Pearl Jam at O2 Arena
Pearl Jam
Gomez
O2 Arena, 18 August 2009
Going to arena shows is such an odd experience, especially when the band is attempting to pretend it's not an arena show by having the floor completely standing. Although we arrived early and managed to get practically at the barrier at the front, you turn around and there's literally thousands of people behind you. I tend to go to small shows on the whole, so I'm not used to it. It's a little claustrophobic and slightly worrying when the band starts and the fanatical, Pearl Jam-adoring crowd goes nuts and suddenly you feel that thrust of the hundreds of people surrounding you. Of course it's exciting too, that so many people are feeling that same communal excitement and joy through the music of this simple rock band: the energy of 20,000 people is something to behold, I can't even imagine what it's like for the band on stage.
Even before the show that same energy is palpable, with fans queuing up for hours to get a good spot and chatting away to other fans they don't know, a real sense of happiness and community through this shared love of a rock band. Many people around us are wearing multiple fan club wrist bands, having travelled to the different shows in the UK, and Europe even, to see Pearl Jam. The devotion they inspire, like the surge of the crowd at my back, is both scary and awesome.
With this in mind and the anticipation at tonight's show (the band could have easily sold out another night at this huge venue), support band Gomez have their work cut out for them. It's probably unfair on them (but such is the plight of every support band) but their brand of indie blues only provides a mild diversion to the crowd eager for Pearl Jam. I look around me, most appear unconverted, bored even. To be fair, it takes some big sounds and a lot of charisma to fill an arena and Gomez specialise in something far more low-key.
Of course Pearl Jam seem to have both in abundance, even when they start off the show on a quieter note with a slower number, the quietly building Release. It's a swelteringly hot night but it's still a surprise to see Eddie Vedder in his baggy shorts, seemingly harking back to the band's grunge days (something the band has been trying to distance themselves from for years, and not surprisingly so, given that Pearl Jam were always a 100 per cent rock band and not a grunge band at all). And it isn't just the attire that goes back to their glory days, as, maybe due to the fact it's the last night of their European tour, the whole band seems rejuvenated, full of energy and in a great mood. They also seem to concentrate on material from their first three albums for most of the first half of the show. For the most part it's all fast, high energy stuff too: Animal, Corduroy, Why Go, with the movement in the crowd it's pretty exhausting but exhilarating too. Finally a respite comes in the form of Vs. acoustic track Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, which the whole crowd proceed to sing in full voice. Sometimes during these oh-so-familiar classic songs, you can't even hear the band, the crowd is so loud singing along. Wow indeed. Eddie just stands back and grins in quiet awe.
Sadly their new awesome single, the power-pop-tastic The Fixer, doesn't get the same kind of excited reception as it did at the Shepherd's Bush Empire last week but it still sounds fantastic, it's obvious it will become a concert favourite soon enough. Eddie tells us the song is about men's need to try and fix everything, "when all they need to do is listen". Oh Eddie, you sensitive new man, you.
Going full throttle, it's pretty intense up the front, with all the jumping and pushing and shoving, and Eddie walks over to our side and mouths "are you okay?". Most people just throw their arms up in the air to try and catch his attention but I put on my saddest face, because it's pretty uncomfortable, and I know he'll do something about it if he sees some people are too crushed to enjoy themselves. Eddie, looking in our direction, looks concerned and lo and behold, like the cool dude he is, he goes to the microphone and asks the audience to take three steps back and immediately everyone around us feels the relief. Obviously the tragedy at Roskilde has made the band even more wary of crowd safety but I've seen them do this before even in the early days at much smaller shows, and it's a pretty decent thing to do.
Despite this brief hold-up they continue to keep up the tempo for the second half, with only a few slower numbers (such as Black and Insignificance), and there are some real treats like Even Flow, Whipping and the surprise addition of Rats, before which Eddie (poorly) attempts to play Ben on his guitar and dedicates it to Michael Jackson: "a man who was supposed to take to this stage and do what he did", referring of course to the cancelled O2 dates Jackson was supposed to perform this month. After yelling himself horse all night, a foreign dude behind us got his wish and the main set ended on the thrilling rush of Blood (funnily enough, despite this, he continued to call for Blood throughout the encores).
The first encore also threw up some cool surprises, starting with the first airing of new song Supersonic (which apparently is also going to be the b-side of new single The Fixer), a short, punky pogo of a number. Judging from these, the new album Backspacer sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Seemingly eager to cram as many songs in as possible, they continue with Hail Hail, an epicly gorgeous Footsteps, the fun Do The Evolution and a blinding version of The Who's Love Reign O'er Me, ending, of course on Alive, the crowd, again, taking over on vocals.
Despite getting very close to curfew the band return for a second encore and keep playing to almost 11.30pm with five more songs. The highlight of these was the rare outing for their Victoria Williams cover Crazy Mary and, as in the lyrics, which tell us to "take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around", Eddie grabs a bottle of wine and passes it to the girl in front of me. Unfortunately I didn't get to take a swig, but my Pearl Jam-obsessed brother, who was with me, did and it was quickly snatched out of his hands. Still, I was pretty thrilled for him. The show could have ended there for me and I would have been more than satisfied but it continued with the double whammy of Porch (perhaps their greatest live song ever) and Yellow Ledbetter, which allowed Mike McCready to wail for a while on guitar.
All in all not up there with the Shepherd's Bush Empire show for me, but you've got to hand it to Pearl Jam, not many big rock bands could take a huge arena and make a show feel so intimate and special, managing to show concern, respect and appreciation for all the people who came along. Pretty amazing to say the least.
With this in mind and the anticipation at tonight's show (the band could have easily sold out another night at this huge venue), support band Gomez have their work cut out for them. It's probably unfair on them (but such is the plight of every support band) but their brand of indie blues only provides a mild diversion to the crowd eager for Pearl Jam. I look around me, most appear unconverted, bored even. To be fair, it takes some big sounds and a lot of charisma to fill an arena and Gomez specialise in something far more low-key.
Of course Pearl Jam seem to have both in abundance, even when they start off the show on a quieter note with a slower number, the quietly building Release. It's a swelteringly hot night but it's still a surprise to see Eddie Vedder in his baggy shorts, seemingly harking back to the band's grunge days (something the band has been trying to distance themselves from for years, and not surprisingly so, given that Pearl Jam were always a 100 per cent rock band and not a grunge band at all). And it isn't just the attire that goes back to their glory days, as, maybe due to the fact it's the last night of their European tour, the whole band seems rejuvenated, full of energy and in a great mood. They also seem to concentrate on material from their first three albums for most of the first half of the show. For the most part it's all fast, high energy stuff too: Animal, Corduroy, Why Go, with the movement in the crowd it's pretty exhausting but exhilarating too. Finally a respite comes in the form of Vs. acoustic track Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, which the whole crowd proceed to sing in full voice. Sometimes during these oh-so-familiar classic songs, you can't even hear the band, the crowd is so loud singing along. Wow indeed. Eddie just stands back and grins in quiet awe.
Sadly their new awesome single, the power-pop-tastic The Fixer, doesn't get the same kind of excited reception as it did at the Shepherd's Bush Empire last week but it still sounds fantastic, it's obvious it will become a concert favourite soon enough. Eddie tells us the song is about men's need to try and fix everything, "when all they need to do is listen". Oh Eddie, you sensitive new man, you.
Going full throttle, it's pretty intense up the front, with all the jumping and pushing and shoving, and Eddie walks over to our side and mouths "are you okay?". Most people just throw their arms up in the air to try and catch his attention but I put on my saddest face, because it's pretty uncomfortable, and I know he'll do something about it if he sees some people are too crushed to enjoy themselves. Eddie, looking in our direction, looks concerned and lo and behold, like the cool dude he is, he goes to the microphone and asks the audience to take three steps back and immediately everyone around us feels the relief. Obviously the tragedy at Roskilde has made the band even more wary of crowd safety but I've seen them do this before even in the early days at much smaller shows, and it's a pretty decent thing to do.
Despite this brief hold-up they continue to keep up the tempo for the second half, with only a few slower numbers (such as Black and Insignificance), and there are some real treats like Even Flow, Whipping and the surprise addition of Rats, before which Eddie (poorly) attempts to play Ben on his guitar and dedicates it to Michael Jackson: "a man who was supposed to take to this stage and do what he did", referring of course to the cancelled O2 dates Jackson was supposed to perform this month. After yelling himself horse all night, a foreign dude behind us got his wish and the main set ended on the thrilling rush of Blood (funnily enough, despite this, he continued to call for Blood throughout the encores).
The first encore also threw up some cool surprises, starting with the first airing of new song Supersonic (which apparently is also going to be the b-side of new single The Fixer), a short, punky pogo of a number. Judging from these, the new album Backspacer sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Seemingly eager to cram as many songs in as possible, they continue with Hail Hail, an epicly gorgeous Footsteps, the fun Do The Evolution and a blinding version of The Who's Love Reign O'er Me, ending, of course on Alive, the crowd, again, taking over on vocals.
Despite getting very close to curfew the band return for a second encore and keep playing to almost 11.30pm with five more songs. The highlight of these was the rare outing for their Victoria Williams cover Crazy Mary and, as in the lyrics, which tell us to "take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around", Eddie grabs a bottle of wine and passes it to the girl in front of me. Unfortunately I didn't get to take a swig, but my Pearl Jam-obsessed brother, who was with me, did and it was quickly snatched out of his hands. Still, I was pretty thrilled for him. The show could have ended there for me and I would have been more than satisfied but it continued with the double whammy of Porch (perhaps their greatest live song ever) and Yellow Ledbetter, which allowed Mike McCready to wail for a while on guitar.
All in all not up there with the Shepherd's Bush Empire show for me, but you've got to hand it to Pearl Jam, not many big rock bands could take a huge arena and make a show feel so intimate and special, managing to show concern, respect and appreciation for all the people who came along. Pretty amazing to say the least.
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