For those interested...have been looking up old articles of shows I've been to..some of the writing is, well, typical of the times etc...
Quote:
Pearl Jam: welcome back, Eddie: Eddie Vedder and Co. have given up on their apparent subversive stance against media assistance and are playing the game. That is a good thing.; [Final Edition]
ILANA KRONICK. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Aug 20, 1998. pg. D.8.BRE
Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Aug 20, 1998
A friend of mine's older brother saw Led Zeppelin at the Pointe Claire Arena.
Every time I encounter him, I'm tapped on the shoulder with this colossal fact - and its fatuous consequence. Oh, yeah, this guy's been blessed.
I may not have enough years to my name to brandish a similar morsel of romanticized rock history. But, gratefully, my penetrating interest in good music has, in the past decade or so, offered me a few peeks into to the gestating periods of titanic talents.
But there is only one account with which I'm sure to impress someone's younger sibling with.
I saw Pearl Jam in 1991. In Burlington, Vt. With the Smashing Pumpkins. Opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
It's taken years for Pearl Jam to establish legendary status and therefore, I haven't always been aware this concert's fanatic value. There was a time when it promised no more of a rise than would an Alice in Chains before-they-were-famous ticket stub.
But it was in 1996, at a significantly less auspicious event, The Chom
L'Esprit finals, that I was unwittingly struck with Pearl Jamania, and the subsequent realization that the same keen rock- radar that had alerted me to a young, wall-climbing Eddie Vedder years back, had snobbily neglected his band's fascinating denouement. I had absolutely no idea Pearl Jam were so influential.
"Well, yeah...," my co-judge dribbled blithely.
It was insane
It was insane. The contestants who didn't take a Vedder stance, took an Jeff Ament pose. Long haired 16-year-olds hung lean and leery, with distinct Stone Gossard affectation. These were people who only listened to Pearl Jam. (There were people who only listened to Pearl Jam!) Because they were the only current models of popular rock'n'roll that spoke the right emotional language. In 1996, they were the only current models of popular rock.
Had they won out by default? Were they championing a genre or simply salvaging it?
At the time, PJ had three successful records, one of which was a landmark masterpiece whose thunderous momentum carried through to the second. It was after Pearl Jam's sophomoric stage, after its grungy colleagues had either washed out or died out, that the band's longevity, significance and success was to be tested. Instead it was honoured.
The curious cult status started developing around the period of PJ's third outing, Vitology. A reaction to the band's diminished support from the mainstream (already mainlining electronica in large, toxic doses), and its apparent subversive stance against media assistance, it was a call for Pearl Jam's necessary continuance.
No, it didn't matter that by the time 1997's less accessible No Code surreptitiously crept up behind us, Pearl Jam had long sworn off videos, had become decidedly difficult live promotions, had established a routine practice of turning down interviews, had become the type of band that opts for pics of themselves recording in the studio over other art work. They were necessities of rock machinery.
Accused of flagrant careerism and calculated anti-careerism, the band was a frustrating oddity in the pool of rock star traditionalists. Partially because it didn't know how else to be, because adhering to rock`n'roll tradition in the '90s while actually sounding traditionally rock and roll was absurd, uninteresting and embarrassing. Mostly because it could be - with unashamed success.
A Solid Collection
This year Pearl Jam is talking to the press, doing a tour, playing the game, occasioning a story like this. I'm glad. I like Pearl Jam.
Their newest album, Yield, is a solid collection of polyrhythmic temptresses. It's usually good. Vedder, as always, can wail like a banshee and cry like a baby - nobody can sing like this man. We all know, and have always known, that without Ed Vedder, there would be no Pearl Jam.
The sound is accessible - it is generic - but in a welcoming way. Gossard seems to pull the right chords more often than the wrong.
But I don't pretend to fully understand the appeal, just to relay it.
- Pearl Jam plays the Molson Centre tonight. Tickets are $35.
REVIEW
Quote:
Pearl Jam back - at last; [Final Edition]
MARTIN SIBEROK. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Aug 21, 1998. pg. D.7
Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Aug 21, 1998
"Are you ready for Eddie?" the guy behind me was loudly asking all his friends.
Judging by the standing ovation and deafening shrieks emitted by the crowd as Pearl Jam walked on to the stage at the sold-out Molson Centre last night, that was proof enough.
It's been five long years since Pearl Jam played the Verdun Auditorium on a hot summer's night.
Even singer Eddie Vedder admitted that it's been too long, before launching into Present Tense and letting 19,000 Montreal fans know that all that really counted was the here and now.
There's nothing fancy about Pearl Jam. They're just five regular- looking guys standing on a stark stage with five large candle- holders in front a video scene - but boy can they play.
Guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready churned out all the right licks as they alternated between breakneck power chords and softer riffs, while the black-clad Vedder performed vocal acrobatics as he warbled, whispered and screamed his emotionally driven lyrics.
Credit also goes to the superb rhythm section of bassist Jeff Ament and touring drummer Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden.
With such talent it's easy to see why Pearl Jam has been able to establish itself as one the pre-eminent rock bands of the decade. It comes as no surprise to find them on the pantheon of rock greats alongside The Who, Led Zeppelin and U2.
Though they opened on a quiet note with the tasty Sometimes, Pearl Jam immediately picked up the pace with an anguished Corduroy and a full onslaught of Animal.
All the songs off their classic first album Ten that we wanted to hear were delivered: Jeremy, Even Flow, Alive and even Black.
Plus, several recent ones off the outstanding new album Yield, including Given to Fly, Wishlist and Do the Evolution.
There was even a tip of the hat to Vedder's all-time favourite band, The Who, with Baba O'Riley being thrown into the encore.
The funniest moment came when Daughter segued into Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. As the song finished, Vedder threw in the line: "Mr. President, leave those kids alone."
After witnessing last night's concert, it is understandable why Pearl Jam has such a loyal following. The band delivered everything their fans wanted to hear and didn't disappoint.
The biggest letdown of the evening was opening act Cheap Trick. Boasting all four original members - guitarist Rick Nielsen, singer Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos - the band's set was at first hampered by lousy sound, then by their refusal to play any of their hits, like Surrender or Dream Police. The only one they did was Heaven Tonight.
It seemed Nielsen was more interested in changing his guitar every song than the music itself. Too bad.
Comments
I'd love for this show to be officially released. Best crowd ever!
For those interested...have been looking up old articles of shows I've been to..some of the writing is, well, typical of the times etc...
ILANA KRONICK. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Aug 20, 1998. pg. D.8.BRE
Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Aug 20, 1998
A friend of mine's older brother saw Led Zeppelin at the Pointe Claire Arena.
Every time I encounter him, I'm tapped on the shoulder with this colossal fact - and its fatuous consequence. Oh, yeah, this guy's been blessed.
I may not have enough years to my name to brandish a similar morsel of romanticized rock history. But, gratefully, my penetrating interest in good music has, in the past decade or so, offered me a few peeks into to the gestating periods of titanic talents.
But there is only one account with which I'm sure to impress someone's younger sibling with.
I saw Pearl Jam in 1991. In Burlington, Vt. With the Smashing Pumpkins. Opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
It's taken years for Pearl Jam to establish legendary status and therefore, I haven't always been aware this concert's fanatic value. There was a time when it promised no more of a rise than would an Alice in Chains before-they-were-famous ticket stub.
But it was in 1996, at a significantly less auspicious event, The Chom
L'Esprit finals, that I was unwittingly struck with Pearl Jamania, and the subsequent realization that the same keen rock- radar that had alerted me to a young, wall-climbing Eddie Vedder years back, had snobbily neglected his band's fascinating denouement. I had absolutely no idea Pearl Jam were so influential.
"Well, yeah...," my co-judge dribbled blithely.
It was insane
It was insane. The contestants who didn't take a Vedder stance, took an Jeff Ament pose. Long haired 16-year-olds hung lean and leery, with distinct Stone Gossard affectation. These were people who only listened to Pearl Jam. (There were people who only listened to Pearl Jam!) Because they were the only current models of popular rock'n'roll that spoke the right emotional language. In 1996, they were the only current models of popular rock.
Had they won out by default? Were they championing a genre or simply salvaging it?
At the time, PJ had three successful records, one of which was a landmark masterpiece whose thunderous momentum carried through to the second. It was after Pearl Jam's sophomoric stage, after its grungy colleagues had either washed out or died out, that the band's longevity, significance and success was to be tested. Instead it was honoured.
The curious cult status started developing around the period of PJ's third outing, Vitology. A reaction to the band's diminished support from the mainstream (already mainlining electronica in large, toxic doses), and its apparent subversive stance against media assistance, it was a call for Pearl Jam's necessary continuance.
No, it didn't matter that by the time 1997's less accessible No Code surreptitiously crept up behind us, Pearl Jam had long sworn off videos, had become decidedly difficult live promotions, had established a routine practice of turning down interviews, had become the type of band that opts for pics of themselves recording in the studio over other art work. They were necessities of rock machinery.
Accused of flagrant careerism and calculated anti-careerism, the band was a frustrating oddity in the pool of rock star traditionalists. Partially because it didn't know how else to be, because adhering to rock`n'roll tradition in the '90s while actually sounding traditionally rock and roll was absurd, uninteresting and embarrassing. Mostly because it could be - with unashamed success.
A Solid Collection
This year Pearl Jam is talking to the press, doing a tour, playing the game, occasioning a story like this. I'm glad. I like Pearl Jam.
Their newest album, Yield, is a solid collection of polyrhythmic temptresses. It's usually good. Vedder, as always, can wail like a banshee and cry like a baby - nobody can sing like this man. We all know, and have always known, that without Ed Vedder, there would be no Pearl Jam.
The sound is accessible - it is generic - but in a welcoming way. Gossard seems to pull the right chords more often than the wrong.
But I don't pretend to fully understand the appeal, just to relay it.
- Pearl Jam plays the Molson Centre tonight. Tickets are $35.
REVIEW
MARTIN SIBEROK. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Aug 21, 1998. pg. D.7
Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Aug 21, 1998
"Are you ready for Eddie?" the guy behind me was loudly asking all his friends.
Judging by the standing ovation and deafening shrieks emitted by the crowd as Pearl Jam walked on to the stage at the sold-out Molson Centre last night, that was proof enough.
It's been five long years since Pearl Jam played the Verdun Auditorium on a hot summer's night.
Even singer Eddie Vedder admitted that it's been too long, before launching into Present Tense and letting 19,000 Montreal fans know that all that really counted was the here and now.
There's nothing fancy about Pearl Jam. They're just five regular- looking guys standing on a stark stage with five large candle- holders in front a video scene - but boy can they play.
Guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready churned out all the right licks as they alternated between breakneck power chords and softer riffs, while the black-clad Vedder performed vocal acrobatics as he warbled, whispered and screamed his emotionally driven lyrics.
Credit also goes to the superb rhythm section of bassist Jeff Ament and touring drummer Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden.
With such talent it's easy to see why Pearl Jam has been able to establish itself as one the pre-eminent rock bands of the decade. It comes as no surprise to find them on the pantheon of rock greats alongside The Who, Led Zeppelin and U2.
Though they opened on a quiet note with the tasty Sometimes, Pearl Jam immediately picked up the pace with an anguished Corduroy and a full onslaught of Animal.
All the songs off their classic first album Ten that we wanted to hear were delivered: Jeremy, Even Flow, Alive and even Black.
Plus, several recent ones off the outstanding new album Yield, including Given to Fly, Wishlist and Do the Evolution.
There was even a tip of the hat to Vedder's all-time favourite band, The Who, with Baba O'Riley being thrown into the encore.
The funniest moment came when Daughter segued into Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. As the song finished, Vedder threw in the line: "Mr. President, leave those kids alone."
After witnessing last night's concert, it is understandable why Pearl Jam has such a loyal following. The band delivered everything their fans wanted to hear and didn't disappoint.
The biggest letdown of the evening was opening act Cheap Trick. Boasting all four original members - guitarist Rick Nielsen, singer Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos - the band's set was at first hampered by lousy sound, then by their refusal to play any of their hits, like Surrender or Dream Police. The only one they did was Heaven Tonight.
It seemed Nielsen was more interested in changing his guitar every song than the music itself. Too bad.