By Michael Bohm, Staff Writer
The lights dimmed to a lone spotlight shining on famed vocalist Eddie Vedder, who said, “In the immortal words of Spinal Tap: ‘Hello Cleveland,’” which was then followed by an eruption of cheering. Pearl Jam had definitely arrived at the Quicken Loans Arena on this past Mother’s Day.
Cleveland was another stop on Pearl Jam’s “Backspacer Tour,” to promote their new album of the same name. The pressure was on for Pearl Jam to maintain their reputation as one of the bands that shaped grunge music and to also escape the shadow of early Pearl Jam. Their debut album, “Ten”, which was released in 1991 is arguably their most famous album, in competition with VS., their second album.
Recently, the band received some harsh criticism following their performance on Saturday Night Live, showing very little energy and excitement in their playing, and not living up to their reputation as being one of the more exciting bands left on the music scene. Going into the day of the show, many concertgoers were hoping that if a national audience couldn’t ignite the band, an arena full of diehard Pearl Jam fans could do the trick.
The band was able to defy its critics that Sunday night, as they left the stage to a complete standing ovation of close to 15,000 fans, three times. There was no doubt in The Q that the awesomely unique riffs of Stone Gossard, the always impressive beats of Matt Cameron, the intense solos of Mike McCready, the hardcore bass lines of Jeff Ament, the styled keys of “Booooooooom” Gaspar, and of course the near flawless and energizing vocals of Vedder are still well in their prime.
The band came onto a dark stage, starting with a lesser-known song off of the “Ten” album: “Wash.” From then on, the stage remained lit for the performance of the remainder of their total of 29 songs, an unusually large number for a single concert. But it worked out pretty well. The set list was balanced between old and new Pearl Jam, with the performance of such songs as “World Wide Suicide” from their second most recent album of the same title, to one of their biggest hits, “Even Flow” from “Ten,” and everything in between. They reached back into their bag of rarities during the show as well, playing tunes like “Given To Fly,” “Leash,” and “Daughter.” The first set was closed with the extremely uptempo classic, “Why Go,” which featured a Hendrix-esque behind the back guitar solo by McCready that left the crowd in awe.
During the final of the three encores, the band took a request from a fan to play the song “Smile,” which featured a mixup in the band’s lineup that put Ament on guitar and McCready on bass. They also played a cover of the Who’s “The Real Me.” As many fans expected, Pearl Jam closed with “Alive,” which is too tempting for any fan not to chant along with. However, following the song, all of the arena’s lights were turned on, and they played one more song, “Indifference,” which was a very rare treat for all the fans not eager to beat the late night concert traffic.
Though for the most part, the members of the band did not seem to leave their designated areas, there was plenty of energy exhibited. McCready, for example, often appeared to be caught in his own mosh as he bounced around in circles. Vedder is an exception, as he made it his duty to keep the crowd into the show at all times. At any point where there was a vocal break, Vedder broke in one direction or the other to do anything from climb up a pole to high-fiving a few lucky fans. By the end of the show, fans clearly forgot about their dull performance on SNL.
Being Mothers Day, Vedder considered the concert a special opportunity to share with his mother. He was able to make the crowd give a “happy mothers day, Karen!” since he had been unable to reach her prior to the show.
The band may never again top their first two works, but according to Vedder, that’s not what’s important. “Looking back, if we think of our band now, if we had to go up against our band back then, personally I think we’d kick their [butts],” said a smiling Vedder. “We’ve got experience, and we’ve got smarts…and we’ve got Matt Cameron and Boom Gaspar!” Vedder also recalled his previous visits to Cleveland in the ‘90’s, when they played at Peabody’s and the Cleveland Music Hall, or “Music Bathroom” as Vedder put it.
Each Pearl Jam show is a new experience, which increases the desire for people to see them more than once. Each night has a different atmosphere, as if seeing the band throughout different eras. “I love how their set list changes from show to show,” said one attendee of the show. “Much different from other artists who routinely play the same show night after night.” In addition, many of the concertgoers who had already seen the band several times on this tour are saying that this show ranks better than any of the previous ones of the tour. One fan of the band, who’s seen them on numerous occasions, said “I’ve been to a lot of shows, Wash was a first. I thought it was one of the greatest I’ve seen.” The set included a perfect balance of new hits to old ones, and many rarities. All in all, it will leave anyone who’s never even heard Pearl Jam satisfied.
