Pearl Jam: Live in Concert, Grand Rapids MI 5-19-06

Eddie Vedder looks pretty satisfied at the end of a long night's work. Basking in the adulation of thousands of screaming fans often has that confidence-boosting effect.

Even though it's only May, I think I can reasonably assume that I've seen the best live rock concert that I'll be privileged to witness in 2006. Since I worked the concession stand tonight, I should start by admitting that I pretty much missed the entire first half of the show, but things worked out nicely for me. I didn't have money-counting duties tonight (a fairly deliberate choice on my part, since I usually do) and that lack of extra responsibilities allowed me to check out from behind the counter earlier than usual, which resulted in free access to the long second half of the show (basically, everything that took place past two songs into the first encore - which, for a typical Pearl Jam show, is a lot more music than you might otherwise think!)

But before I get into describing the greatness of the band (and we'll have to see how adequately my words will be able to do that,) I'll say a bit more about the band in general and the night in particular.

Pearl Jam has been on my cultural radar for a number of years. Like most people, I first became aware of them somewhat vaguely during the emergence of the "grunge era" back in the early-mid 90's, when bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden were breaking out of the Seattle scene and injecting some much needed vitality and authenticity into a rock music scene that had become way too focused on show bizness and video-friendly hype. But I hadn't really given them a close listen until I bought the CD of their State College PA show, which I'd heard was PJ's "longest show ever" and for the price, a pretty good sampler of what the group was all about, I figured.

Then I got a chance to see them live on the "Vote for Change" tour in the fall of 2004. I got into that show for free because I had connections to the people who were working the voter registration tables. So I showed up, held clipboards for an hour, then got to walk into the back entry of the DeltaPlex and proceeded to get blown away by a full-force rock band the likes of which I hadn't seen in many years. You can read my impressions of that night here.

Returning to the "grunge era" topic... Not that these new bands were completely unaffected by the commercial aspects of being pop stars. Some embraced that but faded quickly like all other fads. Nirvana's central figure, Kurt Cobain, apparently got overwhelmed and psyched out by the ordeal to the point where he took his own life. And Pearl Jam, well, their story was kind of odd in that they seem to have taken their fame and popularity as more of a curse than a blessing. They strove mightily to remain uncommercial, dismissing any obvious pre-occupation with pumping out radio-friendly hits or broadly accessible albums that went according to the standard rock-n-roll formula. And so they simultaneously prospered (by working with the rules and priorities that they established for themselves) and faltered (by producing albums that contained enough quirkiness and stumbling experimentation to lead to ever-diminishing album sales as fewer habitual CD buyers found reasons to pick up the latest PJ because of the wierd stuff that would have to be skipped over.)

Along the way though, through their battles with TicketMaster (the monopolistic overseer of national-scale touring operations) and other skirmishes with the corporate overlords, PJ found a way to do something increasingly rare in the world of big-time rock bands - maintain a truly indie sensibility even as the band matured, settled into a comfortable routine and most importantly, remained essentially intact over the long haul, an accomplishment remarkably rare among their peer group. They are widely seen as the "last band standing" among the groups that broke out in the 1990's. Who else can you think of that is still making vital new music among that company?

In 2000, the band did something utterly unique and remarkable by releasing every concert they played on their world-wide tour (72 dates in all) on commercially available CDs. This had never been done before, at least by a band of their stature. I consider this to be a remarkable stroke of luck and/or genius on their part, because I think this move contains the key to their longevity and the remarkable connection they've established with their fan base. They basically became emblematic as the one band willing to lay it all out there for the whole world to see, and by doing so, provided a fresh alternative (and a genuine alternative, not "alternative" as a style) to the glut of pre-packaged, micro-managed, overly processed entertainment acts out there competing for consumer dollars.

They repeated this experiment in 2003 with a fresh batch of live CDs from another world tour, but now, with the advent of internet downloads, they have taken their musical distribution to a new level, offering next-day downloads of their concerts to fans from their official website. Of course, a lot of these recordings go on to be distributed "for free" between friends, but I am confident that the band is getting paid handsomely for their willingness to put the tunes out there. And a major reason as to why these concerts are all worth considering for purchase by fans is that they never play the same setlist twice.

So what other major bands does this remind you of? The Grateful Dead come to my mind. Today's Grand Rapids Press review mentioned Phish, but I think the Dead started this thing and deserve credit for establishing the template. PJ are IMO a much harder rocking band than either of the two I just mentioned, so they have a niche unto themselves, but the groove and the moveable feast that their fans have created certainly bear significant similarities. I think that a lot of PJ's fans like the fact that Pearl Jam themselves wear their own hearts on their sleeves when it comes to the bands that they love - notably, the Who, the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, Neil Young and pretty much all the groups that paved the way for PJ's own blend of gnarly thrash and funky-chunky riffing.

The band's attention to some of the rapidly-vanishing touches that characterized the golden age of rock also makes them distinctive in today's environment. They commission artists to create original posters for each concert they perform (which of course become desirable collectors items on a flourishing secondary market.) They load their album packaging with illustrated lyric booklets and won't be caught dead packaging their products in plastic jewel cases, opting instead for paper-based (better for the environment, you know.) They are certainly well-known for being outspoken on political issues, which led them to participate in the 2004 "Vote for Change" tour that sought to mobilize opposition to President Bush's re-election. (Which it did, only there were still too many people who were unable to see through the fog of confusion and deception and still voted for the guy anyway.) And when it comes to the music, they have shown over the course of their career, a discerning, cultivated sense of taste that incorporates elements of all the sub-genres of rock that preceded them - rootsy r'n'b, British invasion pop, heavy metal, pub rock, acoustic folky touches, psychedelia, punk, arena rock and so on. Pearl Jam can sound authentic and skillful in each of these styles, giving their music an eclectic sheen that always keeps things interesting and just a bit unpredictable.

Anyway, enough with the background info on the band. Perhaps you know all this about Pearl Jam, and more - there's plenty more to be said, but you want to know about Friday's show. I'm getting to it.

Let me start by describing the crowd. I've seen a lot of audiences over the past couple years of working these shows at Van Andel Arena, and this group was by far the most likeable, accessible, relatable bunch that I've seen - in other words, these are the people most like myself! The Springsteen audience was pretty cool too, and there are a lot of other crowds that I've enjoyed, but this time, I just saw a lot of folks who were more or less cut out of the same cloth as I am, though I am a few years older (or more) than most. There weren't too many teens there though. It was a mostly 20 - 30 something crew. All white. Mostly working class or lower-tier professionals - not much obvious "dress-up" going on, unlike say, the Metallica, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Van Halen or Def Leppard audiences. I suppose that a Pearl Jam audience has its own "uniform" (mostly jeans and band t-shirts or some other fairly casual, unassuming upper-body wear) but no obvious fashion statements. Other than tattoos. One can see in the picture at the top of this post that the band has the same approach to its wardrobe selection. I took it at the end of the concert. Mike McCready had on some kind of checkered pants, and Jeff Ament's pants were cut a few inches above the ankle, but otherwise, the band could have exchanged clothing with most any member of the audience and no one would have noticed the difference. And the bespectacled-software-engineer look of Stone Gossard really seemed incongruous to my image of hard-rockin' guitarists, but I saw a lot of guys in the audience who had that same "brainy rock aficionado" affect, and I suppose that could be described as my style as well, with or without the goatee.

Another odd anomaly worth mentioning before I get into reviewing the band itself is that a lot of the guys in the arena were suffering a serious conflict of interests, as the Detroit Pistons were playing a crucial Game 6 in their NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Basically, it was "win or go home" for them, and the game was a close nail-biter the whole way. Our concession stand has a TV parked just off to the corner on the outside, and we saw a huge, enthusiastic crowd gather while the opening band (My Morning Jacket) was playing. The drama of the game was such that the crowd remained and even grew after Pearl Jam began playing! Fortunately for the faithful die-hards, the Pistons did win the game, so the 60 or 80 or so who stuck out the game until the buzzer sounded were able to celebrate with a lusty roar, then dash into the arena to fully enjoy the rest of the program. I did marvel at the number of people who paid $60 a ticket to stand in the concourse watching a basketball game on TV, but they paid their money and made their choice and it was certainly a lively, energized scene while it lasted.

OK, now, finally, I get around to describing the show! As I said, I got to watch the show from the middle of the first encore until the end. They opened with a curious choice, "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town," a mid-tempo, wistfully reflective number that didn't exactly light up the place, though it's a cool enough song in its own right. What I heard of the beginning was a pretty solid collection of hits, featuring the first pair of singles from their new CD, "World Wide Suicide" and "Life Wasted." They are both pretty crisp, fluent rockers, probably not all that difficult for these guys to play, but fun and catchy once they get into your head. Other, older tracks like "Even Flow" and "Daughter" found their way into the mix. But since I was pretty busy catering to customers, I'll have to leave it at that.

When they came out for the encore, Eddie Vedder spoke to the crowd about "experimenting" with them, which in PJ parlance indicates that they are going to perform some rarely-played numbers from their back catalog. This wound up producing a fairly quiet, meandering "acoustic set" of tunes that were probably unfamiliar to a significant portion of the crowd who were there mainly to see a famous rock band. However, this is where Pearl Jam's marketing savvy comes into play. You see, Grand Rapids is probably one of, if not the, smallest towns they'll play on the American leg of their tour. So it made for a perfect spot to plug in some obscurities that will no doubt boost the sales of concert downloads for this particular show! If you doubt this, I invite you to check out the comments made by some die-hard fans on the band's message board. These kids (I really hope that none of them are much older than, say, 25 or so) go to some embarrassing extremes to demonstrate their enthusiasm over the mere mention of certain song titles that Pearl Jam has chosen to perform live on stage! Now, did those songs sound so orgasmically terrific to those of us actually sitting there listening to them? Well, I can say for myself that I didn't lose control of any bodily functions, but I did appreciate the band's willingness to take some risks and make the show a unique one. I intended to download the concert in any case, but I imagine a lot of their fans in other areas will give this one serious consideration as well.

The set concluded with a return to form as they trotted out "Crazy Mary" (with Vedder passing his wine bottle to a fan in the front row, who took a few hits off it, then passed it around to others until it was empty, after which, I'm sure some kind of crucial decision was made about who got to keep the bottle.) Then they broke into "Alive" which basically proves to be one of the greatest rock anthems of all time, as 22,000 hands stretched high and 11,000 voices rang out "Oh-oh-oh-oh I'm still alive!" as if their on-going existence had been recently been seriously imperiled. Then it was time for another encore break.

After a few minutes of cheering, during which the unsuspecting working people at the arena realized that the show was still not over, the band came out one more time, and this is when the show kicked up to a new and transcendent level. No, not transcendent - tran-splendent! (Remember that scene in Annie Hall where Shelly Duvall was going on and on about Bob Dylan, and she used that word while Woody Allen rolled his eyes helplessly? Well, this is what she was trying to evoke.) Vedder said that they were done "experimenting" and were going to drive it home now, and that's what they did, with a blazing barrage of fast numbers including "Do the Evolution," "Comatose" (from their new album, which sounds a lot like AC/DC at the beginning,) "Satan's Bed" and "Blood." Finally, they finished with a birthday salute to Pete Townshend by covering the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" and wrapping it all up with their traditional closer "Yellow Ledbetter" which is basically a group sing-along accompanied by McCready's robust guitar-noodling, an emotionally evocative tune with lyrics that don't really say anything but somehow stir the sentiments anyway.

So it was a three hour, 31-song outing. Not too many groups put forth so much effort on a nightly basis. But it does occur to me that Pearl Jam have perfected their skills and have, amazingly enough, arrived at a plateau where they just might have the staying power to keep the rock and roll fires burning for another 15 years or more. Who'da thunk it back when "grunge bands" were just the next phase to come along at a time when it seemed like rock would always be at the heart of contemporary pop music?


"Good night, everyone! We'll see a couple thousand of you all at our next stop in Cleveland tomorrow evening!"