Pearl Jam - 05-06-2010 Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO

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

Pearl Jam - Backspacer Review

Released exclusively through iTunes and Target, Pearl Jam has started a new chapter, by leaving their record label and putting Backspacer out independently. The other cool thing they did is they give you a link to get two free live convert downloads. So be sure to load the CD to iTunes or buy it at iTunes and put it in the player and click on the CD cover and it will bring you up to a web link where you can click on the pictures. Check them all out, but the train in the upper left will link you to choose from 2 of 11 live shows. Hint - if you have multiple email addresses, you can register on each one and get more free live shows! Also on iTunes they give you a free video of The Fixer as well as a 10 minute making of the CD movie that's really neat. I would highly recommend checking both of those out even if you don't own an iPod.

The first few songs really rock you out pretty good in typical Pearl Jam style. I have to say I'm really impressed with the new CD and the style in which they recorded this one. Check out the iTunes video for sure just to get a glimpse it's well worth it.

Gonna See My Friend starts you off with a jamming tune and keeps going through Got Some and The Fixer. All of them have that Pearl Jam feel to them and are just good fun tunes to listen to.

Just Breathe slows it down, but really is an awesome song. It shows the diversity of the band with their ability to change it up. The guitar work is nice as well as the backing musicians that play on it. This one is my favorite on the CD.

Amongst the Wave is another nice song that's a little on the slower side, but makes me think of my days hanging out on the beaches of Southern California. Just the line "riding high amongst the waves" puts me back in my SoCal days and this is sort of a ballad type song in a way, that really finished off pretty strong.

Unknown Thoughts again starts you out with a little guitar and Eddie singing and build up with some piano and drums kicking in along as it rolls. Then Eddie starts getting into it. It really shows his passion in his voice and again is a nice fit to the last couple of songs and gels well.

Now we kick it back to Supersonic that gets the feet thumping and gives you a nice classic jam. Not sure who to compare it to, but it really just keeps going and is a nice tune with some good guitar solos in it.

Slowing it back down a bit with Speed of Sound you get a nice little slow ballady type song. Somewhat Neil Youngish to me, but could also be just a good PJ slow one. Force of Nature makes you think Joe Satriani or guitar wizard is ready to jam one out and then you hear Eddie and it kicks in to a regular PJ standard song. It Has nice guitar work through it and jams out nicely.

The End finishes the Cd off really nice. A good mellow tune with a start of guitar and Eddie and adds some good backing strings along it. You really hear how nice Eddie can sound as he has a symphony style backing. I bet he would do well singing Pearl Jam songs with a symphony in the back, that would be awesome.

I missed Eddie on the solo tour, but that's because no one seems to come to Kansas City much. Once in a while we get lucky. So I hope to sometime hear Eddie solo and even though I have seen Pearl Jam many times in the past 20 years, I would love to see them come to town as well. There are some great 2009 Bootleg shows for sale on their website for $9.99, check them out for sure. Chicago night two is really awesome. Go to http://www.pearljam.com/ and you will see them either in the store or just on the top page.

A really great CD. If I did give out stars on CDs this would get 5 for sure.

Track Listing:

1. Gonna See My Friend
2. Got Some
3. The Fixer
4. Johnny Guitar
5. Just Breathe
6. Amongst The Wave
7. Unthought Known
8. Supersonic
9. Speed Of Sound
10. Force Of Nature
11. The End