Pearl Jam kicks ass!

Hello,

Last night was the Pearl Jam concert in Salt Lake City. They kicked some serious butt. Most things don't live up to my self created anticipation. Pearl Jam lived up to it though. I only have one complaint about the concert which I will get to later. This is only the second time I've seen them live, the first time I think was back in November, 1995.

Ben Harper and Relentless 7 were the opening act. I'd like to say hi to the Ben Harper fan I met last night, she's a big Ben Harper fan. I tried to write a set list for them but I'm just not familiar enough with their music for it to be complete. If you would like to help me fill in the blanks, either e-mail me or post a comment to this blog. Ben Harper just seems to be a cool down to earth guy. Although I was getting a bit nauseous when he was talking about the "Pearl Jam community". Ben Harper said he's related to former Utah governor, George Dern. He was neither a Mormon nor a Republican and still was elected in the heavily Mormon, heavily Republican Utah.

According to his wikipedia site: "George Henry Dern was born in Dodge County, Nebraska on September 8, 1872. He was a successful politician, mining man and business man. He is probably best remembered for co-inventing the Holt–Dern ore roasting process, as well as his tenure as United States Secretary of War from 1933 to his death in 1936. He also served as governor of Utah for eight years, from 1925 to 1933. Dern was a progressive politician who fought for tax reform, education and social welfare. He was an exceptional public speaker who was able to captivate and entertain his audience, whether they are Progressives, Democrats or Republicans". Dern actually has a pretty impressive resume, for more info check out his wikipedia site.

Anyway I digress Ben Harper and Relentless 7 played an 8 song set, which was just about perfect. They played for about 45 minutes. I thought their first song was never going to end. However "Boots Like These" did eventually come to an end. That was one of the two highlights of the night of them for me. The other highlight was the third song they played, "Shimmer and Shine". They didn't unnecessarily jam on this song. They played the rock song straight ahead. This is probably my favorite song of theirs on their new CD.

Other good songs included "Rock and Roll Is Free If You Let It". After 7 songs the apparently non relentless Relentless 7 left the stage. Ben Harper accompanied himself on guitar. He sang the heartbreaking song, "Walk Away". Thanks to lyricsfreak.com here are the lyrics:

Oh no
Here comes that sun again
That means another day
Without you my friend

And it hurts me
To look into the mirror at myself
And it hurts even more
To have to be with somebody else
And its so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away

With so many people
To love in my life
Why do I worry
About one

But you put the happy
In my mess
You put the good times
Into my fun
And its so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door

We've tried the goodbye
So many days
We walk in the same direction
So that we could never stray
They say if you love somebody
Than you have got to set them free
But I would rather be locked to you
Than live in this pain and misery

They say time will
Make all this go away
But its time that has taken my tomorrows
And turned them into yesterdays
And once again that rising sun
Is dropping on down
And once again you my friend
Are nowhere to be found
And its so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door
You just walk away
Walk away

Ben Harper and Relentless 7 set list September 28th, 2009

1) "Boots Like These" (confirmed title) A very catchy melody but it did go on for a tat bit long.

2) "Save My Soul" (guessed title)

3) "Shimmer and Shine" (confirmed title) The best song of their set.

4) "Rock and Roll Is Free If You Want It" (confirmed title) Just don't still their music!

5) ?

6) "Caught in the Dream" (guessed title)

7) "Can't Run Away From Fate" (guessed title)

8) "Walk Away" Ben Harper accompany himself on this very slow and mellow song.


Pearl Jam played two hours and 10 minutes, in which they crammed 27 songs into their set list. Eddie was in a good mood tonight, including allowing a marriage proposal in the band's first encore. This was the first time Pearl Jam played in Salt Lake in 11 years. (Let's not wait so long again.) Eddie was in a good mood the whole night. He directed comments most of the night to some kids in or near the front of the stage.

I mean no offense to members of the Pentecostal faith, but I felt like I was at a Pentecostal revival. The music was rocking, and the spirit (of rock and roll) took over and I waved my arms in the air. I just got into the performance not caring how dorky I was looking.

The band was in peak form tonight, really bringing passion to their playing. (Some of their bootlegs it's obvious Pearl Jam is just not into the show.) They were ready to play and all members acted like they enjoyed themselves. Their set list wasn't the best, but the energy they played with made up for that. Pearl Jam played 6 songs from their new CD, "Backspacer". They also played many of their classics and a few covers. (I was really hoping the last song of the night was going to be "Rockin' In The Free World".)

Pearl Jam roared on to stage at 8:55pm. They kicked some butt. Let's get my one complaint out of the way. A lot of Pearl Jam's lyrics are hard to understand, even after hundreds of listens. What that means there isn't as many songs to sing along with as I would like.

Pearl Jam opened off the concert with two shortened versions of "Of The Girl" and "Breakerfall". They continued the momentum with "Hail, Hail" and "Severed Hand" and then Eddie said "Good Evening". They then played the first of six "Backspacer" songs of the night, "The Fixer". The band caught their breath and Eddie talked to the crowd. He talked about how this was the first time in 11 years that Pearl Jam has appeared in Salt Lake. He noted you could go through high school, college, get hired and fired in 11 years. He also pointed out some kids in the crowd saying they weren't even born the last time Pearl Jam came to Salt Lake. He talked to these kids throughout the whole show. He also did a shout out to Ben Harper.

They continued the show with "Low Light", one of the few mellow points of the night. They then followed that with one of their lesser songs, "Marker In The Sand". For their next song they regained their momentum and roared back with "Even Flow". They truly kicked butt with Michael McCready playing a blistering solo which included him playing the guitar behind his head. That was definitely one of the highlights of the night. It was time for the second song from "Backspacer", another too mellow song, "Unthought Known".

Then time for more sing-alongs as Eddie counted off the intro to "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", another one of their best songs. (This song features one of my favorite lyrics, "Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising". This song was another highlight of the night. They then went back into their higher gear and played "Given To Fly" with people were screaming out the "fly" part of that song. The audience was having a great time and it appeared the band was to. Next up was "Immortality" with a mini-jam. Next then sang "Satan's Bed", this is the song that has the chorus in which they sing, "Already In Love". They finished off the first part of the show with "Amongst The Waves", "Do The Evolution" and "Blood".

First encore: Pearl Jam played 6 more songs in this encore. They first played one of their more obscure songs, "Bee Girl". Eddie said that song was written "over a bottle of wine and a microphone". "Bee Girl" featured Jeff Ament. Eddie brought up a couple of guests from the audience. A local restaurant owner or manager, Greg, proposed to his girlfriend Rachel. Eddie said, "by the power invested in me, I'm going to sing a song". They were then given a special seat as Eddie serenaded them with another new song, "Just Breathe". They left the stage with Eddie wishing them good luck on their journey. Ben Harper came back on the stage and joined Pearl Jam for "Red Mosquito". Next was "Daughter" with the tags of "Sympathy For The Devil" and "W.M.A." They closed out their first encore with "Supersonic" and "Spin The Black Circle". The audience was roaring along with the "Spin, spin" part of the song.

For the second encore Eddie dedicated the Ramone's song "I Believe In Miracles" to Johnny Ramone. That truly is one of the greatest Ramones song. They followed that with "Crazy Mary" which included an extended jam. It's one of my all-time favorite songs of any band. It's a rarely played song and I was very excited they played it. Then Eddie sang the very cathartic "Alive". I do wonder how he sings that song with all the memories associated with it. Eddie referred back to the kids in front of him. He gave them permission to skip school in the morning, but for that one day only. He also dedicated the night's "last song" to the kids teacher. Mike McCready played the opening notes of "Yellow Ledbetter". That song probably closes about 90% of Pearl Jam shows. I was hoping they would close with "Rockin' In The Free World", but no complaints after the rocking night.

Pearl Jam only played 9 of the 28 songs on my Pearl Jam dreams set list, but that's okay. Overall one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen and I have seen a lot of great bands at their peak.

The band was in fantastic form all night. The three guitarists, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, were all in kick butt mode. The drums were very ably manned by the excellent Matt Cameron and Boom Gasper played the keyboards with frenetic energy. Eddie played the guitar as well on several songs. Pearl Jam is not just Eddie Vedder, although he does seem to get the bulk of the credit. Hopefully we'll see you soon again Boom, Stone, Jeff, Eddie, Matt and Mike.

Set 1

* Of The Girl
* Breakerfall
* Hail, Hail
* Severed Hand
* The Fixer
* Low Light
* Marker In The Sand
* Even Flow
* Unthought Known
* Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
* Got Some
* Given To Fly
* Immortality
* Satan's Bed
* Amongst The Waves
* Do The Evolution
* Blood

Encore 1

* Bee Girl
* Just Breathe
* Red Mosquito
* Daughter
* Supersonic
* Spin The Black Circle

Encore 2

* I Believe In Miracles
* Crazy Mary
* Alive
* Yellow Ledbetter

"Red Mosquito" featured Ben Harper.


themusicaddict