Live: Eddie Vedder
POP MUSIC REVIEW
The Pearl Jam frontman opens his first solo tour with an intimate yet powerful performance in Vancouver.
VANCOUVER, B.C. — BEGINNING his first-ever solo tour Wednesday, Eddie Vedder gave a lesson in how to hush a screaming crowd. Not literally: The 1,800 or so Pearl Jam fans who'd snapped up the night's tickets spent little time being quiet, instead granting their band's beloved singer endless ovations, singing along (only when asked) and shouting requests.
Within this charged atmosphere, Vedder, perhaps rock's most introspective lead singer, created a zone of shared reflection that made all the praiseful fuss seem irrelevant. He could have been in his own basement, alone or with some close friends. The stage set at the performing arts center here had the faux-casual design common to "unplugged" shows -- a funky reel-to-reel player sat near the chair where Vedder sat for most of the night, and a Corona box served as an ersatz stool. But Vedder's thoughtful, sociable performance made the intimacy real.
Immersed in his songs, Vedder half-closed his eyes and let the music take its course. In Pearl Jam, he's expert at playing the surfer, finding one wave within the many that that big ensemble generates and riding it to glory. On this tour, which comes to the Wiltern in Los Angeles April 12-13, he has to be more delicate.
Exploring his songbook of originals and favorite cover versions, Vedder's big baritone found smaller streams to follow, letting his circuitous grooves and melodies undulate toward their conclusions. Some songs, like the recent "Guaranteed," were hymn-like and lovely. Others hit harder, showing the influence of the Who and hard-core punk.
While his vocals were often tender, Vedder's guitar playing pointed to his love of noisy rock. He doesn't often get to show off his chops alongside flashy Pearl Jam axemen Mike McCready and Stone Gossard. He took the opportunity here, playing fast and clean even on the tiny electric ukulele he laughingly called "better than a friend, because it doesn't talk back."
Such asides emerged only after Vedder calmed his first-night nerves; it took him five songs to even pause and address the audience. Pulling aside his long-sleeve flannel to reveal a battered Butthole Surfers T-shirt, he announced it as a talisman: It was the same one he'd worn during Pearl Jam's first show.
After this ritual moment, Vedder relaxed, steering the evening toward the "different kind of conversation" he wanted it to be. He read from a newspaper, commenting on issues ranging from the proposed removal of a local statue to the current crisis in Tibet. He told a mildly dirty joke and then worried that it might turn up on YouTube.
