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!

Street Sweeper Social Club

I saw Tom Morello back in the late 90’s with Rage Against The Machine here in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. The songs I knew… the guitrist I didn’t. I was blown away by a style I hadn’t seen or heard beofre in a live setting. Over a Decade later Tom’s new project Street Sweeper Social Club kicked off a great night of alt-funk-rock by hammering the “concert gas peddle” hard.

With Boots Riley on the Mic this band blasted through a 30 minute set that offered some “Rage” flavoured beats and guitar work that of course blew away 1st timers and basically had me nodding at buying the new CD when it arrives on June 16. Here’s a taste…

Nine Inch Nails

After my first NIN concert last fall ..I had seen one of the best light shows I had seen in years along with some great music. It wasn’t a Top 10 for me or anything & I didn’t know alot about the band…but the show was well worth seeing. Tonight’s show was different. Not as many lights and no 25 minute selections off  the slower instrumental “Ghosts”.  Trent Rezner @trent_reznor took the wheel from SSSC and unloaded the Nitric Oxide…. heavy

From the opener “Terrible Lie” till the “get your lighter out” closer “Hurt” These guys played harder then last fall’s ACC show in Toronto. Was it the Morello & Navarro sandwhich? Back in the 300’s behind the soundboard every song sounded bang on. The place was full to 16,000+… and full of NIN fanatics dancing, moshing and loving this show. The intensity of this band is so likeable… you don’t need to know the music… just step inside the NIN-Rock-Chamber. As I glanced around I spotted Richard Beland shooting for Chart… and as he flexed his professional lense I clicked on my trusty Sony while NIN delivered a nice version of David Bowie’s  ”I’m Afraid Of Americans”

By the time “Head Like a Hole” started to wrap itself around us all for the squeeze it seemed as though we were watching the headliners…. maybe we were? This was feeling like a Festival almost knowing there was another wicked band still to take the stage. When the music gets this loud and this good…. the only thing that gets better is when you get the “text message” saying to come down front after the NIN set from our favourite NIN soundmaster. So we get “Hurt” for an encore with lotsa lighters and then go for a walk on the intermission. I overhear some people saying some concert goers are leaving now as they only came for NIN.  We headed down front to stage left and saw Richard again and eventually got some passes in hand…

Janes Addiction

Even the above pass didn’t get us in the PIT but we managed to sneak into the 3rd row just as Janes Addiction took the stage. Right out of the gate that familiar vocal from Perry along with his Bowie-esque outfit and moves… it just drew me in… the presence of  Dave Navarro on the axe and a drummer & bassist that caught my attention right away. 

Navarro and Perry seemed to do their own little shows within the show… as did the drummer who assaulted his intrument…song after song….  the groove was good and it was obvious these guys were connected heavy. By mid set the vocals got even better and the Bass player seemed to shine at times even over the two flamboyant frontmen. 

As we were walking out of the Molson Amphitheatre I heard one fan say to another that “the” moment for him was during “Summertime Rolls” I didn’t know the song…but chose to video it and noticed it getting response from fans who obviously know Janes Addiction. If you look closely behind Navarro while he solos…you can see a couple of his friends grooving to the show.

This show was solid all the way around. A Total ride back to time where I had crawled out of highschool and was trying to figure things out…as was the music scene then. Now as we get “STOP” The band totally ERUPTS…. everyone seems to be on 12 Red Bull and part of Farrell’s costume is off exposing the Corset and his wirey frame as he gyrates on the monitor…holding the Mic out for us to participate!  We Did….

He talks about how nice Toronto the city is, dreadlocks and more and they leave… only to come back with the anticipated Jane Says

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