Pearl Jam at Hyde Park
Hard Rock Calling 2010:
Pearl Jam
Ben Harper & The Relentless 7
The Hives
The Gaslight Anthem
Hyde Park, 25 June 2010
For my annual summer festival experience I returned to the scene of one of my favourite gigs of last year (Neil Young), Hard Rock Calling at Hyde Park aka the festival for people who don’t like festivals (camping out and being stuck in mud for a weekend doesn’t appeal much to me these days and getting to go home at the end of the night is a big bonus).
Although I missed the first couple of acts, we arrived just in time to see The Gaslight Anthem take the stage. Like The Hold Steady, the band specialise in upbeat, Springsteen-esque anthemic rock, which of course works beautifully at festivals such as these. There’s a lot of songs about driving with the radio on and small town girls, and the rousing music inspires a lot of clapping and jumping up and down from the crowd. This was the first time I’ve seen them and although I didn’t know a good deal of the songs, with the set list heavy on tunes from their new album, I was impressed by just how energetic and enjoyable it was.
The next act was scheduled to be Australian rockers Wolfmother but due to illness the band had to pull out and instead of replacing them, The Hives, who were due to headline the second stage, were bumped up to the main stage. I’d actually seen Swedish punk rockers The Hives live years before, just when their big hit Hate To Say I Told You So was rising up the charts and they were absolutely fantastic; funny, full of energy and beautifully raw. When they failed to live up to their initial promise there was something of a backlash towards them, which I admit I was probably influenced by, so I had low expectations of this band that seemed to have had their day. I’m glad to say I was proved wrong because The Hives proved to be the surprise of the show. Arriving on stage wearing little boy sailor outfits, complete with white hats and knickerbocker trousers and white socks, it was hard not to be immediately endeared by them as they launched into a kind of PG version of The Stooges: lots of crazed jumping around, trips into the audience and raw shouty garage rock. Setting out to induce the world’s first “40-minute orgasm”, they didn’t quite manage to do that but they sure were entertaining. Frontman Howlin’ Pele Almqvist called for the crowd to tell him they loved him and then added “People have told me I’m an asshole all my life, they say I’m full of myself. But I dunno, I think I’m okay,” he said amusingly. The bravado was only part of the act and saw them win over the crowd, even those around me who had groaned before when told that The Hives were the next act. At one point Howlin’ Pele made it past the barrier with his microphone into the crowd, no mean feat at a festival and the band ended on an explosive version of Tick Tick Boom. They might not have the songs to match the confidence or the energy but they sure are hugely fun to watch live.
Which brings us to Ben Harper & Relentless 7, surely the most boring act of the night. They certainly didn’t deserve second billing, I assume they got it because Eddie Vedder is good friends with Harper. Proving this point early on in the set Vedder was called out on stage to help Harper sing a version of the Queen/David Bowie hit Under Pressure. It sounded okay, if a little weird, Harper, singing the Freddie Mercury parts unable to match his falsetto, although Vedder sounded pretty good singing the Bowie parts. I saw Harper and his band play their heavy rock version of the blues last year, lower down on the bill at the Neil Young show. I thought they were okay, if forgettable, but tonight they seemed to drag and drag. All I kept thinking of during their set was the awful, long-haired poseurs in Ghost World, called Blues Hammer, who promised “some real blues, man” before launching into a metal version of the blues as far removed from authentic blues as could be. Harper’s t-shirt read “art as activism” and the music was just as po-faced and serious. Shame Harper missed out on the “art as entertainment” memo that is just as important, if not more so because as I looked around me not one person seemed entertained or like they were enjoying their set and, like me, were merely enduring it.
This was my 13th time seeing Pearl Jam live and, although they played well, I can’t say it was one of my favourites. Audience-wise it was pretty rough, and there was none of the caring, kindness and connection felt at last year’s club gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire or even the O2 Arena show. Just around me there were arguments, people doing their best to make things uncomfortable for those next to them and a general “out for themselves” atmosphere which was sad to see at a Pearl Jam show and spoiled the gig a little for me. But of course none of that was the band’s fault and Eddie Vedder (wearing a rather cool Devo t-shirt) showed a lot of concern, as usual, for everyone’s safety, although I saw far more people than I’ve ever seen at one of their shows pulled out of the front looking worse for wear (one girl was even taken away on a stretcher). The Neil Young crowd was much more mellow and caring and I can’t deny that I missed that, big time.
Despite all this going on, unbeknown to the band of course, Eddie and the boys seemed to be in good spirits and put their all into the show. There’s one thing you can say about Pearl Jam, with certainty, they never put on a half-hearted show. Beginning with Given To Fly, it was a crowd pleasing set filled with the “hits”: Even Flow, Why Go, Do The Evolution, Once, Go, Not For You, State Of Love And Trust etc. One of the nicest moments of the night came when they played the acoustic Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (that title really is a mouthful) and it sounded like all 50,000 people in Hyde Park were singing along to every word. Another highlight was when the band paid tribute to The Clash’s Joe Strummer. Vedder told us that he was helping out in a venue he was playing years back and that’s when he met Jack Irons, who was drumming for Strummer at the time, and it was Irons who introduced him to Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, and the rest is history. The band then played a terrific version of a song from Strummer’s last album called Arms Aloft In Aberdeen, apparently a tribute to the whole festival-going experience, which Strummer loved.
There wasn’t too much from the new album Backspacer but Got Some and The Fixer already sound like classics and again were two of the best moments for me. There was also a new song (“an experiment” said Vedder, “if you like it we’ll put it on the next album") which sounded very Matt Cameron, full of big heavy, angular riffs but contained a long McCready solo in his signature style. It sounded pretty good. There were two encores, the second ending on the not unexpected double treat of Alive and Yellow Ledbetter.
So all-in-all a good solid show but compared to the London shows of last year, although the band played dependably well, it was nowhere near the same league and lacked that spark of magic that makes it stand out in all the Pearl Jam shows I’ve seen.
Although I missed the first couple of acts, we arrived just in time to see The Gaslight Anthem take the stage. Like The Hold Steady, the band specialise in upbeat, Springsteen-esque anthemic rock, which of course works beautifully at festivals such as these. There’s a lot of songs about driving with the radio on and small town girls, and the rousing music inspires a lot of clapping and jumping up and down from the crowd. This was the first time I’ve seen them and although I didn’t know a good deal of the songs, with the set list heavy on tunes from their new album, I was impressed by just how energetic and enjoyable it was.
The next act was scheduled to be Australian rockers Wolfmother but due to illness the band had to pull out and instead of replacing them, The Hives, who were due to headline the second stage, were bumped up to the main stage. I’d actually seen Swedish punk rockers The Hives live years before, just when their big hit Hate To Say I Told You So was rising up the charts and they were absolutely fantastic; funny, full of energy and beautifully raw. When they failed to live up to their initial promise there was something of a backlash towards them, which I admit I was probably influenced by, so I had low expectations of this band that seemed to have had their day. I’m glad to say I was proved wrong because The Hives proved to be the surprise of the show. Arriving on stage wearing little boy sailor outfits, complete with white hats and knickerbocker trousers and white socks, it was hard not to be immediately endeared by them as they launched into a kind of PG version of The Stooges: lots of crazed jumping around, trips into the audience and raw shouty garage rock. Setting out to induce the world’s first “40-minute orgasm”, they didn’t quite manage to do that but they sure were entertaining. Frontman Howlin’ Pele Almqvist called for the crowd to tell him they loved him and then added “People have told me I’m an asshole all my life, they say I’m full of myself. But I dunno, I think I’m okay,” he said amusingly. The bravado was only part of the act and saw them win over the crowd, even those around me who had groaned before when told that The Hives were the next act. At one point Howlin’ Pele made it past the barrier with his microphone into the crowd, no mean feat at a festival and the band ended on an explosive version of Tick Tick Boom. They might not have the songs to match the confidence or the energy but they sure are hugely fun to watch live.
Which brings us to Ben Harper & Relentless 7, surely the most boring act of the night. They certainly didn’t deserve second billing, I assume they got it because Eddie Vedder is good friends with Harper. Proving this point early on in the set Vedder was called out on stage to help Harper sing a version of the Queen/David Bowie hit Under Pressure. It sounded okay, if a little weird, Harper, singing the Freddie Mercury parts unable to match his falsetto, although Vedder sounded pretty good singing the Bowie parts. I saw Harper and his band play their heavy rock version of the blues last year, lower down on the bill at the Neil Young show. I thought they were okay, if forgettable, but tonight they seemed to drag and drag. All I kept thinking of during their set was the awful, long-haired poseurs in Ghost World, called Blues Hammer, who promised “some real blues, man” before launching into a metal version of the blues as far removed from authentic blues as could be. Harper’s t-shirt read “art as activism” and the music was just as po-faced and serious. Shame Harper missed out on the “art as entertainment” memo that is just as important, if not more so because as I looked around me not one person seemed entertained or like they were enjoying their set and, like me, were merely enduring it.
This was my 13th time seeing Pearl Jam live and, although they played well, I can’t say it was one of my favourites. Audience-wise it was pretty rough, and there was none of the caring, kindness and connection felt at last year’s club gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire or even the O2 Arena show. Just around me there were arguments, people doing their best to make things uncomfortable for those next to them and a general “out for themselves” atmosphere which was sad to see at a Pearl Jam show and spoiled the gig a little for me. But of course none of that was the band’s fault and Eddie Vedder (wearing a rather cool Devo t-shirt) showed a lot of concern, as usual, for everyone’s safety, although I saw far more people than I’ve ever seen at one of their shows pulled out of the front looking worse for wear (one girl was even taken away on a stretcher). The Neil Young crowd was much more mellow and caring and I can’t deny that I missed that, big time.
Despite all this going on, unbeknown to the band of course, Eddie and the boys seemed to be in good spirits and put their all into the show. There’s one thing you can say about Pearl Jam, with certainty, they never put on a half-hearted show. Beginning with Given To Fly, it was a crowd pleasing set filled with the “hits”: Even Flow, Why Go, Do The Evolution, Once, Go, Not For You, State Of Love And Trust etc. One of the nicest moments of the night came when they played the acoustic Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town (that title really is a mouthful) and it sounded like all 50,000 people in Hyde Park were singing along to every word. Another highlight was when the band paid tribute to The Clash’s Joe Strummer. Vedder told us that he was helping out in a venue he was playing years back and that’s when he met Jack Irons, who was drumming for Strummer at the time, and it was Irons who introduced him to Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, and the rest is history. The band then played a terrific version of a song from Strummer’s last album called Arms Aloft In Aberdeen, apparently a tribute to the whole festival-going experience, which Strummer loved.
There wasn’t too much from the new album Backspacer but Got Some and The Fixer already sound like classics and again were two of the best moments for me. There was also a new song (“an experiment” said Vedder, “if you like it we’ll put it on the next album") which sounded very Matt Cameron, full of big heavy, angular riffs but contained a long McCready solo in his signature style. It sounded pretty good. There were two encores, the second ending on the not unexpected double treat of Alive and Yellow Ledbetter.
So all-in-all a good solid show but compared to the London shows of last year, although the band played dependably well, it was nowhere near the same league and lacked that spark of magic that makes it stand out in all the Pearl Jam shows I’ve seen.
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