Pearl Jam’s dominance in the modern rock scene is never something I was entirely comfortable with, despite them playing a pivotal role in my teenage years. Despite sticking it to the man regularly, they always had this commercial feel about them that my inner rock-snob automatically turned my nose up to.
Despite this discomfort, I still go to see them on every tour and I still enjoy it, but this time something seemed different. This time they weren’t just good, they were great.Starting right on time at 8:30, the near two and a half hour show kicked off with ‘Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town’ from 1993’s ‘Vs.’ and the set was dripping with iconic tunes from their two decades of music.
Some new and old covers graced the set as well. Singer Eddie Vedder drifted into Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ as ‘Daughter’ fades to a close. To kick off the first of two encores (which were both almost as long as the main set!) Vedder played a solo version of Neil Young’s ‘Needle and the Damage Done’ and Liam Finn joined Vedder on stage in the second encore for the Aussie classic ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ by Hunters and Collectors.
A mass crowd singalong with their first big hit ‘Alive’ could have easily topped the show off, but the band - who had been on stage for nearly two hours now - launched into a rockin’ version of The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ before closing with the live favourite ‘Yellow Ledbetter’.
Vedder’s voice was in fine form, whether he was singing the haunting ballad ‘Oceans’ or belting out ‘Spin The Black Circle’ or ‘Do The Evolution’. At 44 years of age, his voice hasn’t slipped a bit. Perhaps it’s the several bottles of wine he manages to down at each show? (Or is it just red cordial? We’ll never know!)
The crowd were longtime fans, as evidence by the rapturous cheers when the band played eight (out of eleven!) songs off their debut ‘Ten’, while songs like ‘Green Disease’ and ‘Present Tense’ (from ‘Riot Act’ and ‘No Code’) yielded some blank stares.
Vedder showed off his love of Australian music, name-dropping Nick Cave and even more impressively, the Cosmic Psychos (who had played with the band during their 1995 Australian tour).
The massive Etihad Stadium did no favours to support acts Ben Harper or Liam Finn, who were lost on all but the first few rows and even Pearl Jam had to content with massive slap back echos and muddy sound, but they showed why they can command 45,000 (at a guess) people in almost any city in the world by putting on an amazing show.
The complete set list was:
SET 1
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (from ‘Vs.’ - 1993)
Corduroy (from ‘Vitalogy’ - 1994)
Animal (from ‘Vs.’ - 1993)
Got Some (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009)
Brother (from rarities album ‘Lost Dogs’ - 2003)
Amongst The Waves (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009)
Even Flow (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Oceans (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Lukin (from ‘No Code’ - 1996)
Green Disease (from ‘Riot Act’ - 2002)
Force of Nature (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009)
Present Tense (from ‘No Code’ - 1996)
Gonna See My Friend (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009)
Given To Fly (from ‘Yield’ - 1998)
Daughter/Another Brick In The Wall (from ‘Vs.’ - 1993/Pink Floyd cover)
Glorified G (from ‘Vs.’ - 1993)
The Fixer (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009)
Do The Evolution (from ‘Yield’ - 1998)
ENCORE 1
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young cover)
Just Breathe (from ‘Backspacer’ - 2009) (w/ Ben Harper)
Red Mosquito (from ‘No Code’ - 1996) (w/ Ben Harper)
Indifference (from ‘Vs.’ - 1993)
Jeremy (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Deep (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Why Go? (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Porch (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
ENCORE 2
Throw Your Arms Around Me (Hunters and Collectors cover) (w/ Liam Finn)
Black (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Spin The Black Circle (from ‘Vitalogy’ - 1994)
Alive (from ‘Ten’ - 1991)
Baba O’Riley (The Who cover)
Yellow Ledbetter (from rarities album ‘Lost Dogs’ - 2003)
Join the author, Tim Cashmere on Twitter.
