6000 Foot Drop

New York NY: Pearl Jam 5/1/16 at Madison Square Garden -- The Mug is Round, the Jar is Round

Seattle's tour de force Pearl Jam set off the bunker busters last night at New York's famed Madison Square Garden, proving they are the world's best, currently touring rock and roll ensemble. Show was a sell out at 19,000. Everyone was thoroughly satisfied, except maybe the large-armed Evenbro in Section 116 who pouted and left after spilling $100 of beer all over his Jersey Shore costume. 

 

The Garden is family owned and, like many other east coast icons, is revered despite not being entirely clean. Thanks to skilled American craftspeople, the Garden has undergone a slow but complete renovation in the past 10 years, adding bunker suites, socio-economic dividers, and rafter seating. At least $1,000,000 of concrete, steel, glass, uniforms and radios have been devoted solely to dissuading seat-hoppers from diluting the value of the seats that aren't theirs. Our seats were Mike-side first row. Other than the Evenbro beer sprinkler, our seat neighbors were civilized and hailed from Los Angeles, Maine, Syracuse, and Westchester County.

No opening act. Pearl Jam took the stage with the house lights up 65 minutes after showtime with union bosses checking their watches. Pearl Jam remains Boom Gaspar on keys, Jeff Ament on bass, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Mike McCready on lead guitar and Eddie Vedder as choir director. Mr. Vedder still does his Mookie Blaylock moves, with his limbo and spread eagle mixed in with homilies and sincere gratitude. Despite Mr. Anastasio being in attendance, no Phish songs were played.

Set I:

Go: "Please don't go out on me..." The PJ's have pulled out their discographies and are eyeing the Vs track list. Mr. Vedder does the limbo.

Mind Your Manners: "Self-realized and metaphysically redeemed...." This is the hopeless, motherless, starched hanky soundtrack for the walk down Seventh Avenue to The Garden.

Corduroy: "I don't want to take what you can give..." Pearl Jam speeds up the tempo on this Garment District shoutout.

Hail, Hail: "All hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in love..." Muddled. Maybe too many guitars?

Given To Fly: "Arms wide open with the sea as his floor..." Mr. Vedder dons his wingsuit and climbs the drum riser. He addresses the crowd acknowledging Muhammad Ali and thanking Billy Joel for taking the night off. 

Low Light: "Can I be here all alone?" Soulful.

Release: "I'll ride the wave where it takes me..." Baritony. Mr. Vedder dedicates the song to a friend.

Even Flow: "Even flow thoughts arise like butterflies..." Mike has this one memorized. He can play his part behind his back, or from the front row. Mr. Vedder plays along, dropping his corded microphone into the crowd for the fans to use. A technician reels the cord back in, marlin style.

I Got ID: "An empty shell seems so easy to crack..." Beatlesesque. Gives these two musical buddies a chance for some call and response.

In Hiding: "I shut and locked the front door, no way in or out..." Eddie Vedder might be the most visible member of Pearl Jam, but even Mike McCready and his cute backpack and Jeff Ament and his skateboard get noticed on the street. Mr. Vedder reminisces about Pearl Jam's first New York City show in July 1991. He calls Madison Square Garden octagonic and then tectonic. Indeed, it appears Madison Square Garden is round.

Rats: "Ben, the two of us need look no more..." Fast plaid scat rap.

Down: "Cry me a river dried up and damned..." Catchy and poppy for a song that presumably is depressing.

Wishlist: "I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me..." Mr. Vedder dedicates the song to American historian and author Howard Zinn. Mr. Vedder muses about running for president, like he does when Pearl Jam covers Pink Floyd's Mother. Mr. Vedder makes an anatomical joke about Mr. Trump who apparently did not make his hometown show.

Jeremy: "Jeremy spoke in class today...." Freight train style.

Do The Evolution: "It's evolution, baby..." Stone carries this tribute to Darwin, baby.

Why Go: "What you've taught me put me here..." Somebody has diagnosed the New Jersey Evenbro in Section 116 who has now spilled all of his friends' beers on himself and his penumbra.

Lukin: "I find my wife, I call the cops..."  Yelling in synch, Mudhoney style.

Rearviewmirror: "Saw things so much clearer, once you..." During the group clap, the MSG mop lady arrives to mop up after the shameless Evenbro beer fountain. He wins the wet t-shirt contest and leaves to a standing ovation.

Set II:
The End: "Slide up next to me..." Jeff on stand-up bass. Mr. Vedder touts medical research.

Future Days:  "I can see our future days of you and me..." Collective hopefulness. Nobody cries at a Phish concert.

Off He Goes: "Nothing's changed but the surrounding bullshit..." Pearl Jam has kept it real for 25 years.

Footsteps: "Don't even think about reaching me. I won't be home..." Western tinged, like the Rockford Files theme song.

Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns: "This is my kind of love..." Prettiest girl in Box #6 gets her call. Beautiful. Can a grunge band have a beautiful song? Pearl Jam's If I Could.

Unthought Known: "Up with love!" Dorkiest boy in Box #6 gets his call. Thoughtful. Can a grunge band have a thoughtful song? 

Mr. Vedder accepts a request, but hedges, saying he does not want to screw up in The Garden. Mr. Vedder admits he is not Lou Rawls.

Takin’ It To The Streets: "I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see..."  Lots of brothers in the audience, but not a doobie in sight.

Whipping: "Don't need a helmet, got a hard hard head..." Fast paced.

Better Man/Save It For Later: "She dreams in color, she dreams in red..." Mr. Vedder climbs the drum riser and does a spread eagle. He may need the number of Mick Jagger's physical therapist.

Porch: "Hear my name. Take a good look. This could be the day..." Mike justifies the guitar lessons his parents got for him at Roosevelt High.

Encore:

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town: "Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away..." Mr. Vedder changes by not changing, and everyone accepts that.

Lightning Bolt: "She's rock and roll. She's a lightning bolt..." Pearl Jam continues to use the Grateful Dead/Kiss/SS logo, lighting it up and everything.

Black: "The pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything." Elaborate, moving and intricate. Pearl Jam's Harry Hood. 

Alive: "Son, she said, have I got a little story for you..." Mike is wireless and peripatetic, taking laps and running the stairs. This version was almost as good as the Israeli school kids' version.

Rockin' In The Free World: "We've got a thousand points of light for the homeless man..." Young Ray Cameron joins the lights-up fracas on guitar. 

Indifference: "How much difference does it make..." Being sung by hundreds of middle aged men leaving the venue, like your dad leaving church on Christmas.

Pearl Jam remains a world party: combining talent, sincerity, verve and perseverance all wrapped in obvious true friendships among the band members. With encouragement, Pearl Jam might even be persuaded to play its home state every now and then. See you tonight at The Garden!

Austin TX: Phish 7/28/15 at Austin360 Amphitheater -- Salt Licking Good

The talented Vermont jazz rockers Phish yarn bombed a three hour dance party into the central Texas hills last night at the new Austin360 Amphitheater. Despite Austin's reputation as the "live music capital of the world," tickets for this monumental musical moment were available at the box office. Probably 12,000 in attendance of the 14,000 capacity.   

Austin is the largest American city without a major league sports franchise, but it is home to the country's only Formula One racetrack, the Circuit of the Americas, in the fields southeast of the Austin city limits. The new Austin360 Amphitheater sits in the infield of racetrack, efficiently sharing its facilities. The complex offers free parking and overflow seating like these fine empty seats.  

The sound was clear and bright, even at the top of the lawn. Some of the side seats (sections 101 and 107) had bad sight lines, but our section 103 row F week-of-show release seats were excellent. The venue has plumbing and food trucks and other welcome touches like water under $5. Our seat neighbors were from College Station, Ft. Worth, Memphis, and Portland, Oregon. Seat hoppers were in action plopping into seats without even pretending to check their seat numbers, and it appears some people still smoke cigarettes in Texas despite it being 2015 and all y'all.  

Set I: 

Party Time: Fun fun fun. This might become the national anthem if Kinky Friedman ever wins that White House bid. Keyboardist Page McConnell is korgtastic. 

Free: "...I feel the feeling I forgot..." Bassist Mike Gordon is slow and sticky like he still has some Franklin's on his fingers, but lead guitarist Trey Anastasio is squeaky clean and carries the tune.

Halley's Comet: "...I'm going down to the central part of town..." Every night millions of bats emerge from the Congress Avenue Bridge. Regularly, like Halley's comet. 

Wolfman's Brother: "...I hear the high pitched cavitation of propellers from afar..." Austin is blessed with rivers and lakes and has a powerboat culture. Page stands up at the keys and Mr. Anastasio takes this as a challenge, moving to his Stevie Ray Vaughn licks. The glue of this Wolfman's was Mike who was dropping the individual bass bombs like he was running the tires at Darrell Royal (with cheese) Stadium. 

Mr. Anastasio takes the microphone and thanks everyone for coming out to the show "in the state where I was born" and that it was "good to be back." Page interrupts and suggests Austin should hold a "Trey is coming back to Texas" parade.

Possum: "...your end is the road..." Or a food truck. Everyone in our row can do the Texas two step. Possum shares its melody with Don't Mess Around with Jim, so maybe this was the Don't Mess with Texas shoutout.

Lawn Boy: "...the moist green organic that my feet tread upon..." Page takes the microphone lounge crooner style, giving these two musical buddies a chance to stand next to each other.

Bouncing Round the Room: "... the sirens sang their song for me..." Poppy. Set one is being very set oneish. The 60 year old usher from Syracuse in our section is into it, causing some of the young people who were also into it to reconsider.  

Water in the Sky: "...thunder calls through waterfalls..." Tinkly and enjoyable. The lighthearted first set seems Capshaw-engineered to attract more customers than it loses.

Dirt: "... a tiny space to move and breathe is all that I would ever need..." Mr. Anastasio whistles and whispers like in the old days before he was a thing. Seat hoppers find a funnel at the bottom of our section and pour over the rail into the pit.

Devotion to a Dream: "...it's today a new world order..." Western swing style. Ted Cruz might approve if you blindfolded him. All of the seventh graders in the audience are digging it.

Sugar Shack: "...if I could bushwhack it on back to the shack..." Phone calls are being returned throughout the venue. Is Mike required to sing this song as part of his therapy?

Run Like an Antelope: "... spike, man..." Jaunty ragtime intro leads to a jazzy Antelope set closer. Austin360 may be the new USANA -- a safe place to take the family or your music teacher to a Phish show. One of our seat neighbors exclaims "That opening band was excellent!"

Set II:

46 Days: "...looking for clues but they couldn't be found..." Drummer Jon Fishman raps the wood blocks so hard dogs start to bark. Although the show was being simulcast, the venue did not turn on the video screens so the best we could see of Jon's magnificent pounding was like this.

Piper: "...her words were words I sailed upon..." Mr. Anastasio takes the Lotus out for a few laps and leaves the earth's gravity cresting the hill at turn three. The Clash should have covered Piper.

Story of the Ghost: "...his answer came in actions..." Moody, chewy, torchy, trudy, with jazzy vocal stylings from this man and what is left of his hair.

Shade: "...I love your hair in the mornings you know..." Mr. Anastasio still writes ballads in case Phish plays another Big Cypress set and the other three need to use the rest room.

Gotta Jiboo: "...momma sing sing..." This is the type of universally lovable tune that could save the Red River District.

Waiting All Night: "...and I said I'm sorry..." We took in this soulful new tune from the bleachers at the top of the lawn and there was harmony across the venue.

Blaze On: "...you got your nice shades on..." The sun dropped behind the lawn of the venue just about at showtime. Blaze On has a mocking tone, and sounds like Harry Belafonte's Man Smart, Women Smarter. That's right!

Wading the in the Velvet Sea: "...you'll get it pretty soon unless..." Once again Page confirms the wisdom of his parents in sending him to piano lessons. 

David Bowie: Mike continues to remake himself and David Bowie is certainly an influence.

Suzie Greenberg: "...is anyone here a neurologist?" Probably. Jon's humor is a reason this band endures.

Tweezer Reprise: Left over from a few shows ago. Burnt orange insanity.

E:

Loving Cup: "...I'm the man who brings you roses when you ain't got none..." Will Mr. Anastasio be invited to star in the Rolling Stones' 75th anniversary shows? 

Show ends promptly at midnight at 85 degrees. Austin360 Amphitheater is a terrific venue in a terrific city to see a terrific band.

 See you at Dick's!