*** Noblesville, IN Fanviews Here 8.26.24 ***

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder isn’t too cool to lean into a pun onstage.
Before a sold-out crowd at Ruoff Music Center Monday night, the 59-year-old rock star had a bit of fun with the name of the Hamilton County suburb the amphitheater calls home.
“You look noble, we feel noble, I feel like it’s a night to play distinguished alternative music with complete nobility,” Vedder joked. “Oh, f--- that. Let’s lose our minds.”
And for two and a half hours, Vedder, his bandmates and 25,000 of their fans did just that. Many in the crowd had been anticipating the concert for well over a year; the show was a rescheduled date, as the original Sept. 10, 2023, stop was postponed due to illness just hours before the performance was to begin.
Monday was the second night of my Ruoff doubleheader (I spent a delightful Sunday night there on my own time with New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff). And while I generally would be loathe to do two outdoor shows back-to-back in sweltering summer heat, I knew to expect something special from the grunge rockers from Seattle.
Of all the shows I’ve reviewed this summer, Pearl Jam is perhaps the band with whose discography I was least familiar but they have a reputation for putting on high-quality, high-energy shows. And they certainly lived up to those expectations — and then some.
Here are five of my biggest takeaways from Monday’s Noblesville show.
Before Pearl Jam, there was Glen Hansard
And he was amazing.
The Irish singer-songwriter performed a brief opening set that quickly prompted a text to my best friend to tell them to add him to their playlist. Hansard's music is solid rock that feels more folk influenced than punk or grunge, but it was a perfect prelude for what Pearl Jam had in store. I particularly enjoyed a rousing performance of “When Your Mind’s Made Up,” a song Hansard released with Markéta Irglová for the 2006 film “Once.”
Then again, anyone who knows me will tell you it’s not surprising I adored an opening act with folk vibes and a fiddle player.
Eddie Vedder and crew bring album-quality sound to amphitheater
Not that I was expecting them to sound bad, but I think you’re setting yourself up for failure if you go into a show, especially at an outdoor venue, expecting any artist to sound amazing. Let alone a band that’s been touring for three-plus decades and doing The Absolute Most for every show.
Vedder’s got pipes, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t a single miss in his performance. We’re talking album-quality vocals from someone known for his gritty baritone and who easily could’ve blown out his voice years ago had he been doing it wrong.
For years, I’ve been telling people the best live vocal performance I’ve ever seen was from Chris Stapleton, who I would argue is even better in person than he is on the album. While they’re vastly different performers, after Monday, I think Vedder’s shooting to the top of my list to keep him company.  
The connection between Pearl Jam and fans is undeniable
For the entirety of the show, Vedder had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
In addition to the yearlong wait due to the last-minute rescheduling, Vedder said it had been well over a decade since the band last played the Indy area. So these fans came ready, screaming every syllable from the opening number (“Wash”) to the finale (“Yellow Ledbetter”).
“I’m not placating when I say this is not a normal crowd,” Vedder said as the encore began. “You’ve been extremely, just f---ing awesome. And if you could see what we are up here … just good faces and good energy, it gives you hope and faith in the human race.”
And that love appears to go both ways.
Not only was Vedder responsive to fan requests — including one early in the show from a young kid whose sign said he was allowed to say “the F word” if the band played “Present Tense,” an ask Vedder called “my kinda request” — he dedicated several performances to folks in the Pearl Jam community.
In one touching moment, Vedder appeared to become emotional as he told the crowd about a fan who he said “feels like family,” and is battling some hardships “with courage.” He invited Hansard onstage for a cover of Hansard’s “Song of Good Hope,” with lyrics promising: “You’ll be fine now / Just stay close to me / And may good hope walk with you through everything.”   
Dark Matter World Tour production value makes for an impressive audio-visual experience in-concert
It’s great to have good music and solid performances, but if you can’t see what’s going on, a show can become a bit of a bummer. I’ve been a fan in the lawn at Ruoff and other amphitheaters, relying on an auxiliary screen to help fill out the sensory experience.
I was not in the lawn Monday, but the onscreen content for the show gave me great confidence that the folks out there weren’t missing a single second. At shows like this, you can expect to have a handful of cameras pointed toward the stage, either tracking the artists or pre-set shots. I don’t expect some 10 or so cameras offering a variety of angles and zooms. I’m talking crisp, clear, black and white visuals that looked like a music video but were captured in real time. Cuts from shot to shot to match the tempo and energy of any given song.
From what I saw, there wasn’t a single miscue or shot of dead space onstage. There was only one audio mishap that I clocked and that was when bassist Jeff Ament was shouted out and given a moment to introduce himself, but he seemed to have come unplugged. He was strumming, but we heared nothing. Still, they remedied the situation quickly, jumped into “Dark Matter” and we immediately made forgot anything had gone wrong.
These guys are masters of their craft
Vedder wasn’t the only artist giving a strong performance Monday night. I was consistently impressed by the quality of the musicianship onstage. Matt Cameron (formerly of Soundgarden) on drums, Stone Gossard on guitar, Ament on bass (sporting a Larry Bird shirt!) and Boom Gaspar on keys — all of them brought their A-Game, serving in-your-face punk/grunge rock on a school night.
Guitarist Mike McCready performed a stunning solo during “Even Flow,” generating unbelievable energy within the crowd while remaining cool as a cucumber. It’s pretty much expected that a guitarist will pull a face or two while playing, but what if they just… don’t seem to be fazed at all? That’s exactly what McCready did — from playing with the guitar over his head, behind his back to absolutely shredding, he seemed completely zenned out. I don’t know if it’s because he's that chill or he’s just that badass or both.
For me, a Pearl Jam newbie, to have a show like that be my true intro to the band? The bar’s pretty high now. Monday night may have been my first Pearl Jam show, but it’s hopefully not my last.