... going to review all his Pearl Jam concerts

At the end of this month, Dawn and I are going to be doing Mini-Pearl Jam Road Trip 2009. It's three shows: one in Toronto and two in Chicago, which are parts of a mini-tour they are doing before the release of Backspacer this fall. Sadly, we're not going to get the time to go and see any of the west coast dates which include shows in Seattle (their hometown, don'tcha know?) so that will remain on the the To-Do list. (Full disclosure: We're flying from Toronto to Chicago, so it's not actually a road trip in the stricktest sense of the word. Some year we do plan to suit up the Pearl Van and follow them that way, but that's for another time).

These three shows will bring our combined Pearl Jam show total to 16, plus one solo Eddie Vedder show. Now, these aren't Deadhead or Phish Phan levels - I know a Deadhead whose shows total in the hundreds - but it is a significant amount.

Whenever I tell people that I'm either going on a trip or have just come back from a concert, I always get the same question: How different can the shows be?

I really do have to answer this properly, because if there is one thing I've complained in the past about, it's the people who will go to a large number of pop shows (like the recent NKOTB reunion, or who will go to both nights of Britney Spears). What it comes down to is something I've alluded to before on this blog when talking about concerts: the material covered in the show, and the band's attitude to performing.

First, the material. Pearl Jam has released nine studio albums (counting Backspacer), a compilation of B-sides (the brilliantly named Lost Dogs), EPs, and a lot of one-off singles and tracks for compilations. There is an amazing amount of material they can draw from night after night. There are a few songs that make it onto the list every night, but some that get dragged out for special occasions or based on conversations they might have had with fans before the show. As a sampler here is a list from their site of every song they've played live, as well as a playcount.

Their shows aren't just limited to their own material. They play a lot of covers also, and have been doing this throughout their career. The amazing thing is that most of these covers have actually never been released as proper Pearl Jam singles: The only way to hear them do "Baba O'Reilly" or "Rocking in the Free World" is to go to a concert (or have a bootleg). So every night you're going to get something special like that.

It's not just enough that you can go to a couple of shows and not hear the same setlist over and over again. What also happens at each Pearl Jam show is a completely different experience from night to night in the actual performance. These guys LOVE to play live, and it shows. And they've never forgotten the fan quotient: You are doing what you are doing because you once were a fan, and do what do you because you have fans.

Most other concerts fit a certain mold: they front load a lot of the bigger hits, the section in the middle where they play the safe or new numbers, and then a closer and encore of the songs everyone came to see. And that's okay. It's a formula for a reason.

A Pearl Jam show works more like a story. Most of the time they will start with one of their slower numbers, something quiet. Then the second or third number will be something loud. So you've been eased in for a second, and then BAM instant release and catharsis.

After that...well it's anyone's guess. A few numbers might always be in the main set, but sometimes there are little diversions - the "Nothingman/Betterman/Leatherman" trilogy might be there, or it might not. They might also play "Lukin" just to rile the crowd up, or slap it in the middle of the set to give a chance to the guitar techs or stage hands to fix a couple of things. "Daughter" often has a coda that is either completely free form, or segues into another cover. The point is that the main part of the show has a great ebb and flow to it.

Where the show really takes off is the encore. Most bands will play a three/four song encore. With Pearl Jam, there can be up to three encore sets, and totaled together they can be almost as long as the primary set itself. This is when things get really interesting. This is where the odd covers come out, a lot of the b-sides, and a lot of the spontaneity. There's always the sense that a lot of this they're making up on the fly, that they came out with one or two songs they wanted to do but just used that as a jumping off point. I have no proof of this, and it's probably not the case, but it sure feels like it.

It boils down to this: they love playing live, they take it very seriously but they also know it should be fun for both them and the fans. They jam, but it's not indulgent. They might do a silly little song in the middle of a set but it's not a comedy show. Yes, they rail about politics and injustices but then they also talk about how most of the band missed an entire verse of a song, and then play a bit of it again to make up for it.

So many people get into the business today because they wanna be famous, wanna be a star, wanna be in movies, wanna drive a nice car, see the world, and wanna have groupies. Pearl Jam got into it because they loved the music, and loved playing, and believe in something bigger than themselves. And go to any Pearl Jam show, you'll see that. You might not agree with it, but you'll see it.

Now, I could write about 20 more paragraphs explaining to you why I can go to so many Pearl Jam shows and how each one is an experience in and of itself. But like the book says - It's like telling a stranger about rock 'n' roll.

So for the next couple of weeks I'm gonna do this: I'm going to write about each Pearl Jam show I've been to. That's an even dozen for me, plus the Eddie Vedder solo gig. I'm going to give you set lists, I'm going to tell you as much as I remember, and I'm going to try to take you with me on each one. The first few shows, my mind is a little hazy on. But as we get closer and closer to the present day you're going to get a good view of why I try to save up vacation days as a new release gets closer and closer - and also hear about the time when no amount of savaed vacation days could have prepared me for one of the most exhausting stretches of my life.

Welcome, my friends, to the show that never ends!