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Eddie Vedder: April 12, 2008
Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
support: Liam Finn
Main Set:
Walking The Cow (Daniel Johnston cover)
Around the Bend
I Am Mine
Dead Man
I'm Open (Pearl
Jam cover)
Masters of War (Bob Dylan cover)
Man of the Hour
Setting Forth
Guaranteed
No Ceiling
Far Behind
Rise
Millworker (James Taylor
cover)
Soon Forget
Broken
Hearted
Driftin'
You've Got
To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles cover)
Trouble (Cat
Stevens cover)
If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (Cat Stevens
cover)
I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover)
Forever Young (Bob Dylan cover)
Porch
Encore 1:
Society (Jerry Hannan cover) (w/ Liam Finn)
Throw
Your Arms Around Me (Hunters & Collectors cover) (w/ Liam Finn)
No More
Arc
Encore 2:
Growin' Up
(Bruce Springsteen cover)
Lukin
Hard Sun (Indio cover) (w/ Liam Finn and Eliza Jane Barnes)
Notes: This is what I wrote from the computer in my hotel's lobby
about an hour after the show ended:
The show was fantastic! When I've seen Liam Finn solo before, he's
really been solo. But this year he's added Eliza Jane Barnes to his live
performance and I just love what she adds to the sound. Beautiful
harmonies, fun banter, more instrumentation and loops. It was a very
enjoyable set and warmly received by the audience. It's rare that I ever
have much interest in the opening acts, but tonight was an exception.
Of course there were the usual drunk idiots and excessive talkers (DIE
DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE AND SHUT UP MOTHERFUCKERS! I AM HERE TO LISTEN TO
THE PERFORMERS ONSTAGE, NOT YOU OR YOUR CELL PHONE CONVERSATIONS!) but
the worst guy, two seats down from me, left before the second encore of
Eddie's set, so I got to experience "Hard Sun" not only without his
asinine commentary, but without his body taking up space in our row. The
crowd finally stood on their feet for the duration of the song, by far
my favorite on the Into The Wild soundtrack, and it was truly the
perfect closer to the evening. It was everything I had hoped it would
be.
I am so, so, SO glad I followed my impulses instead of my play-it-safe
side and decided to come down for this show. I think I've quite
obnoxiously fallen a little bit in love with Eddie Vedder again. ;-)
This is a longer review I wrote in my online journal a few days later:
I almost didn't go to this show. When I first heard about it back in
February, it sounded perfect: a show on a Saturday less than four hours
drive from home? Perfect! With Liam Finn as the special guest? Super
cool! I've been wanting to see him again since the Crowded House tour
last year, but none of his shows in California have worked out for me.
It's so rare that I have much interest in the opening band of just about
any show I see, but this time I wanted to see the opener almost as much
as the headliner. I was so happy for Liam to land that gig, getting
increased exposure and playing to an audience that is probably more open
to his sound than a Crowded House audience. And this is taking place at
a small, beautiful venue where I've long wanted to see a show? Even
better! Sign me up, I am so there!
But I tried to get tickets during two pre-sales (Pearl Jam fanclub and
KROQ) and the Ticketmaster general public sale, and all three times, I
was shut out. I was disappointed, but accepting of it. I wasn't sure how
Eddie solo would be for an entire show. Would he play a short set? Would
he be sloppy? Would I get bored of just one guy and his instrument for
an hour and a half or more? I've said it before: I'm just much more a
fan of BANDS than solo artists and I get uncomfortable with how much
attention and adulation Eddie gets in comparison to the other members of
Pearl Jam. The man's talented, no doubt, but I hate how people put him
on a pedestal. Once I had Crowded House and Pearl Jam shows to add to my
concert calendar, it made me okay with the fact that I was missing
Eddie's solo tour.
Well, the tour started two weeks ago and reports of the shows and
setlists started coming in. He was playing a lot of stuff from the
Into the Wild soundtrack, which I am totally in love with. The
story of the movie has really moved me. I would never do what
Christopher McCandless did, but I can understand why he did it, and a
small part of me wishes I could, too. The life I live is different from
his, but I relate to certain elements of who he was. I was pleasantly
surprised by the soundtrack that Eddie put together for the film. I
deliberately did not listen to it when it first came out, choosing
instead to wait until I saw the movie so I could hear the songs for the
first time in the context they were written and recorded for. Well, it
was better than I expected. It rejuvenated my affection for his voice
and the theme of the songs really resonated with me. (I'd actually
gotten a little turned off to him while I was listening to so much Neil
Finn, because Eddie would sound like he was either trying too hard, or
pushing to sing too fast and not holding long, powerful notes like I
love him to do. Neil's voice has been so much more soothing and
enjoyable for me to listen to. But Into the Wild has made me an
Eddie fan again. It gets a lot of play at home and in the car, and my
Pearl Jam bootlegs are coming out of retirement, as well.)
Of course you can't go to every show you want to, unless you happen to
be job-free and in possession of a bottomless pit of money and no
relationships or family to tend to. I have to make choices about what
things I can and cannot afford to do. Sometimes I consider going to a
show and decide against it. After the fact, I'm either comfortable with
my decision (like not going to see U2 in Portland or Hawaii), or I kick
myself for not making more of an effort to get to the show (like Pearl
Jam in Santa Barbara in 2006). About a week ago I started to wonder if
this mini tour that Eddie was doing would be one of those things I would
deeply regret missing. He's only doing 10 dates on the west coast, and
fans all over the world have been desperate to go. Would I be a fool,
living less than 225 miles away from multiple gigs and NOT try to see at
least one show?
So, last Monday or Tuesday I started looking for tickets. People were
asking for INSANE prices on ebay, craigslist, and all of the ticket
broker sites. Like over $600 for the first row of the balcony! My first
instinct: forget it, this will be impossible. There is no way I would
ever consider paying that much money for a show, nor could I afford to!
I was checking Ticketmaster and craigslist continuously throughout the
day, every day, but nothing ever came up. One of my Pearl Jam buddies
told me that she and a friend would be lining up at the box office on
Saturday to see if they released any tickets, so I decided to join her.
I booked a hotel room nearby and drove down to LA Saturday afternoon.
I'd been told that the show that night was one of the toughest ones to
find tickets for, and people predicted that the day-of tickets might be
extremely limited due to a large number of Eddie's friends and family in
Southern California. I knew competition would be stiff and I mentally
prepared myself for the possibility that I may not get in.
But they released a fair number of tickets, and my friend from San
Diego, ahead of me in line by about twenty people, got an extra ticket
for me. My gratitude and relief were off the charts. I ended up with a
fairly decent seat. It was row O in the orchestra, located underneath
the mezzanine, but fairly well-centered three rows behind the
soundboard. The position of my seat was good, and I could see the stage
well between the heads in front of me.
Of course there were all of the usual annoyances you will find at most
shows: annoying drunks, people who talk through the opener –and even the
headliner, random attention-whore idiots shouting out song titles or
asinine comments. I hope "Footsteps" guy never ever gets to hear that
song live for the rest of his life. People stayed seated for most of the
show, which was fine since it was mellow music. But remaining seated for
"Porch" was really difficult for me, since that's my #1 go-crazy song.
But lets focus on the positive.
First, upon entering the theatre, each person was given a little program
resembling a
Playbill you'd get at a play. Inside it had information about Liam,
the Into The Wild soundtrack, West Memphis Three, and the Body
of War film and CD compilation. There were bios for everyone
involved with the tour, even Liam's tour manager. It was a nice giveaway
item.
Next, Liam Finn. Since I last saw him in Portland in September with
Crowded House, he's teamed up with Ms. Eliza Jane Barnes for his live
shows, and I love what she brings to the performance: beautiful
harmonies, someone to banter with onstage, and extra instruments and
looping. It makes for a much more interesting show for me than Liam
completely on his own. My favorite parts of the songs are after Liam's
built up the loops for his guitar sound and then puts the guitar down to
go bash on the drums, like Animal from the Muppets (his beard and wild
hair only adding to the Animal effect). At one point he lost a stick,
which went flying through the air and hit EJ on the back of the head!
She looked around, confused, rubbed her noggin, but smiled and kept
playing the theremin. There's always going to be empty seats during the
opening band, but a large number of them were filled for Liam's set and
the crowd seemed really receptive and supportive of him. I hope he won
over some new fans for his sound, and not just for the fact that he's
Neil's son.
My only celebrity spotting for the night was Cameron Crowe, about five
rows ahead of me. I heard that Patrick Warburton (Puddy from Seinfeld)
was next to him, and Phil Jackson (LA Lakers coach) was up in the
balcony.
Now let's get to Eddie. The curtain rose to reveal a set up of different
instruments, suitcases, a reel-to-reel machine, amp and the gold bat
wings familiar to any PJ fan who's seen a few shows over the years.
Eddie came out to a standing ovation, wearing a dark plaid suit jacket
and encouraged us to sit down, relax and enjoy "an evening at the
theatre."
The setlist focused primarily on songs written for films, and a number
of covers, with a few Pearl Jam rarities thrown in.
Main Set:
- Walking The Cow (Daniel Johnston cover)
―According to pj.com, I heard this at the second LA show in 2006. I
think it was the pre-set song Eddie did before Sonic Youth played.
It's a pleasant enough cover but I can take it or leave it.
- Around The Bend ―lovely lullaby from my
favorite PJ album, No Code
- I Am Mine ―I've really grown to love this song
about personal freedom and safety and living your life. "I know I
was born and I know that I'll die, the in-between is mine."
- Dead Man Walking ―written for but not used in
the movie of the same name. I'm not crazy about this one and I've
heard it before, but not frequently, so a rarity is always nice over
something that's overplayed.
- I’m Open ―Another No Code track, which
I'd never heard before. This was a very abbreviated, simple version
of an already short song.
- God Is In Control / Limit Yourself ―Heh, these
were two tongue-in-cheek little improvs inspired by religious stuff
he'd seen on TV earlier that day.
- Masters Of War (Bob Dylan cover) ―FUCK YEAH.
This one never gets old. Chilling and powerful.
- Man Of The Hour ―Another one that's pleasant
enough but doesn't necessarily hold huge significance for me. I do
associate it with my paternal grandfather though, since it (and
Big Fish, the movie it was written for) came out around the time
that he passed away.
- Setting Forth ―Yeah, the first of the Into
the Wild songs!
- Guaranteed ―After this song finished a guy came
out onstage with a mic stand and apologized for interrupting the
show, but he had something to give Eddie. It was the Golden Globe
he'd won for "Guaranteed." He hadn't actually received his statuette
yet since the ceremonies were canceled due to the writer's strike.
Of course this generated huge applause and cheers from the audience,
and Eddie was so embarrassed he hid his face and practically curled
up on his stool with his back to the crowd. He put on the jacket
he'd ditched earlier, to make his acceptance speech, thanking the
writers for striking so he didn't have to get dressed up for the
ceremony, and then set the award on his amp by the bat wings. I felt
like a proud mama. :-)
- No Ceiling ―More Into the Wild goodness.
- Far Behind ―One of my favorite Into the Wild
tracks, an upbeat song perfect for solo road trips I so frequently
find myself on.
- Rise ―Another Into the Wild song, not
one of my favorites, but still enjoyable.
- Millworker (James Taylor cover) ―I know he's
performed this song before, but I don't think I'd ever heard it. I
hadn't realized it was about a female. It's a very sad and poignant
song.
lyrics here
- Soon Forget ―Fun one on the ukulele that I
hadn't heard since....2000??
- Broken Heart ―Erm I'm sorry to say I don't know
anything about this song, even whether or not it's a cover. Someone,
help?
- Driftin’ ―Enjoyable kind of country-bluesy
Pearl Jam rarity. I like it.
- You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
(Lennon/McCartney cover) ―How can you not love a Beatles song? This
one was fun with audience participation, singing, "HEY! You've got
to hide your love awaaaay."
- Trouble (Cat Stevens cover) ―Another cover I
enjoy hearing him sing.
- If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Cat Stevens
cover) ―Hadn't heard him do this one before. It's a fun song a lot
of people know and can sing along with. Around about this time Eddie
talked about the songs from "Harold and Maude" and then talked about
Cameron Crowe, since he was present at the show. He said Cameron
found every way possible of funneling the band much-needed money
during the filming of "Singles," including a few hundred bucks to
Eddie for giving guitar lessons to Matt Dillon. He then did a
hilarious Matt Dillon impression and thanked Cameron for the
support.
- I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) ―I've seen
this performed once before and it's another crowd pleaser I enjoy.
- Forever Young (Bob Dylan cover) ―I know I'm
being really repetitive here...this was another pleasant cover. I
hadn't heard it before. It's a song that makes me think of his role
as a father. This isn't the song Rod Stewart sang, btw.
- Porch ― Yeaaaaah....like pizza, any Porch is
good Porch. A full band version is longer and more cathartic for me,
but it's still Porch! I just wish the crowd in my section stood up
for this one. Good closer for the main set, that's my favorite
position in the setlist for this song.
Encore 1:
I missed the set-up for the start of the story, but it led to Eddie
doing an impression of Chris Rock which ended with talk about fucking a
white woman on MLK day. (?!) Then he said he should be careful what he
said before bringing the next person out, since he was young and
impressionable and on a good path, so he shouldn't be talking about
fucking. This was his introduction for Liam Finn. Liam came out, sat
down and said into his mic, "I'm very good at fucking." Much laughter.
Eddie conceded that he has seen Liam play onstage and that he's "quite
good at doing multiple things at once." He then raised one hand above
his and made motions of pinching, with his other hand below his lap
making motions of fondling. Bwahahaha....naughty boys. Kind of an
inappropriate segue into the next song, but still funny.
- Society (with Liam Finn) (Jerry Hannan cover)
―One of the highlights on the Into the Wild soundtrack for
me.
- Throw Your Arms Around Me (with Liam Finn)
(Hunters & Collectors cover)― !!!!! This was a HUGE highlight for
me. I'd never seen Eddie sing this before because I missed his
preset of it at the Shoreline show in 2003. GAH! That was a
kick-myself-for-being-dumb moment. He got this from Crowded House,
who I got to see perform it in Portland last year. Love, love, love
this song. Liam sang beautifully on it and they had wonderful
harmonies together. Such a treat.
- No More ―A new song written for the Body Of
War compilation. Pleasant song with a sing-along chorus. I can't
say that it's something outstanding that gives me chills, but it's a
good song.
- Arc ―Now this is something outstanding
that gives me chills. I am a lucky, lucky person who has seen this
performed three times now. It's done with a machine that records and
plays back what was just sung, building layer upon layer of sound.
It's just wordless vocalizations, surely influenced by Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan, and born from
a painful tragedy. Eddie starts with fairly simple low notes and
then builds higher and with more syllables until it's a cathartic
howl that makes my hair stand on end. The crowd always goes insane
at the end and it's a moving experience that can bring tears to my
eyes. He let the looping continue to play, put the mic down and
walked out to the perimeter of the stage, shaking hands, and saying
thank you, having a long look at the audience as the curtain went
down behind him. It really felt like good-bye and good-night and I
was worried we weren't going to get The Song* I wanted to hear most.
A few people thought this was the end and left the theatre, but the
room stayed dark and I regained confidence that we were getting a
second encore.
Encore 2:
- Growin' Up (Bruce Springsteen) ―Repeat with me
now: another pleasant cover. Not necessarily one I love as much as
say, Masters of War or Hide Your Love Away, but he mentioned his
brother in his introduction of the song, and the thought of siblings
and family always warms my heart.
- Lukin ―Fun, super-fast-and-short punky song.
The obnoxious drunk guy two seats down from me had started shouting
for this as his many, many beers took over his brain, but he and his
lady left after Arc, so the idiot missed it! HA-HA! I was glad to be
rid of his chattering and happy to have extra space to fill. I got
on my feet for Lukin and stood just behind a knot of other people
standing up so I didn't block the view for the people sitting behind
me.
- *Hard Sun (with Liam Finn and Eliza Jane
Barnes) (Gordon Peterson cover) ― I told my dad last night that
Eddie "could've played total shit the rest of the show, 'Hard Sun'
made it all worth it." I cannot adequately convey how much I love
this song. The chance to see this performed live was a huge
motivator in going to the trouble and expense for this show. The
chorus may be simple and a bit repetitive, but I think of it as the
type of gospel/folk/campfire group sing-along thing that I could
happily sing for hours on end. Liam came out to play the drums, EJ
sang the female vocal that Corin Tucker sings on the soundtrack, and
yes, they also used a backing track to replicate the full sound of
the recorded version, but I didn't mind that one bit. The place
erupted when this song began. Everyone on their feet. Lights on the
crowd, hands upraised, singing along. It was this wonderful
communal, almost religious experience. I didn't want it to end, but
it was the perfect closer to the evening. I would not have wanted
him to play anything else after that. It sent me out into the night
on Cloud Nine, loving life and feeling so happy that I got to
experience that song and this tour.
I am SO glad that I followed my gut and did something a bit spontaneous
and risky, because it paid off for me, big time. The lesson: never let
"sold out" discourage you!
I floated back to my hotel room, grabbed my camera and went back to the
venue to shoot a few pictures of the marquee. Made a quick post online
using the hotel lobby's computer, and then went back to my room and
stayed up until 2 in the morning, writing in my journal about the show.
On my way home the next day I stopped at Gorman in the mountains north
of LA, where there was an impressive display of wildflowers on the
hills. I spent about two hours making various stops to take pictures and
I listened to a live recording of "Hard Sun" from the show in Berkeley
last week. On repeat. Probably about 20 times. It was a great soundtrack
for my late afternoon, solo drive. I stopped at Bravo Farms in Traver,
only about 30 minutes south of Fresno, for a quick pit-stop, and decided
to stay and eat dinner there. I sat at the counter next to a jovial,
older farmer guy who told me jokes and funny stories while we ate. It
was after 9pm by the time I reached home, and I was exhausted but felt
full and happy and in love with life.
(April 14, 2008)
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