I saw Pearl Jam Thursday night with an excellent opener Deep Sea Diver. I go back with Pearl Jam to 1991, Mother Lovebone before that. This was the best show I've seen since the early years. They started with Black which was kind of a shocker. PJ change their sets nightly, so it's a roll of the dice. Definitely a winner Thursday. Plenty of classic material mixed with new stuff. The new stuff held up well against the old. I think PJ are one of the best live bands out there right now. Mike McCready is a killer guitar player & the rest of the band is just as good. At the encore Ed came out by himself & talked about missing friends. Then he play NIN's Hurt by himself on acoustic. Encore was long. Not as long as the Cure but still long. Toward the end they did Rocking in the Free World with Deep Sea Diver pitching in. I'm still wore out from the show but this was worth the effort. Shows are getting tough for me so I have to be selective. Here's a few vids that have popped up:
I know it's tough on you physically, but it's good to see you getting out and enjoying live music, Chuck!
(I haven't seen PJ since Lollapalooza '92. Also, I miss Mother Love Bone. RIP Andrew.)
Go see PJ if you can. They are at the top of their game this tour. They've been playing 2.5 hours on non festival shows, 2 hours on festival gigs. If I were healthy & had the cash I'd be really tempted by their Ohana Festival in September. You get 2 headlining sets from PJ & Crazy Horse set on the middle day. Lot of other good bands involved, too. This year was the best show I've seen by PJ since the glory days. BTW: Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns has shown up on at least one show maybe more. Ed sings that one real well.
Sunday night I went to see Foo Fighters with the Pretenders opening. I was going to pass on the show but a lady friend came to town & wanted to go. I found some inexpensive tickets & off we went. The Pretenders played an hour & were awesome! Chrissie Hynde still has it at age 72. The current band is really good, too. Next up was Foo. they were OK but 3 hours of Dave Grohl is too much. I liked the first 2 or 3 records but things have been spotty since then. I will say Josh Freese on drums was excellent. Dave's ego has exploded in recent years & it shows in the concert. I'm glad I saw Pretenders but I'll probably continue to pass on Foos in the future.