| Pearl Jam. |
| 19/2/2003, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. |
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And with "I seem to recognize your face…" another memorable concert was started… and by the time we got to "I just want to scream Hello" we were aware that it was going to be a bloody good experience all round. Drawing from an extensive catalogue of songs, it was a great concert for the die-hards and the casuals alike. Take a gander at the set list below - while it doesn't contain my 3 favourite Pearl Jam songs, it doesn't matter. It's just 2 (and a bit) solid hours of fantastic music. * Elderly Woman... * Interstellar Overdrive * Corduroy * Save You (talk about rock!) * Given To Fly (close to being the highlight) * Cropduster * Nothing As It Seems * Evenflow (absolutely the highlight) * I Am Mine * Love Boat Captain * Lukin * Not For You * Light Years ("We don't play this very often…") * You Are (a truly spectacular light show) * Daughter (with a very cool outro jam) * I Got ID * Half Full * Once * Blood ------------- * Bush Leaguer * Sleight Of Hand (Eddie required his lyrics book for this one) * Betterman * Do The Evolution * Spin The Black Circle (rock, rock and more rock) ------------- * Throw Your Arms Around Me * Alive * Fucking Up? It's nice to be reminded of what you already knew as well. I think I may have forgotten over the past couple of years a few things, including: A.) How many great songs Pearl Jam have written (Even Flow, Given To Fly, Corduroy, Spin The Black Circle, so many more) B.) How good a rock vocalist Eddie Vedder can be - he was the perfect frontman last night - great vocals, great presence, great in-between-song banter C.) That Mike McCready can pull it off live. A really talented guitarist D.) That a sorely underrated musician, perhaps one of rock's great drummers, has still got it. In case you didn't know, Matt Cameron (ex-Soundgarden) now plays with Pearl Jam, and was he on the money last night - just a powerhouse. And like clockwork… And as far as seats go (thank you sooooo much Sean), they were great. Smack bang in the middle, first row in the second section of ground. Perfect view. Also, it's been a while since I've been to a concert where I've noticed the light show - last night was damn impressive in that department. Overall it was an excellent concert - I was a little disappointed though with "Once" - it was a little slower than usual, and therefore felt like it was lacking energy. "Even Flow" had an amazing extended guitar solo. I thought Eddie kinda butchered "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (but then again, the original is hard to top). "Spin The Black Circle" sounded better than it ever had before (as did "Not For You"). "Nothing As It Seems" was great as well. Sound quality was awesome (the last 3 concerts I've seen at Rod Laver have really impressed me sound wise). So that's about it. Was it worth the ticket price? Hell yeah. |