So when we heard they were playing not one but two shows in Chicago as part of this mini tour, we took the vacation days and headed off to the pilgrimage. We didn't know, however, that we'd be following the greatest Pearl Jam show we'd ever experienced. As such, we were understandably nervous for these shows.
Show the first
Pearl Jam @ United Center, Chicago, Illinois - August 23rd, 2009
Opening act - Bad Religion. The godfathers of American Hardcore, about to celebrate 30 years. They last opened for Pearl Jam 15 years ago at Soldier Field, and they're still ferocious. Greg Gaffin patrolled the stage with his nervous intensity, but also pointing to band members when they were wailing on their solos. There was no Eddie pre-set, but you didn't need one when it's Bad Religion. You can say what you want about them, but to have that degree of dedication and craftsmanship 30 years into anything is a testament to loving what you're doing.
Click here for set list.
"We've got a lot of emotion to get through tonight. So let's get started."
The show started off a little familiar. A lot of the songs as well as the tone of the show was very similar to the Toronto show. Now, seeing as that was so great, you'd think that would be good. No, not really, because as I've mentioned before you expect something different each night from Pearl Jam. Yes, I know, there's 2 days and 400 miles between the shows and there probably wasn't THAT much cross over in the crowds but one thing that I've loved about the band is that they don't rest on laurels and that they keep challenging themselves, and delivering.
That's not to say that the main set wasn't spontaneous. Jeff led the crowd in a chorus of "Happy Birthday" to a friend who he didn't get to see while he was in Chicago. "Even Flow" flew into uncharted places with Mike playing one of the greatest solos I've ever heard. There were also some great less-played songs that made the main set, like "In Hiding" and "Come Back", which might have taken on extra meaning for Eddie on this night.
Most of the set was treated like a homecoming for Eddie. He spent a lot of time talking about the Chicagoland area and growing up there. He also provided a nice moment of symmetry between his life and mine when he quoted Lou Reed on growing up in a small town - it makes you want to get out (mind you, comparing riding the L in Chicago with the school bus from Grand Lake to Minto is a world of difference in and of itself...).
So...a good but competent main set. Normally this would colour the entire show. But as I've said before, the main set is the vitamins - the stuff you take to make sure you get to the good stuff, which is in the encore.
The first encore started with Eddi giving props to Boom "Boooooooooooom" Gaspar, their touring keyboardist who then started playing some sweet lines...that sounded familiar to me....but I dared not dream...until they hit the chord and broke into a soaring version of "Love Reign O'er Me", the centerpiece of Quadrophenia. As a huge Who fan, I was in my happy place as they played the hell out of it. When they played "The Real Me" two songs later you could have knocked me over with a feather. Along with Neil Young, Pete Townsend is one of the godfathers of Pearl Jam and Eddie said as much, thanking him for the song.
The second encore saw Eddie, alone, discussing the records he listened to growing up with his older brothers, including one artist he liked because the lead singer was only a couple of years older than himself - The Jackson 5. With that he played "The Needle and the Damage Done" (surprisingly for only their second time ever the first being the previous show in Toronto) for Jackson, and then segue-ed into "Rats". I'd never heard "Rats" played live and it's a shame they don't do it as much as it's a great little grinder that can really wind up a crowd. Of course, the coda in it from "Ben" was the real payoff here.
At that point Eddie said that someone had asked them to play more new stuff. For most of this tour they've just been playing 'Get Some' and 'The Fixer', but on this night they pulled out 'Supersonic', whipping the crowd into a frenzy. It's a slightly more hardcore track, and reminded me a lot of some of the more direct moments on Vitalogy. Having heard these three tracks it looks like Backspacer is going to be hearkening back to the band's punk and mod influences, and that while they are (1) being close to the age at which a band can be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and (2) selling their albums at Target (Tar-jhay) they're not about to forget who they are and how they got there.
At the end of the set the lights came up but Eddie motioned to the band that they should do one more song. "This is how Mike McCready likes to say goodnight," and "Yellow Ledbetter" started. Mike ended the song with an homage to Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner", something I'm surprised never happened before.
It was fitting: the show started slowly, gained momentum and then careened full on into a memorable climax.
Show the second
Pearl Jam @ United Center, Chicago, Illinois - August 24rd, 2009
Opening act - Bad Religion.
Click here for set list.
It's one night later and even I'm starting to get tired. But we have floor seats tonight, so that's waking me up - along with the Coke Zero.
"You sounds more like a Sunday night crowd than a Monday night crowd," Eddie said from the stage. And it wasn't pandering - "They really know how to rock in Detroit, you guys!". It was a genuine request. Pearl Jam gets a lot of its energy from the fans, and even after "Corduroy" in the familiar two-spot he felt the crowd lacked something. If you're Ryan Adams you pout and play a miserable set (been there...he's a jerk, plain and simple). If you're Pearl Jam, you turn it up.
Check out the set list. Not too much overlap between the those two nights, as well as Toronto. THIS is why we can go to 15 shows and still want more.
Having said that, there are some standards. "Even Flow" is pretty much a given, as is "Alive". One guy in the front row was having none of it and had a "No Even Flow" t-shirt. This seemed to really drive the band (and might have explained some of Eddie's mood). They played the HELL out of it, and even had a good old school drum solo from Matt Cameron. "Mike and Matt will kill me if we don't play that," Eddie said (and since it's when he normally goes for his mid show smoke, I'm sure he'd kill also by that point). "There's a guy in the front with a "No Even Flow" t-shirt. Man, you should know by now we always take request. But we don't take orders."
Now it was a Monday night crowd.
The crowd moved along with the coda of "Another Brick in the Wall" during "Daughter" while Mike laid down a great sounding Gilmore-like solo. "Brother" brought everyone up and reminded the crowd of the early energy of the band (it was an early track they recorded and re-released and thus not dulled by repetition).
The first encore was a little more subdued with Eddie playing "No More" dedicating to to Tomas Young who was in the crowd with his family. The second encore was a raucous affair with crowd pleaser (for us at least) "State of Love and Trust" and "Crazy Mary" tossed in with another Neil Young cover "F@&kin' up" with Eddie donning a wig and dancing around the stage while Jeff and Mike swapped instruments.
And then, "Yellow Ledbetter" again, ending the same way. But instead of mirroring the show it put a bookend on our whole journey - so ended a broadcast day, an American adventure, and one of the greatest shows in a series of great shows that I've ever been to.
We've been to 15 Pearl Jam shows, and we still have a long list of songs we want to see live ("Oceans", "Satan's Bed", "Wash", "Hunger Stike" - let me dream). Even if we had heard every song 100 times, we'd want to go 15 more times, and then 15 more after that. Any Pearl Jam show is not about the destination, nor is about the journey. It's about the emotion.
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