Pearl Jam Dominates Chicago With 2 Sold-Out NightsOn their second and final night at the United Center, Pearl Jam achieved what has become a staple in their live performances over the past 18 years—total domination. Over the course of 28 songs, the champions of Seattle pulled no punches in front of another sold-out audience.
In his “Troop 365” Boy Scout shirt, Eddie Vedder could almost pass for a scoutmaster, up until the point he began to consume his favorite bottle of wine and lecture on the intricate genius of The Who’s Quadropehnia. “Here we go! We got all night,” said Vedder after the band opened with the rarely performed “Hard To Imagine” (an outtake from Vs.) before firing off a salvo of ear crushing tunes (“In My Tree,” “Last Exit”). The first 15 minutes of the night saw the band crunch, leap, stomp, swerve and sweat at such a breakneck pace that there was very little room to catch a breath. As if sensing the crowd had on its mind, “Why did it have to be a Monday night show?” Vedder pulled the classic performer cliché of praising the previous night’s crowd and laying the challenge to raise the bar even higher. Naturally, the crowd bought the sales pitch.
Concentrating primarily on the pre-2000 era of the band’s catalog, the sextet delivered song after song with full out fury. Although they have grown into a force with unquestionable musical skills, Pearl Jam has slowly become a contradiction of itself that probably most fans wouldn’t contend against. The element of surprise seems to have been traded for the comfort zone…predictability. As the band blazed through “Even Flow”—with the usual spotlight portion for guitarist Mike McCready—the song became almost a parody more befitting for the likes of Poison or Mötley Crüe. And even though Pearl Jam’s ninth album, Backspacer, is sitting in the wings waiting for its late September release, new songs like “The Fixer” and “Got Some” left very little resonance after the final note.
That said—Pearl Jam showed no mercy when it came to reaching back in the catalog for such songs as “Porch” and “Whipping” (for which Vedder donned a Les Paul fashioned as a model Pete Townshend commonly used with The Who). Before the No Code gem “Present Tense,” Vedder gave a warm dedication to opening act Bad Religion who had not opened for Pearl Jam since its show at Soldier Field in 1995.
As the stadium house lights were brought back up, the pulsating muddy groves of Neil Young’s “Fuckin’ Up” succumbed to the gentle blues of “Yellow Ledbetter.” No longer disguised in the darkness or flickering of stage lights, the sea of fans that had kept pace with the band for over 2 ½ hours expressed their thanks one more time in clear view. For just another night, Chicago belonged to Pearl Jam.
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