Pearl Jam returned to the DMV area last Thursday, their first show in the area in 11 years, and, given the crowd response, the band definitely received a hero’s welcome. Even frontman Eddie Vedder commented on it. “…we don’t get here as often as we’d like, and now feeling your energy right off the bat, we are seeing the errors of our ways,” commenting that they were scheduled to play Baltimore when the pandemic hit in 2020, and then CFG Arena in 2022 when the tour was rescheduled but the arena was being renovated. At times, the crowd sang louder than Vedder with its multiple heartfelt sing alongs, so much so that after the enthusiastic chorus and “uh huhs” at the end of “Even Flow” halfway through the set, Vedder just shook his head as if to say, “Wow.”
Playing an arena show can sometimes feel formulaic because an arena doesn’t lend itself to develop the same sort of bond a band may have with the audience in a club. Pearl Jam made the show at CFG Arena feel intimate though, and Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready had a lot to do with that. McCready seemed to love engaging with the pit audience, getting them to pogo, often venturing close to the lip of the stage, and interacting with those in the first few levels of seating. He even let the audience “play” his guitar at the end of the main set when wrapping up “Porch.”
Vedder isn’t swinging from stage scaffolding into the crowd like he used to, but he still has the ability to interact with an arena audience in a way that feels spontaneous, and authentic. He sat on the lip of the stage at times, commented about various signs he saw in the audience, and waded into the crowd a bit to give fist bumps at the encore-ending “Yellow Ledbetter.”
He stopped the show during the huge hit “Alive” to comfort someone who was being taken from the pit to receive medical attention. “…You spent a long time on your feet! You made it all the way almost to the end of the show. In Philly, someone went down much earlier,” he joked. He even led a Freddie Mercury-at-Live-Aid style call and thundering response with the audience at the end of “Daughter” before segueing into Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in The Wall, Pt. 2.”
Prior to “Daughter,” Vedder said he had some sad news and good news. He told a story about personally meeting the actor James Earl Jones who had just passed away on September 9th. Then he said, “Did you hear Taylor Swift…”, seemingly referring to Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for President, to which there was an overwhelming cheer (and many boos as well) that lasted a bit.
Vedder went on to say, “So…today in North Dakota, a judge did away with the statewide abortion ban, ruling it unconstitutional. We all have wives, daughters, friends, moms with daughters… Big votes coming up, we know you’ll let your voice be heard.” Then he worked the news in again during the “Another Brick in The Wall, Pt. 2” chorus, repeating “teachers leave our girls alone. Judges leave those bodies alone,” and “vote to make it okay” at the end.
There was a technical difficulty with the front sound board at the start of the encore, so Vedder brought opener Glen Hansard out for an acoustic version of “Falling Slowly,” the song Hansard wrote for the movie Once. The full band then came back to try and fill the arena with as much sound as possible with “Black,” “Spin the Black Circle,” and the Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer.”
Not covering Fugazi so close to DC seemed a shame, but they did cover a song that has been known to pummel ear drums for years, “Baba O’Riley” by The Who. Vedder even imitated Who singer Roger Daltrey’s double-tambourine playing for it. Bass player Jeff Ament and Vedder worked the location angle by donning Washington Bullets jerseys thrown up on stage for the show’s closer, “Yellow Ledbetter.”
The last time I saw Pearl Jam was 1991, as an opening act for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Smashing Pumpkins, a week after Ten was released. A few months later, I watched Vedder advocate for pro-choice during the Pearl Jam Unplugged show on MTV. Since then, Pearl Jam has played arenas much of that time, but they seem to have retained the feel of a young band that’s still hungry to play killer shows, seek that personal connection with an audience, love playing together, and try to use their celebrity status to speak out on social issues in a non-preachy way.
They have somehow discovered the elusive formula for making the arenas they play feel like the size of a club. Say what you will about Pearl Jam, but “sincere” is an adjective you can never leave out.
GLEN HANSARD
