Words by Alicia
Photography by David Thai
Pearl Jam and opener Ben Harper played GM place in Vancouver on Friday night to a packed house. PJ played 26 songs, ten of which were part of 2 encores. I’m impressed with PJ’s work ethic. They made sure everyone got their money’s worth. It was a great show made better by a great opening act.
I was worried that GM Place’s echo was going to eat Harper alive. He just seems like a small venue type of guy. Well…Harper killed it. I’ve been used to the Harper that tells me that I have “Diamonds on the Inside” (cheesy, I know). Although Harper has always had some rock roots, his latest album White Lies for Dark Times is definetly all rock, with a few songs reminiscient of the sound he’d adopted over the last few years. It was hard to listen to Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) after Harper.
By the time PJ hit the stage, the house was packed and ready to rock. I have to say, I struggled with Vedder’s vocals. I struggled to make out a lot of the lyrics. His vocals were muffled for a lot of the concert. You only knew what he was saying if you knew the song.
Nonetheless, PJ has great musicians. I’m a big fan of their latest album Backspacer so I was happy to hear “The Fixer”, “Got Some”, “Just Breathe”, and “Unthought Known” from that album. They did a great job of playing an array of favourites from all of their albums, all of which have a different sound and show their development as a band. I think the biggest crowd pleasers were “The Fixer, “Even Flow”, “Unknown Thought”, “Love, Reign O’er Me (The Who cover)”, “Indifference “, “Better Man”… actually, there were a lot of crowd pleasers.
All of the members in Pearl Jam are great musicians so their guitar riffs and percussion rhythms were fantastic.
Right after “Unknown Thought”, frontman Vedder started reminiscing about how when he was younger, a Canadian had inspired him to make something of himself and be a part of the greater good. That Canadian was Terry Fox. Vedder said something along the lines of how PJ drove across Canada from Vancouver to Halifax during their last Canadian tour in 2005, and how they thought it took forever. Then he remember that they actually flew, not drove, and that they still felt like it took forever, so they can’t believe the strength Terry Fox had to do what he did.
Vedder announced that PJ would be donating $20,000 from the Vancouver ticket sales to the Terry Fox Foundation. PJ have been huge activists for various causes since the day of their inception. PJ got back to the music by dedicating their next song of the night, “Light Years”, to Terry.
PJ continued to rock out to an enthusiastic crowd, and finish their set strong with “Rearviewmirror”. As per usual, after much cheering, PJ came back for an encore which included one of the best songs of the night, The Who cover of “Love, Reign O’er Me”.
Just when people started leaving, PJ came back for their second encore, which in my opinion, was the best part of the show. Ben Harper joined them in singing “Indifference”: it was incredible. Harper’s voice once again floored me. And Vedder’s voice was the clearest it has been all night. For a second I thought I was in love. Sad, I know. Finishing off the encore, PJ sang “Better Man”, one of my all time favourite PJ songs. It was the perfect ending to the concert.
They once again said thank-you and goodbye, and then faked us out again by deciding to play one more song with the lights on and as the stairs were crowded full of people making a mad dash for the exit. PJ ended with “Yellow Ledbetter”.
Despite the lack of vocal clarity, the show was impressive. It’s kind of hard not to be impressed by such talented musicians. The band members have changed over the years, and there’s only been a few memorable records in the bunch of ten, but PJ can still pull off a great rock concert after 18 years.
Ben Harper Photos
Pearl Jam Photos
Here’s Pearl Jam’s set list:
In My Tree
Save You
The Fixer
Severed Hand
Johnny Guitar
Given To Fly
MFC
Even Flow
Amongst The Waves
Sad
Unthought Known
Light Years
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Grievance
No Way
Got Some
Rearviewmirror
Encore:
I Got Id
Love, Reign O’er Me (The Who cover)
Just Breath
State Of Love And Trust
Alive
Encore 2:
Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran cover)
Indifference (with Ben Harper)
Wasted Reprise
Better Man/Save It for Later
Yellow Ledbetter
david,
your pictures are amazing.
thanks for the compliment.
love hearing feedback.
DT– Love the write up and love the site. Great job
Scalesy