outgrow. This stays with us, always. This kind of uncertainty is
not an adolescent experience. It is a human one. It is then. It is now. It is
eternal.
The
moment is followed with “you can be told by everyone, and not hear a word from
above.” The same doubt. The same
imposter syndrome. The truths we are told that we cannot experience, that we
cannot feel. And the powerlessness that follows. This is who we are. All of us.
We
look for fonts of meaning. To validate us. To empower us. To help us feel, for
just those fleeting moments, like the people we wish we were. Could be. Are. And in Waiting for Stevie, and Dark
Matter, and Pearl Jam, we find this in their music.
Swallowed
up by the sound
Cutting
holes in the clouds
Finds
herself in the song
Hears
her own voice rising
The imagery of
music as something celestial, something that descends upon us, and in the
process lifts us up. “Finds herself in
the song. Hears her own voice rising.”
It’s not just the empowerment in that moment. It’s the connection. It’s
the ascendence she achieved for herself, through what she felt in the music, and
the people who made it, and the ones who share her love of it. As each person
lifts their own voice they carry others with them. It is a collective act of
self-creation. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been to a Pearl Jam
concert. You understand exactly what her experience is. It’s yours.
Later,
You can relate,
but still can’t stop
Or conquer the
fear you are what you’re not.
The self-defeating,
cyclical fear that you are less than. That you are diminished. That best part
of yourself is a lie, rather than the core of who you are. And again, delivered with such iron clad conviction,
soaring out into infinity, and sweeping up all of us along the way. This is her song and story. This is our song and story.
Other lyrics
explore similar dynamics. The fear that
you are less than your potential, your value, your worth. The need to love, to
trust, to have something to give and to know that it will be received, and that
it will matter. It’s Eddie’s most emotionally resonant lyric coupled with his
most powerful performance in a long, long time.
But everyone is
incredible. This only works because Jeff’s
foundation is so stable, because Mike and Stone’s guitars are huge enough to carry
the sentiment, because Matt has the strength to power it forward. Eddie’s voice
can only soar because the band provides the lift.
The song structure
is unconventional. Almost entirely a hybrid bridge/chorus. There is a ghost of
a bridge before Waiting for Stevie essentially resets for a second half
that gets overtaken by a massive Mike McCready solo. It is a messy transition,
and it takes a few seconds for the song to realign to what Mike is playing. But
it works because it is so obviously swept up in that perfect moment. It is authentic.
It is real. It poured out of him, not as an act of craft, but of necessity. The emotional punctuation of an already overloaded
emotional experience. And as this is happening Eddie’s mantra flows out and embeds
itself underneath.
You can be loved.
You can be love.
First, the
assurance that you are not alone. And second,
that what you have to give is so much more than you know.
Dark Matter feels like a live album, and Waiting for Stevie
is a perfect distillation of what is transcendent about Pearl Jam’s live
experience. It is the first time Pearl Jam has written a song that you could plausibly
imagine replacing Alive to close in a set. It is everything. It is the
first time you fist bumped during Alive’s solo. It is the first time you
closed your eyes as Eddie sang the opening notes of Release. It is your
first ‘it’s okay’ Daughter tag. Your first Betterman sing along. The
first time you screamed ‘Hello’. The first time you heard Given to Fly
accelerate. The first time you lost yourself in a Rearviewmirror jam. The
first time you sang along during the climax of Black. A lived experience. A shared experience. A
perfect experience.
The heart of Waiting
for Stevie is the heart of Dark Matter, and the heart of Pearl Jam.
The elemental reciprocity of love.
Interlude
There is a beautiful interlude that follows Waiting for Stevie. A
badly needed moment to take a breath as Eddie sings “Be mighty. Be humble. Be
mighty humble.” A reflection on the power and privilege and responsibility of
having a voice and having the opportunity to share it.
Jesus. Thank you for this. I got goosebumps just reading it in black and white. Now do the other 10 songs please!
Agreed! Absolutely mesmerizing write up. Well done and spot on
thank you. i have probably heard this like 30 times in 3 days and am still floored with each listen. liquid catharsis
Just here choosing violence, I was all on this song as the best or one of my favs from this album until my PJ loving 10C membership holding girlfriend in our “which song is best” battle immediately pointed out the Maggie Rogers - That’s Where I Am similarity and now I can’t shake it and am getting Dani California/Mary Jane’s Last dance vibes.
if you haven’t checked out that Maggie Rogers song, go check it out, friggin similarities all over the place.
McCready installing ‘War Pigs’ into the face melting solo at the end would be absolutely fitting (and long overdue) into the live shows!
Post edited by Coshie on
Melbourne - 1998-2003-2006-2009-2014 Eddie Vedder Solo Melbourne - 2011-2014 Seattle 1 & 2 2018 Missoula 2018 Baltimore, New York 2020 😭 EV & Earthlings New York 1 & 2 - 2022 EV & Earthlings New Jersey - 2022
My favourite PJ song for a long time, gives me goosebumps. Hope they play this in Manchester - I think all these Dark Matter songs are going to sound epic and massive live! 😁
Dublin, Reading 06 London, Copenhagen 07 MSG 08 SBE, Manchester, London 09 Dublin, Belfast, London 10
I've heard people identify the appeal of this song as nostalgia, and I don't think that fully gets at it. Waiting for Stevie didn't just remind me of an older era in a
sentimental way. It wasn't even the familiarity of it. These things are
present, but they are only part of the story (in the same way that just
focusing on a 90s sounding riff is reductive). What I think this song
did so incredibly well, that makes it so singular for me, was that it
evoked and conjured those feelings (which i did not expect to feel
again) but ALSO situated them in the present. It was that bridge between
past and present it built so well that, at least for me was so
powerful. The way it brought those pieces of my life into co-existence
with each other. The live experience of some of these songs can produce
that live, in the moment, but it lives in that singular moment. I can
only take the memory with me. Not the actual experience. Now I can. What
a gift.
Eddie is writing from inside the
headspace of the young woman in the song, but he is writing from a
place of understanding born of experience. He knows exactly what she
fears, what she struggles with, and above all, what she is searching
for, because that was once exactly who he was. He made it through, but
did not forget, and is grateful for the chance to guide her/the listener
through their journey - both legitimating her experience and promising a
way forward. It's in the lyrics, the music, the performance. Everyone
plays their part perfectly, and then pushes beyond. This is not just
composition. There is a passion in the entire performance, a willing to
be open and vulnerable and channel everything they have that appears in
moments throughout Dark Matter (it's a great record) but is present in
every second of this song. This song starts at the moment another song would peak, and somehow sustains it for almost 5 minutes. And there is NO
pearl jam song that does that. Even if other songs have bigger and more
emotional highs (and they do), none last this long.
Part of me thinks of Release- not the song itself, but the lyrical/thematic
content. The feeling of hope and possibility in Waiting for Stevie is
what the subject of Release is asking for. That feeling of oneness, the
understanding of pain and inadequacy and desperate need for a home and
community that understands. It's like Waiting for Stevie is reaching
back to guide the subject of Release here.
But probably the
better, simpler example is in Breath, the song where (musically) Waiting
for Stevie finds its roots. Probably my favorite Pearl Jam lyric of all time is in the bridge
"If I knew where it was I would take you there. There's much more than this."
Waiting
for Stevie is the fulfillment of that promise. It's sung by someone who
found it, and is trying to show those still those still looking how to
find the way.
But Watt also played an active role in inspiring Dark Matter's
standout track Waiting For Stevie. A song that echoes Pearl Jam's
younger days sonically and in Vedder's emotional reach, while also
recalling Soundgarden's hypnotic mid-tempo songs like Mind Riot but also the day Watt and singer Vedder were waiting for Stevie Wonder
to turn up to play harmonica on a song called Try from the Pearl Jam
singer's 2022 solo album, Earthling, that Watt also produced.
"We were sitting around
with guitars and waiting, and I said, I have this idea, check it out,"
remembers Watt of the riff. [Eddie] says, 'That is so fucking weird,
because I’ve had this riff for literally years — since albums and albums
and albums and albums ago'. He showed it to me, and it was almost
exactly the same. So, they both kind of melded into each other.
"We
presented that to everyone in the first week, and they all wrote their
parts and how the sections would move. It really only became a thing
because the thing I showed Ed reminded him of something he’d written
that was very similar. The drums on that song are fucking biblical to
me. The Matt Cameron dirge! Matt is a pretty stoic guy [and was also Soundgarden's drummer]. He’s like Charlie Watts
or something. I was screaming, go harder! Come on! It was like I was at
one of their shows or something. At some point, he just had to laugh."
Comments
sorry, screwed up the post. other somgs are there
?
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Wayne Rooney is my all time favorite player.
1996: Paris/2006: Paris/2007: Werchter/2010: Werchter/2012: Amsterdam 1 and Werchter/2014: Amsterdam 1&2 and Werchter/2018: Amsterdam 1&2 and Werchter/2022: Werchter and Amsterdam 2
EV: 2012: Amsterdam/2017: Antwerpen/2019: Bruxelles
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
St. Paul 2014 • Mexico City 2015 • Philadelphia II 2016 • Ottawa 2016 • Amsterdam I & II 2018 • Wrigley Field II 2018 • Phoenix 2022
Apollo Theater 2022 • Chicago I 2023
6/19/95 Red Rocks
9/11/98 MSG
11/19/12 EV solo Tulsa
7/19/13 Wrigley 10/19/13 Brooklyn 2 10/21/13 Philly 1 10/22/13 Philly 2 10/25/13 Hartford
10/08/14 Tulsa 10/09/14 Lincoln
9/26/15 New York City
4/16/16 Greenville 4/28/16 Philly 1 4/29/16 Philly 2 5/1/16 MSG 1 5/2/16 MSG 2 8/7/16 Fenway 2 8/20/16 Wrigley 1
4/7/17 RRHOF New York City
9/02/18 Fenway 1 9/04/2018 Fenway 2
9/18/21 Asbury Park
9/11/22 New York City
9/14/22 Camden
Has to be the next single.
if you haven’t checked out that Maggie Rogers song, go check it out, friggin similarities all over the place.
Eddie Vedder Solo Melbourne - 2011-2014
Seattle 1 & 2 2018
Missoula 2018
Baltimore, New York 2020 😭
EV & Earthlings New York 1 & 2 - 2022
EV & Earthlings New Jersey - 2022
Ah, yes please!
London, Copenhagen 07
MSG 08
SBE, Manchester, London 09
Dublin, Belfast, London 10
Part of me thinks of Release- not the song itself, but the lyrical/thematic content. The feeling of hope and possibility in Waiting for Stevie is what the subject of Release is asking for. That feeling of oneness, the understanding of pain and inadequacy and desperate need for a home and community that understands. It's like Waiting for Stevie is reaching back to guide the subject of Release here.
But probably the better, simpler example is in Breath, the song where (musically) Waiting for Stevie finds its roots. Probably my favorite Pearl Jam lyric of all time is in the bridge
"If I knew where it was I would take you there.
There's much more than this."
Waiting for Stevie is the fulfillment of that promise. It's sung by someone who found it, and is trying to show those still those still looking how to find the way.
But Watt also played an active role in inspiring Dark Matter's standout track Waiting For Stevie. A song that echoes Pearl Jam's younger days sonically and in Vedder's emotional reach, while also recalling Soundgarden's hypnotic mid-tempo songs like Mind Riot but also the day Watt and singer Vedder were waiting for Stevie Wonder to turn up to play harmonica on a song called Try from the Pearl Jam singer's 2022 solo album, Earthling, that Watt also produced.
"We were sitting around with guitars and waiting, and I said, I have this idea, check it out," remembers Watt of the riff. [Eddie] says, 'That is so fucking weird, because I’ve had this riff for literally years — since albums and albums and albums and albums ago'. He showed it to me, and it was almost exactly the same. So, they both kind of melded into each other.
"We presented that to everyone in the first week, and they all wrote their parts and how the sections would move. It really only became a thing because the thing I showed Ed reminded him of something he’d written that was very similar. The drums on that song are fucking biblical to me. The Matt Cameron dirge! Matt is a pretty stoic guy [and was also Soundgarden's drummer]. He’s like Charlie Watts or something. I was screaming, go harder! Come on! It was like I was at one of their shows or something. At some point, he just had to laugh."
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -