Results tagged “eddievedder”

Tuesday night, Pearl Jam brought their Backspacer Tour to the Spectrum, the band's only stop on the East Coast. We were initially a little surprised when we heard that Social Distortion would be opening, but by the time they performed a brazen cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," we figured out why the pairing made sense (we have to admit that a few of us only knew Social Distortion from the Reality Bites soundtrack). The band came through an underground scene that infused a harder sound into the new wave of '80s punk, a movement that encouraged grunge and other alt-rock forms. We wouldn't be surprised if, at one point in time, Pearl Jam had opened for them.

Anyone who has had both a pulse and a penchant for some loud guitar rock in the last twenty years can probably stroll down memory lane and recall one of the first times they heard or saw Pearl Jam. It might have been the crazy "I'm gonna murder you" eyes of leader singer Eddie Vedder in the ground-breaking "Jeremy" video, their Woodstock '94 performance, their well-publicized boycott of the fascists at Ticketmaster, or their recent tours selling out festivals and stadiums around the country. For this Phillyist, it was Vedder in the "Even Flow" video, standing atop the rafters at a live show, arms outstretched before plummeting into the audience. The first cassette (yes, cassette, that's right) we ever purchased was Vs. the first week it came out, and you better believe it was the first of many Pearl Jam albums to come. And yes, we still have ALL those cassettes...why, you wanna make something of it?

We already mentioned in an earlier post that the unconventional Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There gets released today. Although the soundtrack of the film has been out for some time, we thought we'd take this opportunity to review it - especially seeing as how it's a review copy of the album that we've been listening to and all. We're not just late on the review because we're lazy, though. There's a lot of music...

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week!

Last night, I was reminded again of how damned short I am when I ended up right in the middle of the tallest crowd I've ever seen at First Unitarian Church, where I was to see William Elliott Whitmore, and, to a lesser extent, Red Sparowes. "See" is generous. I heard fine, but mostly, what I saw was a lot of people's backs. And the top of Whitmore's jaunty hat. But that's okay. I've kind of come to expect that from Church shows.

Sean Manning