Concert review
A controlled burst of primordial guitar feedback announced their arrival. As the large curtain covering a huge projection screen was drawn, the members of Pearl Jam took the stage, their silhouettes projected onto a crescent of light – like the moon rising above a dark horizon – on the huge backdrop.
For all the excitement that comes with one – what, twice a decade? – Seattle Pearl Jam show, a temporary sense of calm took over the virtually sold-out Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday during the opening verse of “Release” – a fan favorite from their debut album full of fan favorites. It wouldn’t last. As the song blossomed, a shadow in the shape of Eddie Vedder led what sounded like a secular hymn enshrining the proceedings.
“I’m going to ride the wave,” he sang, pausing for another half beat, like an archer drawing his bow. “Where is this taking meeeeeee.” That distinctive trembling voice spread to the back of the arena like a gold-tipped arrow exploding in full-throated chant. Normally a group works until they have goosebumps, but why waste time on jokes when we’re all neighbors here, right?
“Well look at us, we’re home,” Vedder said wryly after that opening cleanup.
Yes, the boys are back in town this week, closing out the first leg of their Dark Matter World Tour with two shows at Climate Pledge Arena, which continue on Thursday. Ask any of the Seattleites or Seattleites for a night out who flock to the Emerald City and everywhere else they play like the late Bill Walton on a Grateful Dead tour and they’ll tell you they squeeze a little tighter their concerts in their hometown. Walton was one of two hoops legends the group honored, including Storm’s Sue Bird, whose jersey hangs from the arena’s rafters.
It’s been six years since the Seattle rock giants last played a local sports complex and it’s always a special occasion when they do. But Tuesday’s two-hour, 20-minute set also had the distinction of being the band’s first time playing the new Climate Pledge Arena, gigs that seemed even longer to prepare for.
“It’s about time we played the damn place,” Vedder said after a soothing “Low Light” that greeted the loving crowd like the smile of an old friend they hadn’t seen in a while.
Never mind the fact that Pearl Jam has probably played in more arenas than the fledgling hockey franchise occupying the three-year-old facility. Although it was their first time at Climate Pledge Arena, the Seattle quintet already appeared to have a home-court advantage, having rehearsed for their tour there last month. Despite a few more hisses of feedback than there should have been during the first half of the band’s set, Climate Pledge Arena literally never sounded better than it did on Tuesday.
The immaculate mix was otherwise perfectly suited to the venue, even during a dazzling opening performance from fellow Seattle rock favorites and PJ’s recent tour mates Deep Sea Diver as fans still filled the seats.
There were plenty of tender moments throughout the evening, including a moving “Man of the Hour” dedicated to Walton — the NBA legend who died Monday — and Vedder’s acoustic solo on “Just Breathe ”, which took place within the framework of “long relationships” and the wives of the members of the group, who were all present. But at times, Vedder and the guys seemed more interested in raining lightning down on the crowd like a rock ‘n’ roll Zeus perched atop the Space Needle, thanks in part to some of the new songs from the band’s captivating “Dark Matter” LP. This year. and the band’s god of thunder, Matt Cameron, behind the drums.
During the uncontrollable crescendo of “Scared of Fear,” Mike McCready’s guitar screamed and scribbled like the amber lines on the backdrop — part of the new visuals created by Tacoma artist Rob Sheridan for the tour. It was a tasteful complementary addition for a band that has long favored simpler stage production. Functionally, this also allowed them to do without the more intrusive video screens usual with arena shows, instead incorporating live footage of the band into the design in a more interesting and organic way.
Belting out “React, Respond” – a jittery post-punk slapper that formed around a Jeff Ament riff – an energetic McCready bounced around the stage like the teenager who “took the knee” playing Bumbershoot on the same Seattle Center campus 40 years ago. .
It seems simple to say, but it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the history and connection that one of Seattle’s seminal bands has with their hometown every time they play in front of a Seattle crowd peppered with T- Ten Club Mariners shirts and, this week, in Kraken colors. Newly purchased Pearl Jam hockey jerseys on crowded sales tables. Even for guys used to standing in front of packed arenas, it seems.
“This town is full of memories,” Vedder said after healing newcomer “Wreckage,” a call for unity amid the political division sown by Donald Trump, the former president whom Vedder (unsurprisingly) hit moments later. “We wrote that song there, we recorded that one there, we broke up a fight there. And things have changed a little, sometimes maybe a lot, but it’s been our home for, well, some of us for over 30 years, 33 years. … But it’s always been a point of pride to be part of this city’s music community and the artistic community, and I hope we’ve represented this city well to the rest of the world. It truly felt like a dream that we were still here after all this time.
Speaking of Seattle’s pedigree, the local history makers gave a few nods to Jimi Hendrix as the show ended, joined first by Deep Sea Diver for a rousing, slamming “All Along the Watchtower” from the tambourine which saw guitarist Stone Gossard tear up a scorching track. solo.
“Oh Mike, how can we say goodbye?” said Vedder, playfully prompting McCready to launch into the fan-favorite mashup of PJ’s classic “Yellow Ledbetter” and Hendrix’s “Little Wing.”
“Well, fuck,” Vedder panted before closing with another new song, “Setting Sun.” “You make us wish this was a more usual occurrence. We don’t want you to get bored with us, but we’d love to come back and do it again – I mean Thursday, but again and again and again.
Be our guest. I bet Macklemore would even let you drive his Zamboni.
Set list
Release
Thin air
Low light
Given to fly
Fear of fear
React, respond
Debris
I am mine
Same flow
Black matter
Girl
Upper hand
Waiting for Stevie
The man of the hour
Satan’s bed
Mirror
Breathe
River cross
Running
Deep
Make the evolution
Alive
Throughout the Watchtower
Yellow Ledbetter in Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Sunset