It has been a good seven years since Pearl Jam last played Kansas City and it's been almost four since my last show in San Diego. Since that time they put out Backspacer and toured throughout 2009 but skipped KC until now. This was the second show on the tour just after the New Orleans Jazz Festival. They played at the relatively new Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City, MO.
The night was filled with a pretty good mix of songs through out the years going some 20 years back to the breakout CD of the time Ten and played a little bit of everything including several new songs from Backspacer. The sprint Center wasn't sold out, but there was certainly a pretty large and lively crowd out for this one. The only section of seats not sold were straight back in the upper deck. The line-up for tonight's show was it's standard for years now with Eddie Vedder on vocals, Stone Gossard on guitar, Jeff Ament on bass, Mike McCready on lead guitar, Matt Cameron on drums and Boom Gaspar on keys.
Everything was as it was four years ago as far as the stage setup with Mike out left, Jeff next to him, Eddie in the middle with Matt behind, Stone on the right and Boom in the back right. Eddie still with his bottle of wine in his hand and sneaking off from time to time for a smoke. The only difference was that I was much closer for tonight's show and the sound was really good.
They started the night off with "Of The Girl" and jumped into "Animal" as Eddie really seemed into it tonight. He sang a really nice version and from there it was into "World Wide Suicide" and "Got Some" from there it was a mix of fast and slow through the next series of songs that included "Unthought Unknown", "Elderly Woman", "MFC" and "Johnny Guitar".
Eddie did a little talking and then told a story of the drum tech getting married in Florida the week before on a boat and kicked into "Amongst The Waves" from the new CD. Eddie started to chat a little more as he played the next few songs, he called "Evenflow" something else, but it escapes me now and then talked about how the next song had many different names before it became "Gods' Dice"
From there it went into Present Tense" then slowed up into "Daughter" following through with a few others before the break. Mike continues to run from the back to the front and threw lots of picks into the crowd. Eddie talked more and drank his wine as he shared a bottle with others as well, pouring it into their glasses. Typical of a live show.
The first part after the encore break brought out the acoustic slower stuff with "Off He Goes" and "Just Breathe". One of my favorites was next as he dedicated it to one of the KC Royals he met and told about his night at the ballpark and he went into "Given To Fly". That was really a highlight for me of the night. They rocked out the rest of the set with "The Fixer", " Life Wasted" and "Porch", which was another highlight to the night.
Coming back they brought a wounded soldier who Eddie had written a song for a documentary called "No More" He sang it to the soldier as he was on stage and then as he went off they jumped into "Black", "Better Man" followed up by a "Happy Birthday" and then closed the night with three very familiar songs in "Alive", "Rockin' In The Free World" and "Yellow Ledbetter".
Overall I really enjoyed the show and will certainly go see them again when they come around. The band kept up the enthusiasm all night and was really tight. A show well worth seeing if you get a chance. I really hope to get to see Eddie Vedder solo one of these years.
Set List:
Of The Girl
Animal
World Wide Suicide
Got Some
Unthought Known
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
MFC
Johnny Guitar
Amongst The Waves
Even Flow
Gods' Dice
Present Tense
Daughter
Wishlist
Insignificance
Do The Evolution
Encore 1
Off He Goes
Just Breathe
Given To Fly
The Fixer
Life Wasted
Porch
Encore 2
No More
Black
Better Man
Happy Birthday
Alive
Rockin' In The Free World
Yellow Ledbetter
The night was filled with a pretty good mix of songs through out the years going some 20 years back to the breakout CD of the time Ten and played a little bit of everything including several new songs from Backspacer. The sprint Center wasn't sold out, but there was certainly a pretty large and lively crowd out for this one. The only section of seats not sold were straight back in the upper deck. The line-up for tonight's show was it's standard for years now with Eddie Vedder on vocals, Stone Gossard on guitar, Jeff Ament on bass, Mike McCready on lead guitar, Matt Cameron on drums and Boom Gaspar on keys.
Everything was as it was four years ago as far as the stage setup with Mike out left, Jeff next to him, Eddie in the middle with Matt behind, Stone on the right and Boom in the back right. Eddie still with his bottle of wine in his hand and sneaking off from time to time for a smoke. The only difference was that I was much closer for tonight's show and the sound was really good.
They started the night off with "Of The Girl" and jumped into "Animal" as Eddie really seemed into it tonight. He sang a really nice version and from there it was into "World Wide Suicide" and "Got Some" from there it was a mix of fast and slow through the next series of songs that included "Unthought Unknown", "Elderly Woman", "MFC" and "Johnny Guitar".
Eddie did a little talking and then told a story of the drum tech getting married in Florida the week before on a boat and kicked into "Amongst The Waves" from the new CD. Eddie started to chat a little more as he played the next few songs, he called "Evenflow" something else, but it escapes me now and then talked about how the next song had many different names before it became "Gods' Dice"
From there it went into Present Tense" then slowed up into "Daughter" following through with a few others before the break. Mike continues to run from the back to the front and threw lots of picks into the crowd. Eddie talked more and drank his wine as he shared a bottle with others as well, pouring it into their glasses. Typical of a live show.
The first part after the encore break brought out the acoustic slower stuff with "Off He Goes" and "Just Breathe". One of my favorites was next as he dedicated it to one of the KC Royals he met and told about his night at the ballpark and he went into "Given To Fly". That was really a highlight for me of the night. They rocked out the rest of the set with "The Fixer", " Life Wasted" and "Porch", which was another highlight to the night.
Coming back they brought a wounded soldier who Eddie had written a song for a documentary called "No More" He sang it to the soldier as he was on stage and then as he went off they jumped into "Black", "Better Man" followed up by a "Happy Birthday" and then closed the night with three very familiar songs in "Alive", "Rockin' In The Free World" and "Yellow Ledbetter".
Overall I really enjoyed the show and will certainly go see them again when they come around. The band kept up the enthusiasm all night and was really tight. A show well worth seeing if you get a chance. I really hope to get to see Eddie Vedder solo one of these years.
Set List:
Of The Girl
Animal
World Wide Suicide
Got Some
Unthought Known
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
MFC
Johnny Guitar
Amongst The Waves
Even Flow
Gods' Dice
Present Tense
Daughter
Wishlist
Insignificance
Do The Evolution
Encore 1
Off He Goes
Just Breathe
Given To Fly
The Fixer
Life Wasted
Porch
Encore 2
No More
Black
Better Man
Happy Birthday
Alive
Rockin' In The Free World
Yellow Ledbetter
