Concert Reviews, Photos, Videos and Rock and Roll Stories from fans who love live music

It could have been 1 of several things that brought Eddie Vedder out to centre stage well before the opening band was scheduled to start tonight’s Pearl Jam show at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. The first being that as Eddie Vedder said Ted Leo of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists was not available as of yet and “we would have to improvise”. The second is that EV is a good guy and would love to fill the seats with people to watch Ted Leo before PJ fills them, or lastly he just freakin loves Toronto and the Legacy of Neil Young!  Who cares it’s all probably true but loving Neil Young, as Eddie obviously does has him out early and meandering through Neil’s Sugar Mountain & The Needle and the Damage done.  Just crazy awesome!! I was up walking around between the 300’s and the 400’s which at this point were basically empty I just plunked down and caught Sugar Mountain on video and was blown away by EV doing these Neil Young gems. The goose bumps were already happening!!

There isn’t gong to be enough words to describe the show. Pearl Jam were simply spectacular!! I have been going to shows for 35+ years now and I got to tell this show has to be in my top 10! Believe it or not probably I’ve done 500+ shows and this was my first live experience with Pearl Jam .  Although I did manage to catch the Eddie Vedder solo outing last year at Massey Hall. (bonus gem here)  Not sure why I never caught the full band… I have everything they put out, plus a bunch of boots and I’m seriously liking the new tune The Fixer with the Ska feel. Eddie Vedder even sounds happy on the tune.

Right out of the box -- Of The Girl a nice rockin noddler to get us feeling good and ready for what was in store…then Corduroy nice!! Were just getting started…. I’m in the 100’s now 5 rows back just to McCready’s side. The crowd is ballistic!! I heard the venue was over sold  by 4000. I got to tell you Pearl Jam has to be the toughest tickets to get. I heard a scalper sell two $40 lawns for $500. Nuts!  I mean I didn’t’ see a decent 200 level, never mind a 100 anywhere. I entered with a 400 level and ended in the second row by the encore.  Severed Hand and were in the stratus sphere some where …Yield and Pearl Jam got a lot of air time.

The new tune The Fixer sounds nice live. EVEN FLOW… comes in there like a freight train of rock ….it is like a blur in here now…Given to Fly…. I think Eddie Vedder mentioned they don’t get this out there much live or it could have been Faithful…. Around Unemployable EV gave a little story about “how amusing it must be to watch the country down under us” he used the current health debate going on in the USA to suggest it must be like watching a “dog chase its own tail” then he changed the story a little and mentioned it maybe kind of like have a distinguished guest over to your house for dinner like Neil Young then referring to him as Uncle Neil -- like having “Uncle Neil over for dinner and the dog like starts to lick its own asshole”!

½ Full comes across heavy, way heavier then the album version could ever do!!  This could of went on forever I was gone!!  Mike is on fire!! The whole band is crazy!! The run of inside Job (with the keyboards turned up nicely) and Mike screaming some nice stuff.. and then Wishlist just to cool down before the rockoutfest of Black and Alive back to back was unreal. The Black fading guitar outro was another awesome standout!!

At one juncture during the rock out in Alive the band comes together in front of the drum kit -- Mike playing the big double necked Gibson -- they are this finely tuned rock machine churning, humming, powerful -- Eddie Vedder rams his head for a moment into Mike McCready’s chest ! Wild to watch!! McCready throws out a handful of guitar picks and I manage to snag one!!  MC changes his shirt a couple of time and at one point he comes out wearing a Kiss Alive tee shirt -- classic stuff!!

The band cools it out again with Wasted (reprise)… I think it was during this tune or at the conclusion EV come and points to -- then leans over and hands the guy directly in front of me and one seat to the right a tambourine !! The vibe all around was beautiful!

………………………..The weather was working the music so amazing!! The crowd literally going insane here… the sing along with Betterman (video) was huge!! Eddie Vedder let it go for awhile then comes to the mike and says” that was pretty f**kin’ good”!! I kind of remember Porch but don’t ….I mean I was in this surreal place where this band had taken me.

They were playing so tight and the magic was really flowing. I didn’t want the show to end and end it had to and fittingly so with the encore being Neil Young’s Rockin’ in The Free World!! What a blast!! If there was a second it would be a no brainer to head on down!! This is definitely 2 hours I’d love to relive over and over again!!

Set List for the evening in Toronto with Pearl Jam…..

Front Side of Mike McCready’s Guitar Pic

BETTERMAN from Toronto

More Pearl Jam Videos from Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre

Concertaholics Photos on Flickr

LEAVE US A COMMENT from this show or any other this Tour

This was the first show I have ever gone to at a casino. The vibe is certainly not conducive to a rock show. I guess it may not be fair to judge this by a single show, however, this one certainly felt like something was missing. Don’t get me wrong there were great moments like Stephen Stills doing Bluebird and stuff like Southern Cross, but there is an all business “feel” to the whole process around the show. Heavy casino security, not being able to have a drink inside the venue except for water, in quick out quick, the length of show and even the fact of the band (Graham Nash) acknowledging the “captive” audience.

At any rate as I said there were highlights and the big ones for me came from Stephen Stills.  The guy can still play a mean guitar and harmonize with the best of them. In fact he is one of the best ones!

The show started with Helplessly Hoping and You Don’t Have to Cry. I felt these were mellow enough to let the band warm up the vocals and ease into the show. Graham Nash said “we would like to play some songs from friends of ours” and the band went into The Stones Ruby Tuesday. This came off very nicely and at the conclusion because the crowd reaction was so “blah” Nash came back to microphone and said “that was from The Rolling Stones” < I assume to generate some reaction, and Stills pipes in with, “because, they need the money”.  At least this got the crowd laughing a little.

It wasn’t until Guinevere that I really began to hear David Crosby clearly. I am not sure if he was just really warming until this point or what, but his magic kicked about here. They rolled through Marrakesh Express and did a really nice version of Uncle John’s Band that was rolled out with Graham mentioning Jerry Garcia as a friend. It really started to feel like a serious rock show when they played Long Time Gone. I mean this was awesome, a definite highlight!! If I closed my eyes it could have been Buffalo Springfield playing during Bluebird. In fact I did and it was!! Southern Cross was another Stills gem. The tempo felt a little rushed but the extended finish on this was so, so good!  I have to mention at some before Southern Cross someone in the audience yelled out “Southern Cross” Crosby walked to the microphone and said, ” do you really think we would do a set without playing Southern Cross” then he motioned like are you nuts with his doing counter clock-wise circles around the sides of his head. This was another odd moment. Wooden Ships what can you say? Pull out the first CSN album put it on and you are gonna know “exactly” what I am saying.

I go to shows to be taken away somewhere that music can only take me and this got me there!! I scored a setlist from the sound board guys who were more than kind of friendly as we spoke abut their journey with these amazing musicians. The list reads For What it’s Worth but that was changed during the show to Our House, which of course was the sing along song. They finished off with Teach Your Children which went over nicely. The entire show ran less than 90 minutes. The security was all over my camera so I only managed a couple of shots, so forget about video. As I said there were highlights but the entire “casino” vibe has me rethinking a couple of other shows I have tickets for at Casino Rama this summer. Then again row 2 for LIVE can’t be that bad!

The biggest surprise for me at this show was Billy Joel.  He really brought everyone into the show like we all were in some huge piano bar somewhere in New Jersey. I saw him back around 1983 at the “Aud” in Buffalo, but to say my memories of that show are dim to nil would be an understatement.

The show opened with Elton playing Your Song and then Billy playing, Just the way you are. They were actually facing each other each behind a Black Yahama Grand. The songs had the same feel and tempo and these were solo songs. Next Elton played, Don’t let the Sun Go Down on me with a small band and Billy played My Life. This was a nice show opener. Face to Face piano masters. The flamboyant colourful John facing the conservative back to piano bar roots Joel.

Elton opened his main set with Funeral for a Friend / Loves Lies Bleeding. This song is worth the ticket price alone. I have seen Elton John 11 times (my 1^st EJ show was 1979 at the O’keef Centre) and Funeral is still one of his best songs live for me. He rolled through 11 songs with highlights for me seeming to be the extended piano playing on songs like Tiny Dancer, Madman Across the Water, Rocketman  and Levon. Burn Down the Mission may have been the gem here because I can’t recall having heard this song  live before and I really enjoy the Tumbleweed Connection album era.

I have to say the Elton John Band doesn’t get enough accolades. The Nigel Olsson drums sound like cannon fire at times and Davey Johnstone still plays a mean lead guitar. Davey came out with this awesome Les Paul with the Captain Fantastic album motif on it. It looked really good. I guess with Elton you pretty much get what you expect, stellar piano playing, a great band then a machine gun of classics. The last time out I saw the Captain and the Kid tour in Nov 2006 and was lucky enough to get a copy of my Goodbye Yellow Brick Album signed. I took a couple of pictures of Elton John signing &  caught a really nice close up of his hand as he passed the album back to me. (see below from 2006)

Billy opened his 11 song main set with Angry Young Man. I have to say he was pretty funny telling all kinds of stories and joking about people facing his back and the special effects of his piano turning around every couple of songs. He kept referring to the seats at the back as Hamilton, Ontario. He blasted through a bunch of classics like Allentown, Moving Out and Always a Woman to mention a few. At one point he was out front playing a guitar. I never followed Billy Joel very closely so that was a big surprise. He finished out his set with a rousing Still Rock N Roll to Me and Only the Good Die Young.

There was a very short break if 1 at all and EJ was back with Billy to play I Guess That’s Why they Call it the Blues first then into a Joel song.

Each playing verses of each other songs. Uptown Girl is next then a few more before going into the Beatles Happy Birthday and Back in USSR.  I caught a video of these 2 songs. I wasn’t sure why but I liked the change up.

The encore was candle in The Wind and the very appropriate Piano Man.

It was good show all around. Even at 300 bucks a ticket it felt like good value.

It was kind of like seeing 2 concerts with a gem or 2 thrown in.