Jeff Ament, Eddie Vedder, and Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is arguably my favorite band of all time, so to say I was excited to see them this year at Joe Louis Arena would be an understatement.
*Scroll down for pics and a video playlist of the full show*
The group kicked off the show with Release Me and Oceans, the closing tracks from their debut album, Ten, and followed by a majestic rendition of Nothingman off their 1994 release, Vitalogy. Next they went into Go off their sophomore album, Vs, and there was no looking back! The band went on to play 3 hours worth of material spanning their entire catalog, and included B-sides, rarities, and cover songs including Baba O’Riley, Imagine, and Kick Out the Jams.
Throughout the night the band’s leader, Eddie Vedder gave numerous shoutouts and references to Detroiters and Canadiens while the band gave nods to Kiss’s Detroit Rock City and Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold. About halfway through the first set Eddie even stopped to talk about local music legend Jack White and to dedicate their song Light Years to the loss of White’s keyboardist, Ike Owens just days after his passing.
The second set opened with an acoustic version of Man of the Hour and Eddie’s cover of Imagine, which made its fourth appearance at a Pearl Jam show. The band would go on to do a seven minute version of Black and eventually ended the show with their somber ballad, Indifference.
Start to finish, it was an amazing show and the sound at The Joe was second to none. I think if I could relive one concert over and over again for the rest of my life, this just might be the one.
-Derek
