Jeff Miers - Buffalo News
August 22, 2009
Casting Pearls in Toronto
Just did a little quick (and totally guess-timated) math, and I believe I've seen something like 2,000 rock shows in my life. So far. On Friday, inside Toronto's gorgeous Molson Ampitheatre, Pearl Jam offered up a concert that crashed straight into my personal top 10. It was poignant, transcendent, a holy experience. And it was stuffed full of surprises.
The first of them came early. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists were scheduled to open the show, but showed up minus their singer and namesake. Leo, it seems, had passport troubles at the border - "As in, he forgot to bring his," said Eddie Vedder, as he took the stage to announce that pearl Jam would in effect open up for themselves, with a little help from the leader-less Pharmacists. Vedder then sat down with an acoustic guitar and crushed us with beautiful readings of Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." The people who'd come early were freaking out. They freaked more when Vedder announced PJ's Mike McReedy would play a few songs solo - one he'd written for his daughter. Stone Gossard got in on the act with an inspired version of Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory".
Vedder then left the Pharmacists (with McReedy) through a short set highlighted by a blistering version of the Stooges' "Search and Destroy." All of this, and the Pearl Jam set proper hadn't even begun.
When it did... well, let's just say feelings were running high, and they stayed that way for the entirety of the 2 and 1/2 hour set. Here's the set list:
Of The Girl, Corduroy, Severed Hand, Why Go, Brain Of J, I Am Mine, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Unemployable, Faithful, Down, Got Some, 1/2 Full, Lukin, Not For You/(Modern Girl – Sleater Kinney), Do The Evolution
1st encore: Inside Job, Wishlist, Black, Alive
2nd encore:Small Town, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Porch (during which Ed goes into the crowd!), Rockin’ In The Free World
Visit
this cool Pearl Jam fan site for some goodies from the show.
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