By wildwoman1313
When Eddie Vedder announced his first-ever solo acoustic tour in support of his first-ever solo album, the 2007 soundtrack to the film, Into the Wild, tickets were as hot and hard to come by as those to a Pittsburgh Penguin hockey game. Playing intimate venues averaging 2,000 seats, the Pearl Jam frontman and icon of alternative rock kicked off the tour back in April 2008 with ten dates along the West Coast (excluding his hometown of Seattle). The second leg, in August 2008, saw fourteen dates on the East Coast and Canada. And then last month, Vedder popped off yet another fourteen dates, again along the East Coast, recently wrapping in Honolulu, Hawaii. I caught up with him on the first of what was back-to-back, sold-out shows in Baltimore, Maryland.
With its world-renowned acoustics, Baltimore’s Lyric Opera House has hosted many great artists over the years including Ella Fitzgerald and speakers like Amelia Earhart. It has staged operas and Broadway musicals and was home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a time. From the red velvet seats, to the ushers handing out playbills, it seemed an odd choice of venue for a man who made stage diving an extreme sport. But make no mistake, this was no Pearl Jam show. Vedder even took his wine from a glass that night instead of swigging from a nearby bottle.
As the lights dimmed, Eddie Vedder took the stage to an outpouring of love and respect. The soft-spoken Vedder, somewhat uncomfortable with the attention, urged the packed house to sit, kick back and enjoy the show--a mighty tall order for an opera house full of moshers. Although the audience obliged, inevitably, some highly uncultured sort would impulsively leap to his feet, fists in the air--yeah!--and then, just as quickly, remember himself and sink to his seat. As for the hecklers, with their endless song requests and adulatory shout-outs, Vedder was charmingly gruff. He had his own agenda.
Into the Wild tells the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless, the young man who bucked society and the trappings of his affluent life to hike into the Alaskan wilderness and live by his wiles. His ill-fated journey of self-discovery had long been a story Sean Penn wanted to put to film, but it would take Penn a decade to obtain the necessary permission from the McCandless family. Eddie Vedder was handpicked by Penn to score the film. The two had history as Vedder previously contributed two songs to the Dead Man Walking soundtrack in 1995 and a cover of The Beatles “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” to the soundtrack for the 2001 film, I Am Sam, both of which starred Penn.
McCandless, Penn and Vedder are men cut from the same cloth. Each has had their beef with society and share a David versus Goliath mentality in their personal, social and political concerns, as well as a yearning for authenticity. Vedder has often written about leaving everything behind for a fresh start and describes the Into the Wild sessions as something transcendent. He received various Grammy nominations for the album and won a Golden Globe award for the song “Guaranteed”.
Vedder’s show was stunning in its simplicity, more folksy than rock, with a set that included an acoustic mix of Pearl Jam tunes, covers (including the beginning to Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage”), and songs from Into the Wild. He sat on a stool for most of the night, trading off his acoustic guitar from a duet with Jerry Hannan on “Society”, to a mandolin for “Rise”, to an electric guitar for the final song of the show, “Hard Sun”, which rocked the house, propriety be damned. With Eddie Vedder’s rich, gritty baritone resonating though such opulent space, one felt in the presence of greatness.
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Although there are no further dates listed for Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam has once again begun to stir. In March 2009, their debut album, Ten, was reissued with all sorts of extras including a DVD of the band's 1992 appearance on MTV Unplugged. To honor their upcoming 20th anniversary in 2011, Pearl Jam plan to re-release their entire catalogue, while Cameron Crowe is directing a retrospective movie of the band to coincide with the anniversary.
In August 2009, Pearl Jam will be headlining the Virgin Festival in Calgary; the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, California; and will be playing a couple dates in Chicago, Illinois, as well as four shows in Europe. In October 2009, the band will be headlining the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
