Okay, I'm still tired but am sufficiently recuperated to finally report on the concerts.First up was Pearl Jam at U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night. It had sort of a strange vibe because it was the site of 11 fan deaths at a Who concert in 1979. For Pearl Jam, this hit especially close to home after they experienced 8 fan deaths at a festival concert in Denmark in 2000. Before the opening band started, Ed came out and played a solo version of "The Kids Are Alright." He wore a Who t-shirt and talked about the tragedy in Cincinnati in 1979 and in Denmark in 2000. It cast a somber shadow over the concert, but didn't really prevent us from enjoying the music.
Because Keith's a member of PJ's fan club, we had really good seats. PJ is about the only arena concert we go to anymore, so I'm getting very spoiled as to being close to the stage. We weren't on the floor, but the equivalent of 10 floor rows back, and then row G on the left-hand side of the stage.
We were close enough that I noticed Ed spitting a lot throughout the concert. Funny—I'd never been able to see that before. I think I could have done without it, but it did reinforce the caliber of our seats.
I thought the band had a good, relatively relaxed vibe. They seemed to be having fun, and Ed interacted with the crowd a lot. They played "Present Tense," which Keith had said before he was hoping to hear. I was hoping for "Crazy Mary" (yes), and our wedding song "Thin Air" (didn't happen). What was also surprising is that they played "Leash," which they categorically refuse to play live at all, so it was exciting to hear a song that very few fans have heard in concert. I admit: it made me feel "cool."
For me personally, I think this ranks as my 2nd favorite Pearl Jam concert, after the Cleveland concert on their "Riot Act" tour.
Since this is already significantly longer than my usual blog entry, I'm thinking I'll save the Gomez review for tomorrow. In a venue that has about a 600-person capacity, it was an entirely different experience.
4 comments:
Did I ever mention the time I met Eddie Vedder? < g >
Gomez will be in Cleveland on Saturday.
One time, at OzzFest, we were up close to the stage while Black Sabbath was on and this crazy old guy who probably saw BS in their original run was yelling "Ozzy! Spit on me!" I think he would have liked your seats.
Yay! The PJ review! I've only been checking the site every 20 minutes for a day and half ....
We're having a partial snow day. I lugged in my laptop and printer so that I can print out some alumni stuff on a third of my giant desk while I work on assessing a manuscript on the other two thirds.
Re: your comments about my musical taste -- I only heard the Simpson/Hilton tracks because I was listening to On Air with Ryan Seacrest over the Internet. Yes, I like American Idol, too. Yes, I realize that admitting this isn't really helping me defend myself. However, he's only on in the mornings, so the afternoons are usually devoted to some Woxy.com (I think I saw this mentioned in Entertainment Weekly a few issues ago -- after you had already blogged about it, of course.) or some indie pop channels on Yahoo! radio. Plus, I do own most PJ CDs, so I like to think that I'm not completely hopeless.
C: We were excited when we first learned that Gomez would be in Cleveland this weekend. The only problem is that they're opening, so they'll only play for maybe a half-hour, and it's in the middle of the afternoon on our big Move In day.
Having said that, there's still a good chance that we'll go because it's Gomez and we love them.
I do vaguely remember the Eddie Vedder story, but you'll have to tell it to me again this weekend while the concert is fresh in my mind.
Amy: If you listen to Woxy, then all is forgiven:) I *may* or may not listen to bubble gum pop from time to time, and it is conceivable I may have a Britney song on my MP3 player for running music. But I will not confirm this.
What do you think of the latest PJ CD? I don't think I realized you were such a fan. I think my favorite albums are "Yield" and "Riot Act," but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I've listened to them as "albums" more so than earlier ones.
My favorite has to be Ten, but that's mainly because it reminds me of some friends from college. My favorite song, though, is "Yellow Ledbetter." Oh, and I like Lost Dogs.
I have the new album (go, iTunes!)and I'm working it into the mix. I don't think I've listened to it enough yet for anything to really stand out as a favorite track.
I've found, actually, that I tend to get stuff when it first comes out, listen to it a few times and think "Meh," set it aside for a few months to a year, come across it at some point while I'm rummaging through the overgrown mess that is my CD collection, play it and think "This is awesome!" How come I haven't been listening to this all along?!" and then rock out to it constantly.
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