“Well, look at us, we’re home,” an appreciative Eddie Vedder told the crowd near the opening of Pearl Jam‘s first of two sold-out hometown concerts at Climate Pledge Arena Tuesday evening.
The love for Seattle from the stage was shown in many ways, from Mike McCready’s Roosevelt Roughriders class of 1984 baseball jersey, to Vedder putting a spotlight on Storm star Sue Bird’s jersey hanging from the rafters, to Jeff Ament wearing a t-shirt with Sonics star Hersey Hawkins face on it. It was more than clear Pearl Jam loves its city as much as its city loves them.
The appreciation and love went both ways too; the crowd was as elated to be in the same room as Seattle’s greatest dad rock band which was playing shows at home for the first time in six years. As for the shows, they were two of the most impressive sets the band has delivered in Seattle in its long, storied relationship with the Emerald City.
Before moving forward, the sound in the room has to be addressed. After all, a concert can only be as good as the acoustics in the venue, right? Well, the sound at Climate pledge was phenomenal for both nights. Benaroya Hall has long been the best-sounding room in the city but for Pearl Jam’s the two-night residency CPA held that title. OVG, the group responsible for building Climate Pledge, wanted to make an arena with world-class sound, and for two nights it was mission accomplished.
The first show started with the emotional gut punch that is “Release,” with Vedder’s baritone effortlessly floating through the venue. That wasn’t the only classic “Ten” track that made the set. “Deep,” “Even Flow” and “Alive” were also in a set peppered with tunes off the band’s latest album “Dark Matter.”
And as with most setlists from Pearl Jam, there were a few surprises too. Those came in the form of “Man of the Hour,” from the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” and a cover of “All Along the Watchtower” performed with the help from opener Deep Sea Diver. The former was dedicated to the late basketball star Bill Walton.
As if there wasn’t already enough Seattle love in the room, the penultimate song of the evening was “Yellowledbetter” with Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” sandwiched between the first and second verses. McCready wailing on a Hendrix tune in the middle of his own ode to Hendrix was a high point in a show filled with goosebump-worthy moments.
Seemingly following the precedent set Tuesday night, the band opened its second show with another emotional “Ten” cut in “Black.” As for the deep cuts that made it to Thursday night’s set list, those included “Immortality,” which was the second song of the night, setting the crowd up for a set of emotion-laden songs. “Come Back” and a searing “Inside Job” were other standout deep cuts.
The highlight of the show, and perhaps both shows, came when Vedder covered Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” in the style of Johnny Cash, solo acoustic. The tender ballad had a little extra weight to it given Vedder’s dedication to friends the band lost early such as Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Andrew Wood and others. Vedder also changed the lyric “I wear this crown of shit” to “I wear this crown of thorns,” seemingly a nod to Mother Love Bone’s classic “Crown of Thorns,” a song Pearl Jam has covered on several occasions.
Pearl Jam wasn’t the only hometown band to grace the stage both nights. Locals Deep Sea Diver opened each show with remarkable 45-minute sets showcasing the brilliance of singer-guitarist Jessica Dobson and her band. The group recently wrapped up its fourth album and Dobson said she didn’t expect the new songs to make their debuts in arenas. But if the killer riff that serves as the backbone of new track “Emergency” and the Nick Cave-esque vibe of “Shovel,” another new song, are any indication of what to expect from the upcoming album, the record is more than arena ready.
