Review by Jeremy Elwood
If you were a music fan before Spotify, YouTube or even Myspace came along, chances are you have “your album”. That record that blew your mind from the first note. That you listened to, in its entirety, so often that you had to replace the physical media it came on. For me, there was life before and after Pearl Jam’s Ten.
They’ve released a lot of music since; their twelfth studio album Dark Matter landed earlier this year, and lends its name to their current tour, but that debut still dominates my inner playlist, and going from the crowd response at Go Media Stadium on Friday, I am far from alone.
The only other time I’ve seen Pearl Jam live was in 2009, at the same venue, then simply called Mount Smart. It was a great show, but my lasting memory is that during their encore, some council killjoy decided time was up as they launched into the opening riff of Alive, pulled the plug and put the stadium lights on. I’m still mad about that.
Pearl Jam apparently don’t have the same hard feelings.
The show opened with a karanga and haka, then a video montage of Auckland playing on the giant screens behind opener Given To Fly. (If Auckland Tourism haven’t requested a copy of the file, they’ve dropped the ball; our city has rarely looked better). When visiting bands tip their hat to the local venue, it can feel forced, but Eddie Vedder has a well-documented affinity for our beaches (and the Finn family), so the respect and love felt genuine. Although someone might mention that “bogan” isn’t quite the insult he thinks it is.
From there, it’s a two-hour rock masterclass.
Pearl Jam’s lineup has remained solid since 1998, and their bond is obvious. Unlike most of the vocalists of his era, Vedder’s iconic voice hasn’t lost anything to the years. There may be a couple of high notes he avoids, but that’s a sign of care, rather than incapability. Perhaps more than even that voice, it’s the twin lead guitars of Mike McReady and Stone Gossard that defined Pearl Jam’s sound, and they haven’t lost a step. Calling Matt Cameron and Jeff Ament the “rhythm section” sells them short, when you hear the way drums and bass anchor songs like Jeremy and Why Go.
The hair is shorter, the flannel is gone, but as a live unit they still have the ferocity they arrived with.
But alongside that ferocity, there is a real sense of pain behind the passion on this night. It is, after all, barely 48 hours since the US Election. Vedder touches on it throughout the night, but more obliquely than we may have expected. The feeling I got was that tonight was about the band accepting a healing hand from their fans; as Vedder called it “finding their tribe” and taking some joy, as well as giving it.
It’s an epically constructed setlist. Pearl Jam aren’t ready to be a legacy act, and the new album is well represented, with songs like React, Respond, Wreckage and Dark Matter more than holding their own live, but expertly spaced amongst a string of hits, a couple of covers and the inevitable Liam Finn guest appearance.
Daughter, Not For You and first set closer Porch have the stadium rocking, but it’s unavoidable just how hard those original hits from Ten have kept a hold on us. Even Flow. Once. Jeremy. These are furious anthems, with every word ringing out from an enthralled audience. By the time the lights come up again during the encore of Alive, thankfully deliberately this time, and stay on for Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World, we’ve witnessed something truly magnificent, necessarily cathartic. And I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, the crowd or the band.