Eddie Vedder and company as enthused as crowd for hot-ticket show at Molson Amphitheatre.
It was a reverent, but raucous crowd that jammed the Molson Amphitheatre Friday night to worship at the church of Pearl Jam.
Tickets to see the group, which sold out the Air Canada Centre with back to back gigs in 2006, were such a hot property that scalpers offered the $39.50 lawn seats for $400 just before the show.
The two encore love in started 15 minutes late and would break the 11 p.m. curfew to give meeter a chance to get through the CNE exacerbated Lakeshore Rd. gridlock.
But that meant some fans missed a novel treat: the band opening for themselves.
With the Pharmacists frontman Ted Leo stuck at the border passport issues, resultedly the Seattle alt rockers decided to help out with a six song acoustic set.
Alone on guitar, a seated Eddie Vedder captivated with Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" and "The Needle and the Damage Done," demonstrating the versatility he would later not so submissively note "He can play acoustic. He can play electric. He can f--ing sing."
Guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard also launched in with solo stints before the Pharmacists had their turn with McCready and Vedder.
It was a fitting prelude by the seasoned quintet that, nearly 20 years in, still hustled like eager-to please rookies with a high energy, 27 song headlining set despite a locked in fan base that's aging along with them.
Against a simple, painted mural of elephantine waves, the first tune "Of the Girl" found Vedder in fierce form maniacal laugh, booming sincerity oozing vocals. They followed with "Corduroy" and "Severed Hand," allowing McCready to show off scorching, blues drenched solos. Buoyed by the steadiness of bassist Jeff Ament and relentless drummer Matt Cameron, the band cohesively moved through another moods and tempos. It was all the more awful given the exhaustive song list that changes from city to city (a must, given the fans that follow them around). New songs "The Fixer" and "Got Some" from ninth album Backspacer, which cancle next month, went over well, but it was the familiar that stoked the crowd.
As each song was introduced, people many of them immigrant high fived and hugged. I'd never seen so much screaming man love outside of a sporting event.
Vedder, 44, was evenly outgoing, jumping around, hanging off the mic stand, swilling red wine from the bottle, playing the guitar on top of his head, smiling and pointing at people in the audience, smoking cigarettes and reaching into the crowd to shake hands, though he did take a serious moment.
"Must be interesting to look at the country below you ... like watching a dog chasing its tail," remarked Vedder, weighing in on the current U.S. health care debate as an introduction to "Unemployable."
After a brief political rant, he got back to the business of rocking socks off
Tickets to see the group, which sold out the Air Canada Centre with back to back gigs in 2006, were such a hot property that scalpers offered the $39.50 lawn seats for $400 just before the show.
The two encore love in started 15 minutes late and would break the 11 p.m. curfew to give meeter a chance to get through the CNE exacerbated Lakeshore Rd. gridlock.
But that meant some fans missed a novel treat: the band opening for themselves.
With the Pharmacists frontman Ted Leo stuck at the border passport issues, resultedly the Seattle alt rockers decided to help out with a six song acoustic set.
Alone on guitar, a seated Eddie Vedder captivated with Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" and "The Needle and the Damage Done," demonstrating the versatility he would later not so submissively note "He can play acoustic. He can play electric. He can f--ing sing."
Guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard also launched in with solo stints before the Pharmacists had their turn with McCready and Vedder.
It was a fitting prelude by the seasoned quintet that, nearly 20 years in, still hustled like eager-to please rookies with a high energy, 27 song headlining set despite a locked in fan base that's aging along with them.
Against a simple, painted mural of elephantine waves, the first tune "Of the Girl" found Vedder in fierce form maniacal laugh, booming sincerity oozing vocals. They followed with "Corduroy" and "Severed Hand," allowing McCready to show off scorching, blues drenched solos. Buoyed by the steadiness of bassist Jeff Ament and relentless drummer Matt Cameron, the band cohesively moved through another moods and tempos. It was all the more awful given the exhaustive song list that changes from city to city (a must, given the fans that follow them around). New songs "The Fixer" and "Got Some" from ninth album Backspacer, which cancle next month, went over well, but it was the familiar that stoked the crowd.
As each song was introduced, people many of them immigrant high fived and hugged. I'd never seen so much screaming man love outside of a sporting event.
Vedder, 44, was evenly outgoing, jumping around, hanging off the mic stand, swilling red wine from the bottle, playing the guitar on top of his head, smiling and pointing at people in the audience, smoking cigarettes and reaching into the crowd to shake hands, though he did take a serious moment.
"Must be interesting to look at the country below you ... like watching a dog chasing its tail," remarked Vedder, weighing in on the current U.S. health care debate as an introduction to "Unemployable."
After a brief political rant, he got back to the business of rocking socks off
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