To give some background I’m back home in Wisconsin for the long weekend to see two epic nights of Pearl Jam at Alpine Valley. I lucked out in that with all the places in the world that PJ could have picked to play they happened to pick where I first saw them in 1998 and 45 minutes away from where I grew up. It was a rainy day so we didn’t take off for the concert until about 2pm and was forced to tailgate inside the car with some New Glaurus Spotted Cow and Cheese Curds before heading in to catch Mudhoney, Queens of the Stone Age, The Strokes and finally Pearl Jam. The Strokes put on a great show and I’m really glad they are making music again. They played a lot of old stuff which brought me back to hanging out with Chris Polley when we DJ’d college radio together. Eddie came out to sing a song with The Strokes and tease everyone at what was coming.

Opening

They started off with “Release” which is one of their most common openers. Great song and the lyrics hold special meaning for Dave and I having lost our fathers. In My Tree from No Code was particularly good and slightly different than previous tours where they’ve played it. Matt Cameron seems to be going back to the drum fills that Jack Irons perfectly put down on both the No Code and Yield albums.  Matt is an amazing drummer but I was slightly hoping that maybe Jack would make an appearance for a few of his best songs, like In My Tree. I was also really happy to finally hear “Who We Are”, the single from No Code which has eluded me in all the live shows I’ve seen to so far. Push Me, Pull Me – from Yield – is a great song and a bit of a rarity live but I don’t feel like the band has ever able to do it justice live compared to the album. Breath was played and reminded me of how rare that song use to be live before everyone campaigned with signs a few tours ago and they play it much more regularly. Between Breath and State of Love and Trust they definitely gave good homage to their early work. Betterman is always great live with Eddie giving the entire first verse to the crowd and with all the fan club members it was the loudest I’ve heard a crowd sing that song. Eddie gave a nice speech about how important music was to all of them and how passionately they pursued it early on even when others discouraged them or told them would never amount to much. That lead directly in to “Life Wasted (Reprise)” from the Avocado album and the full version of “Life Wasted” which brought the energy up quite a bit. Then things started to get really interesting..

Mother Love Bone / Temple of the Dog Reunion

Eddie introduced Chris Cornell and gave him the reigns for 4 songs: Stardog Champion, Say Hello 2 Heaven, Reach Down and Hunger Strike. It was amazing.  The crowd didn’t seem as in to it but its great that more people can hear those tracks. Andy Wood and the events in Mother Love Bone lead to the formation of Pearl Jam so it’s only fitting that they be recognized in a show playing tribute to the history of the band. I’m not as big of a Love Bone fan as compared to others but Eddie and Cornell nailed their duet on Hunger Strike and dedicating Say Hello 2 Heaven to Andy which was very moving.  It was a once in a lifetime experience to see these songs performed.

Abrupt Ending

I was surprised after Chris left the stage that Pearl Jam only put on 3 more songs: Love Reign O’er Me, Porch, and Kicking Out the Jams (which Mark Arm from Mudhoney did great on with Eddie). At 28 songs (and two bottles of wine for Eddie) it was a shorter set than most expected and dipped in to a lot of history for the band but didn’t really cover the breadth of what the band can do.  It even felt like they were dragging towards the end a bit.  That leads me to think that tomorrow night we’re in for a marathon full of surprise guests and songs from all albums.

Final Thoughts

The show was good, but did not top my favorite which is still the last from 2010 when they played Madison Square Garden. That will be a tough concert to beat with the slow version of Lukin, Black Red Yellow, Sweet Lew and sitting in the very front by winning the fan club ticket lottery. I did feel like tonight was more of a tribute to their roots with Mother Love Bone and people that gave them inspiration. Rumors are flying that Neil Young (who I did see walking around on side stage), Pete Townsend and others are at Alpine and could be potential candidates for songs tomorrow night. My gut would tell me we’re in for at least a 30-something set list tomorrow and some really crazy collaborations (Fucking Up or Rockin the Free World with Neil Young, Baba O’Reiley with Pete?). I’m a little disappointed that the band was as conservative as they were for the first night but I still would not want to be any other place in the world these two nights.