As Pearl Jam took the Gibson Amphitheater stage for the first night of what will be two back-to-back concerts over the week, separated by an appearance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, they were greeted with a rousing ovation, and a great many audience members never returned to their seats the rest of the night.
They opened by going back to the beginning with “Why Go” from Ten. Mike McCready wasted no time delivering a great guitar solo. It was immediately apparent this was going to be a sing-along evening because everyone shared vocals with Eddie Vedder as they would with the next song “Animal.”
The ferocious pace of “Worldwide Suicide” was sustained by “Got Some,” the first of seven songs from Backspacer. While very few sang along here, possibly being their first exposure to the song, the audience appeared into it. “Tremor Christ” had great interplay between bassist Jeff Ament and McCready. Vedder would pick up a guitar for the first time on “Force of Nature,” and “Evenflow” found McCready going Hendrix with his behind-the-head playing.
The lyrics of “Amongst The Waves” continue Vedder’s use of surf imagery. The music was in sync as the band slowed down the pace, allowing the listener more time to appreciate each moment, bringing to mind slow-motion shots from surf films. Only six nights in the tour, the songs are still new to the band as Vedder revealed when he copped to messing up the lyrics. No one cared as the band kept playing and he got back on track
Matt Cameron drums set a quick tempo on “Insignificance” and everyone tried to keep pace until the big, triple-guitar attack closed out the song. The deep cuts continued with “Rats” where Ament delivered a sweet bass line.
On stage with just McCready, Vedder rambled a bit about doctors having found metal in his system, leading to McCready playing some Iron Maiden riffs. The glorious opening of “Present Tense” rang out on this wondrous song about living in the now and letting go of the past.
you can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense
The rest of the band returned to close it out with a grand send-off. It’s my favorite PJ song, so my night was made. Everything afterward was gravy.
Article comments
1 - code
Why go is not from ten !!!!!! where do you get these writers from
2 - code
ooops .... it is ... sorry
3 - Glen Boyd
A better question might be, where do we get these commenters from?
4 - Greg Barbrick
I'll double down on that one Boyd. Sounds like it was a great show Bicho.
5 - El Bicho
you can tell he's not a real PJ fan or his name would be No Code.
6 - gerrycasillas
Code is a Joke.