PORTLAND – Good things come to those who wait. That seemed to be the theme to the electrifying set put on by Pearl Jam Friday night at Moda Center, the group’s first concert in the Rose City in 11 years.
Along with being the band’s first show there in 11 years, it was only the group’s 11th stop in Portland during its storied 33-year-career. They made up for lost time with a 25-song, two-and-a-half hour set filled with memorable moments.
The band played deep cuts, old favorites and a heavy dose of materials from its excellent new album “Dark Matter.” And the opening four-song salvo of “Release,” off the group’s debut “Ten,” the dark and moody “Nothing As It Seems,” momentum-building “Present Tense” and catalog highlight “Given to Fly” was an early indication the crowd was in for a heater of a setlist created to appeal to die-hards and casual fans alike.
Performing in front of a massive videoscreen wall that spanned the width of the arena, the band sounded as energetic and vital as ever, performing with the precision of a well-oiled machine. The screen displayed visuals custom created for the new material as well as acted as a video screen that showed the band while they performed. It made for an impressive sight and could be the closest things fans get to the experience of seeing that band play at The Sphere in Las Vegas if the band never performs there.
The show was the band’s first US date on its world tour supporting “Dark Matter” and as expected the setlist leaned heavily on new material. But that wasn’t a bad thing as the new songs fit perfectly alongside classics like “Daughter” and “Not For You.” In all eight new songs were performed with the standout being the live debut of “Waiting For Stevie,” a song that’s already a fan favorite and will likely become a set staple as time passes.
As remarkable as the main set was, the encore was equally as impressive. Eddie Vedder started the encore solo talking about the guitar he brought out of storage to play on this tour. The guitar belonged to Tom Petty and Vedder used it to play a solo cover of Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” The cover has become a Pearl Jam set staple and often becomes an arena-wide singalong, as was the case in Portland.
The rest of the band joined in after the Petty cover with ferocious playthroughs of “Mind Your Manners” and “Do The Evolution,” the latter of which had scenes from its classic 1998 Tood McFarlane video projected onto the band’s videoscreen backdrop. Following that “Crazy Mary” provided one of the more memorable moments of the night with a back-and-forth between organist Boom Gaspar and guitarist Mike McCready while Vedder poured cups of wine and passed them out to the crowd.
As if the dueling guitar and organ coupled with wine handouts from Vedder, which is a standard operating procedure for the frontman during PJ concerts, weren’t enough treats for the crowd the band played the infamous Momma-Son trilogy in the encore as well. “Once,” “Alive” and rariety “Footsteps” seemingly closed the show but the band had one more trick up their sleeve.
The final song of the night, “Setting Sun” off “Dark Matter,” was a fitting closing number. It was the song that made the most of the video wall with the depiction of the sun evolving into an eyeball. The visuals gave the song an epic feeling which made it a respectable replacement for traditional closer “Yellow Ledbetter.”
Seattle band Deep Sea Diver was also on the bill. The band, fronted by Jessica Dobson, who has spent time playing with Spoon, the Shins and Beck, delivered a tremendous set of songs proving they are capable of reaching the heights of groups like Kings of Leon, My Morning Jacket and other bands that toured with Pearl Jam prior to becoming arena-filling acts.
The Portland show was special not only because of the scarcity of the band’s Oregon appearances, but also because it was the only stop of the tour where Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron’s Wipers cover band, Is This Real?, performed. The band opened the show with a tight 45-minute set of classic tunes by the overlooked Northwest punk pioneers. It was great to hear Wipers tunes in an arena and Cameron and his fellow bandmates did the locally iconic Portland band proud with their set.
Pearl Jam setlist
Release
Nothing as It Seems
Present Tense
Given to Fly
Scared of Fear
React, Respond
Wreckage
Dark Matter
Daughter (with “WMA” tag)
Not for You (with “Modern Girl” by Sleater-Kinney tag)
Even Flow
Seven O’Clock
Upper Hand
Waiting for Stevie
Running
Last Exit
Porch
Encore:
I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty cover)
Mind Your Manners
Do the Evolution
Crazy Mary (Victoria Williams cover)
Once
Alive
Footsteps
Setting Sun
Let’s not forget that Pearl Jam also played in Ridgefield, WA which is extremely close to Portland in 2009.