GUEST POST: MY FRIEND TOM SAW THE SECRET QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE GIG IN SEATTLE

About a week ago on July 31, Queens Of The Stone Age played a gig at Seattle's famous Showbox Market.  They're promoting the reissue of their self-titled debut album, originally released in 1998 on Stone Gossard's Loose Groove Records.  My good friend Tom was there and agreed to email me an account of the show (Tom is a true rock and roll dude, and was even thanked in the liner notes of Bruce Springsteen's Promise box set).  Tom went above and beyond as usual, and here's his report.


The first show that Queens of the Stone Age ever played was in downtown Seattle in November of 1997 so it seemed fitting they would perform their debut album in its entirety, for what was supposed to be a “secret show” here in downtown Seattle last Sunday night.

Queens of the Stone Age – Josh Homme (lead vocals, guitar), Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, backing vocals), Joey Castillo (drums, percussion), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar) – took the stage at roughly 9 pm.  QOTSA are not from Seattle but Homme certainly has enough of his own history here.  Homme became part of the local scene after the dissolution of his former band Kyuss, when he briefly joined Seattle legends Screaming Trees, as their touring guitarist, before forming QOTSA.  On stage Homme made sure to pay homage to Trees’ frontman Mark Lanegan (a one-time Queen) and former label boss Stone Gossard.  Homme mentioned that the first show QOTSA ever played was nearby at the OK Hotel – a bar/music venue located under the viaduct in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district – Homme laughed that it was one of their worst performances ever.  But tonight, the Queens played like heroes, performing the entire album from start to finish.  This album was the brainchild of Homme, who wrote all the songs and played guitar and bass guitar to the record, but his band mates (none of whom were in the band at the time) played these songs like they had been performing them for years. It was a real treat, especially if you never got to see Homme and crew in the old days.

The Queens opened with the debut's first track, “Regular John,” a stoney tune with a Kyuss feel, which seemed to have more life than the album’s studio version.  The guitars were brighter and more prominent too, compared to the steady mix on the album.  I actually had to go back and listen to the album after the show, in order to recall what Homme was doing live on these songs during the live show.  You couldn’t tell if the band re-worked any of the songs’ parts because they seemed so fresh and exciting.  Josh has become a totally solid live performer and this show was on-par with anything else he has ever done, (including Them Crooked Vultures).  The energy level was amazing and the band was having a blast.

Homme’s button down blue dress shirt was soaked with sweat as he continued to play some of the best lead guitar I’ve ever seen and he moved around the stage pushing the audience harder and faster.  He was ribbing us in the crowd (good naturedly) and invoking the whole point of rock n roll…"we just want all of you to have a good time."  Homme spent equal time facing each band member as they performed instrumental sections of "The Bronze," a bonus track on the re-issue.  At one point during “Mexicola,” Homme turned to drummer Joey Castillo who Homme later called “the only Mexican in Seattle,” and Joey started playing amazing drum fills that were different than that of the album version.  Joey was an absolute monster on the drums.  He didn’t miss a beat all night.  Michael Shuman, same thing - he just had head-splitting energy that drives the dynamic range of QOTSA over the top.  His harmonies were on point and you were able to see the skills this kid has on the bass guitar.  He makes you forget about how great Nick Oliveri was when he was their bass player.  Troy Van Leeuwen looked cool because he had a cool pinstripe suit on with a fancy tie to boot.  He was rocking... and you know that the rhythm guitarist never gets enough credit.   Dean brings in the bits and pieces that put the tunes over the top.  Reaching back to tear through some Mark Lanegan tunes all the way to the insane tease of “the polka song.”

You got the feeling Queens of the Stone Age were really excited to play this show not only because they had a chance to play an entire album worth of songs that aren't part of the usual repertoire.  The crowd was equally excited to hear live renditions of some of their favorite old school QOTSA songs.  After bout an hour they finished playing through the entire first album, so Homme and the band came back out and said they were having a great time and would play anything the crowd wanted for the next 30 minutes.  The crowd went nuts and then Homme proceeded to take requests and you just knew that someone was going to request “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” Before going into it, Homme simply said: “let’s get fucked up,” and then the crowd sang along with him the entire song and if they didn’t know the lyrics beforehand, they certainly did by the end of the song.

One of my favorite moments was when Josh told this guy down in front, who was wearing sunglasses, that he wanted to suck his dick “because he was so cool.”  Homme also pointed out some girl sitting on top of a guy’s shoulders, who was apparently at the Soundgarden show the previous night at the Gorge Amphitheater where Queens of the Stone Age played third on the bill, as she flashed him and flipped the crowd off when Homme said: “My sister is fuckin’ crazy right?”

In keeping with their reputation, Queens of the Stone Age killed in Seattle last Sunday night.  Performing every song from their self-titled debut album made the show extra special, but taking requests from the crowd really made this a classic and unforgettable performance.  Their stage presence was attention grabbing and the quality of their live performance – in my opinion – surpasses their studio work. Plus, Josh Homme never fails to make you laugh.  This show overall was definitely an over-the-top performance.  It made me wish that I had been able to see them when they started out in Seattle to be able to compare.  I can’t wait to see them again.

GREAT BAND, GOOD DOC: PEARL JAM 20

My wife and I had a little Pearl Jam film festival this weekend, watching Eddie Vedder's Water On The Road concert film, and also Pearl Jam 20, the documentary about the band by Cameron Crowe. I thought Cameron, a long time fan of the band, did a good job. It was really interesting to see Eddie, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready talking about their entire history. Well, almost.

I kept getting hung up on the fact that none of the band's ex-drummers were mentioned until well after an hour into the film. First, Mike mentioned "Jack," referring to Jack Irons, and a few minutes later, Mike went into an explanation of the former drummers (Irons, Dave Krusen, Dave Abbruzzese and even interim drummer Matt Chamberlin). It really bothered me that none of them were interviewed for the doc.  In contrast, in the recent Foo Fighters doc, the former members got to have their say, I felt that it hurt PJ20 that the drummers were almost an afterthought to the film (ironically, as Eddie Vedder at one point says that a drummer is a band's heart). Also, longtime keyboardist Boom Gaspar was the subject of a 5 minute extra, but there was no real explanation of why Vedder thought he should be in the band, or what the band thought of him joining.   I was also interested in hearing more about the conflict in the band, when Eddie was touring in a van trying to be a "D.I.Y." as possible while the rest of the band traveled together in a bus. Mike McCready asks "Was he embarrassed by us?"  I would have liked to have heard Eddie address that. There was definitely a time where he seemed to be chasing some weird indie-rock credibility that is kind of impossible for a band whose debut album sold ten million copies. It was obvious that it was creating tension with the rest of the band: especially as Jeff and Stone had been though so much with their former bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone.

At the core of the film is Stone's desire to run the band, and Eddie's increasing influence.  McCready insinuated that Stone wasn't totally into having Jeff in Pearl Jam, Stone admitted to thinking of it as his band until Eddie Vedder took over.  I imagine Stone calls the shots in Brad, but even in Brad, the singer Shawn Smith is kind of the main guy in the group. Stone has done a solo album - which was kind of ignored. I wonder how Stone made peace with the fact that he's better in a band, and a band needs a good frontman. Meanwhile, I would have liked to have heard more from Eddie about the importance of the other guys in the band, and how he interprets his influence in the group.

I realize that the band's manager Kelly Curtis was a co-producer, and the the goal of the film was to celebrate the band as it currently exists, not necessarily to be a comprehensive documentary, and Cameron Crowe is close with the band.  Maybe a documentary like Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster went a bit too deep and provided too much information, but I feel like PJ20 didn't go far enough.

I did enjoy the doc. I loved seeing Jeff at home in Montana, and Eddie's story about meeting Jack Irons for the first time:  Jack was playing in Joe Strummer's band, Eddie worked at the venue for a show where they met, Jack later introduced Eddie to Stone and Jeff.  While telling the story, Eddie is looking a picture of he and Strummer from that show, and he muses, "It all really comes down to this picture." Of course I loved where the band talked about Neil Young's influence on them, not just musically, but career wise.

I remember in the early days of the band, I found myself annoyed at Eddie Vedder for his indie obsession, which I felt came from (among other things) Kurt Cobain slamming the band in the press.  And while I've always loved Nirvana, Cobain's comments made me lose a bit of respect for him. It was fascinating to me that Stone admitted that Eddie's decisions sometimes didn't make sense to him at the time, and sometimes took a decade to make sense, but they were the right decisions.  And also that Cobain's comments kept the band on their "best behavior" and keeps doing so to this day.  I never thought of it that way.  Those were great moments the really added weight to the doc.

I really enjoyed that Stone talked about the fans' belief in the band keeping the band alive even when they weren't sure about themselves.  I never "moved on" from the band: I've been down since almost day one (I bought Ten the day it came out, because I loved the Temple Of The Dog album, which I bought because I was a Soundgarden fan, and to a lesser extent, Mother Love Bone). If my cheers, concert attendance, purchasing of their albums on release day, was a small part of the larger group of fans that never lost faith, I'm glad. I'm also glad that the band remain a relevant force to me to this day.  I can't wait for the next album, and yes, I'm willing to forgive the flaws in this documentary.

PEARL JAM'S JEFF AND STONE TO RELEASE SOLO ALBUMS

I think one of the things that has kept Pearl Jam fresh

and exciting are the members' many side projects. But I was surprised to hear that both Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament have solo albums coming out. 

I thought Stone's next album was going to be the next Brad record. After seeing Brad last year, it seemed like they were getting ready to do something again. But it turns out that Stone is going to release his second solo album: this one will be a tribute to Hank Williams. Stone sang a Woody Guthrie song at the Brad show: maybe he's getting into American roots music these days. 

I thought Jeff's next project was going to be the long-rumored collaboration with King's X bassist/singer Doug Pinnick. Pinnick actually contributes vocals to the album, but that's it. Too bad.  But I'm curious to see what Jeff comes up with on his own. 

BRAD'S BACK!

Brad is usually referred to as a "side-project," but they've been together for 15 years (on and off), so I think it's fair to refer to them as a "band."

The three principals are singer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Smith (also from Satchel, Pigeonhed, he was at one time a member of The Twilight Singers, and he's done a bunch of solo projects), drummer Regan Hagar (also from Satchel, he also played in Malfunkshun with the late Andrew Wood - who later formed Mother Love Bone) and former Green River/Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard (also, of course, of Pearl Jam).

They seem to come together whenever the stars align properly, and you never know if they're going to work together again. I'm glad to say that they're going to have a new album out at some point. They recently performed at New York's Highland Ballroom, and they played a bunch of new songs from their upcoming album, which you can hear at their myspace page. They also played some of their older stuff, of course, and, surprisingly, some Malfunkshun songs (Malfunkshun's Kevin Wood - brother of Andrew - was playing guitar with them). And Stone kind of crushed a Woody Guthrie cover, but it was funny. The band was really in town to do a Woody tribute/Huntington's Disease fundraiser (Woody died from that disease, and Stone's mother-in-law suffers from it).

It was great to see them again: it's so cool to see Stone, who I usually see rocking sold out arenas, in a small club. But the thing is, Brad isn't really about Stone, it's about Shawn. Or, maybe it's just about thier great songs: people love "20th Century," "Secret Girl," "The Day Brings," etc., even though they were never "singles" that were "worked to radio."

Here's looking forward to their new album, I hope to be more familiar with the new stuff next time I see them.

REVIEW: PEARL JAM 05/18/10 NEWARK

Last night I saw Pearl Jam for the first time in... well, in about a half year. What can I say, I love the band!

Pearl Jam have hit a stride in their career where they are a weird cross between The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen.  Like The Dead, they can tour when they want to, with or without a new album, play any song from their catalog and have radically different shows every night. And like Bruce, they are at a point where they are so finely tuned that they empty the tank every show, are able to be spontaneous, and on any given night might be the best band in the world.

While this show wasn't as epic at the Halloween show in Philly, it was pretty awesome.  (To be fair, that show was, as mentioned, on Halloween, it was the final event at The Spectrum before it was to be torn down, and right across the parking lot was the final game of the World Series, between The New York Yankees and The Philadelphia Phillies. It really felt like the center of the earth that night).

The biggest surprise was a cover of "Jersey Girl" - that was when I took the above photo... you'll notice Stone Gossard is not playing guitar - instead he's rockin' the tambourine. I've seen Stone play bass and even drums (with Brad) but this was the first time I've seen him tap the tambourine. But there were other great moments with rare tracks: "Footsteps" was my highlight, but it was also great to hear "Alone" and "Brother." Also great (and kind of rare): "In Hiding" and "Whipping."

I was fortunate enough to have gotten fan club tickets for the show - which placed my wife and I in the eighth row, center, on the floor, the best tickets I have ever had for Pearl Jam, and some of my best tickets ever. I have tickets for two other PJ shows this week, at both shows we will be in the upper upper upper level. It was great to watch the band that way. Eddie Vedder has become a great band leader, when you're close, you can really see it.  I think that at one point, Stone resisted that, but now he seems OK with it.  I think that Stone is such a generous musician and a real team player.  I mean, playing tambourine on "Jersey Girl!" He kind of does what the song requires, even if it is just strumming an acoustic.  He lets Mike McCready take all the solos, but he and Jeff Ament are kind of the glue that holds the whole thing together. Of course I gotta mention Matt Cameron.  I look forward to seeing him later this year with Soundgarden, his style with Pearl Jam is so different.

If you've never seen Pearl Jam, you should make it your business to see a show. If you've never seen a rock and roll show (although if you haven't, you probably wouldn't be reading this blog), you should go see Pearl Jam. They really are as life-affirming as a rock and roll band could be.

I should mention the opening band, Band Of Horses. Their song "No One's Gonna Love You" was my second favorite song of 2008 (after only Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler"). They were really good, they remind me of The Band, and not just because of their colonial beards. And also My Morning Jacket. What is it with the beards! I don't know that I would pay to see Band Of Horses on their own, but they were a good opening act. Eddie joined them for a song, and frontman Ben Bridwell returned the favor by joining Pearl Jam for "All Along The Watchtower" (but he sort of was out of his weight class trying to rock out).

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: FUNK AND SOUL

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET (ish) I am a guest contributor to the SIRIUS XM OutQ channel show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick.  Every week I discuss music (surprise!) and this week I'll be talking about some new funky and soulful releases.

I have written about Brad before: the band features Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, along with the great singer Shawn Smith. Smith also sings for Satchel (who Stone has produced), and for the electro music project Pigeonhed (the Lo-Fidelity Allstars remix of their song "Battleflag" is probably Smith's biggest "hit"), and has done solo albums too (as well as some other projects). He is one of the best singers you haven't heard. The band's drummer is Regan Hagar (also of Satchel, he used to be in Malfunkshun with the late Andrew Wood, who went on to form Mother Love Bone with Stone). Jeremy Toback used to be the bass player (he's also done some cool solo albums) but now Mike Berg is the bassist (he's also in Satchel). Enough family tree stuff, Brad is a really soulful band. At first they both benefitted and suffered from the Pearl Jam association: they certainly got more press because of Stone, but they sound nothing like Pearl Jam, they have a much more funky and soul music-based sound. Smith is the star of the band. If you can find the first album, 1993's Shame, check it out. But Best Friends?, their forth album which just came out, is very good too, although it did take me a few listens.

Street Sweeper Social Club just put out their second release, The Ghetto Blaster EP. It rocks! It has a bunch of new songs, a remix of "Promenade" from their debut, a new version of Boots Riley's other group, The Coup's "Everythang," and covers of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." Plus there's a few new songs. I think Boots is going to do a Coup album next, and I guess Tom Morello will do another Nightwatchman project (and maybe some Rage Against The Machine shows), before the next Street Sweeper full length.

Michael Franti has had such an interesting career. In the late '80s, he was in this angry industrial/hip-hop group The Beatnigs. After that, he had a very Public Enemy influenced hip-hop group called The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy (I saw them open for U2 at Shea Stadium, pretty bizarre). In 1994, he started Spearhead, which combined hip-hop with live music, soul, R&B and reggae, and he's been doing it for years without too much commercial success - but the band gets lots of respect in the jam band community. All of the sudden, last year, they had a hit with the very poppy "Say Hey (I Love You)," which is a classic hit single. A wonderful song. Franti's new Spearhead album, The Sound Of Sunshine, comes out September 21, and it sounds like it has a simlilar vibe to "Say Hey."

A couple of other things I'll be bringing: new songs by Cee-Lo Green (his viral hit "F*** You," and another new song "Georgia"), some Robert Randolph & The Family Band (featuring Ben Harper) and a preview of the John Legend/Roots album.

EDDIE VEDDER AND PEARL JAM GET POLITICAL (Separately)

Rolling Stone's web site (which is where this photo comes from) reports that Eddie Vedder is contributing a new song, "No More," to Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran. the soundtrack to Body of War, a documentary about a paralyzed twenty-six-year-old veteran Tomas Young, who served in Iraq for less than a week before he was shot and severely injured, and his subsequent crusade to question the war (money from the soundtrack to Iraq Veterans Against the War).The version on the album will be one that Eddie recorded with the great Ben Harper at Lollapalooza last summer. There's a live version of this song available as a bonus track on the iTunes version of Eddie's Into The Wild soundtrack, but Ben isn't (singing) on that version. As I previously mentioned, he's also doing a song for an upcoming documentary based on Howard Zinn's A People's History Of The United States.

Meanwhile, the other members of Pearl Jam (including touring keyboardist Boom Gaspar) recorded "Barack Around The Clock" (with Stone Gossard on lead vocals) and posted it to their web site. It was up earlier today, but has since come down, they probably didn't have the publishing rights to post it, even for free (as it was to the tune of the early rock and roll classic "Rock Around The Clock.")

With all this stuff going on (plus the fact that Stone is going to be doing a Brad album this year), I was glad to find out that they're going to be playing Bonnaroo this summer.

NEW MUSIC FROM STONE AND EDDIE

Stone Gossard has released his new solo single, "In Flames" as a digital download that you can get at Pearl Jam's web site. He's going to be doing a couple of solo shows coming up, I'm hoping to catch him when he plays Brooklyn. I don't know when he's going to be releasing the Hank Williams tribute I heard about. I also wonder when the next Brad album will be coming out. Stone's a busy guy lately!

Meanwhile, Eddie Vedder just wrote a song for his favorite baseball team The Chicago Cubs. It's called "All The Way" (but the season isn't over, so they may not be, in fact, going "all the way"). I'm not a huge follower of baseball, but I know it ain't easy being a Cubs fan. Anyway, the song will probably also be available at Pearl Jam's web site.

WATCH NOW: PEARL JAM'S NEW VIDEO "THE FIXER"

You can download the new Pearl Jam video for "The Fixer" at iTunes for free or watch it here.

In other Pearl Jam news, on September 16 in Seattle Stone Gossard will be playing a show with The Hankkhoir, which will also include Shawn Smith and Regan Hagar of Brad, Skerik of Tuatara, Pete Droge and other Seattites. They'll be doing mostly Hank Williams songs, but also other stuff, including some Brad stuff and some of Stone's solo material. Learn more here.

BEST OF THE 00s: PEARL JAM

Pearl Jam was one of the dominant band, if not the dominant band, of the '90s. It was their awkward childhood and adolescence as a band. And they probably produced their best music during that era: Ten, Vs.,Vitalogy and No Code. (I felt that Yield was a great album, but it saw them slipping.)

But in the '00s, they've put out a lot of great music which doesn't get its due. 2000's Binaural, produced by Tchad Blake, is probably their most underrated album. The single, "Nothing As It Seems," is a really cool song, but a willfully uncommercial pick for first single. There were some great garage rock gems there: "Breakerfall," "God's Dice" and "Evacuation." "Thin Air" is one of their sweetest songs (and was included on our wedding compilation) - I always felt that Al Green or Solomon Burke or even Willie Nelson could do a great cover. 

2002's Riot Act was kind of their mid-life crisis. Musically, it had a bit too much of an obsession (I felt) with indie rock. It was like a guy who works hard to stay in shape, but he starts slouching to appeal to indie rock fans.  It's not convincing and also unecessary.  It's interesting to me that they get so much respect from the indie rock world these days. Anyway, the album is, in my opinion, their weakest, but features two of their best songs, "I Am Mine" and "Love Boat Captain."

In 2003, they released a lovely song, "Man Of The Hour," for an equally lovely film, Tim Burton's Big Fish. That year also saw the release of Lost Dogs, a 2 CD set of non-album tracks.  The following year, they put out rearviewmirror, a 2 CD set of "greatest hits" (I had the privlege to write the record label's bio for that album). And, with that, they moved into the world of being actually independent.

On 2006's Pearl Jam, I felt that they wanted to be a "big" band again. Riot Act had a song called "Bu$hleaguer" - but it was so boring, that it didn't make much of a protest song. Even people who wanted to get behind it, couldn't.  I think they started taking cues from (maybe) The Clash and Bruce Springsteen - artists who had big messages, and wrote music appropriately so that it would reach big audiences. It was a great album, with "Life Wasted," "World Wide Suicide," "Unemployable," "Severed Hand" giving them some new anthems.  "Come Back" is maybe their sweetest song ever, if I produced Solomon Burke, I would suggest that he cover this one. I feel like that song could be a huge hit in the right hands.

Last year's Backspacer is a great album, it saw them reunite with Vs. and Vitalogy producer Brendan O'Brien.  The first single, "The Fixer," provided me with a mantra of sorts, and could be the unofficial slogan of No Expiration: "If something's old, I wanna put a little shine on it. When something's gone, I wanna fight to get it back again." "Gonna See My Friend" and "Supersonic" are great rockers as well, and "Just Breathe" is another wonderful ballad.

I also have to mention Eddie Vedder's work outside of the band: his solo debut, 2007's Into The Wild soundtrack, is classic. He's also collaborated with the Supersuckers, Neil Finn, Cat Power and former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons. He is creating his own solo repertoire, and hopefully he feels comfortable balancing his own career with the band. Stone Gossard has done some solo stuff and some guest appearances outside of the band.  His other group, Brad, released one album - I wish they were more active. Jeff Ament released his first solo album, and reuinted with his pre-Green River hardcore band, Derranged Diction (and Stone and Jeff did a few Green River reunion things). Mike McCready did a few things with his other band The Rockfords and did some guest appearances.  Matt Cameron meanwhile did a few albums with his garage rock band Wellwater Conspiracy, an album with his jazz band Harrybu McCage and a few other things. He really did come into his own as Pearl Jam's drummer in the '00s.

But the real reason that I am including Pearl Jam in my Best of the '00s is because they really created their own path during the '00s.  Not worrying about having huge hit records (but, finally, not shying away from the possibility of doing so), and taking advantage of their position: they don't need to deal with record labels anymore. They've always been a really popular touring act, and the group they get compared to often is The Grateful Dead. (Not musicially, just the fact that they can play huge venues without radio or press).  Since 2000, they've been releasing live albums ("bootlegs") of every concert that they play (for the most part) and they offer them at fair prices. Speaking of their live shows, they are always mind-blowingly great. They have also just started to dip into their archives: in 2006, they released New Year's Eve 1992, a concert recorded while they were just blowing up at New York's Academy (they were actually opening for Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, my wife was at that show). And last year they put out a pretty amazing super-deluxe reissue of Ten (in a number of different versions, I got the big kahuna).

I think that, like The Dead, Pearl Jam will be a huge touring act for decades to come. But unlike The Dead, I bet they will still be making vital relevant music.

PEARL JAM PART 2: 0625/08 MSG

Our seats were just as good for night two of Pearl Jam's two night stand at Madison Square Garden. This time, instead of being behind the stage, we were in front, but a little farther away: in the 13th row. From a photographer's point of view, it's probably better to be in front, and my lovely wife had a great time taking photos: see above. I was surprised that they played quite a few of the same songs as the night before, but there were enough different songs to have made it worth it.

They opened with "Release," which was great, and other great songs that they added included "World Wide Suicide," "Severed Hand," "State Of Love And Trust," "Garden" and "Rats." "Rats" has always been one of my favorites, and I wish they'd do more funky stuff like that. "Suicide" and "Severed Hand," both from their latest album, are classic. The backup singers were once again on hand, as was CJ Ramone. One notable other guest was Ace Frehley, who joined them for Kiss' "Black Diamond." That was pretty cool: the backup singers joined for that one, Eddie Vedder actually left the stage, Mike McCready actually sang the first line (as Paul Stanley does on the original), and Matt Cameron sang lead from behind the drums (as Peter Criss did back in the day).

It's funny: back in the '90s, Pearl Jam was seen as the anti-KISS. Their look wasn't typically rock star, and they seemed against flashiness. But, watching the band jam with a member of KISS and a member of The Ramones in the same night, you realize they were equally influenced by both bands. I wonder what Gene Simmons would think? He used to bitch about Pearl Jam all the time.

I could write about how mind-blowingly great Pearl Jam were all day, but I think you kind of get it. This is a band you should see if you get the chance. And, hopefully, you'll get lots of chances. I wonder when we'll hear from them next. I know Stone Gossard's other band, Brad, have a new album coming out. I also hear that Stone is working on his second solo album. Matt has a new jazz group called Harrybu McCage, they played Bonnaroo, and they just released their debut. But, hopefully the guys will get back together for a new album in the next few months. I can't wait to hear what they'll come up with next.

REVIEW: PEARL JAM AT MSG 5/20 AND 5/21

People can be cynical about arena concerts, and I can understand that sentiment. Yes, there can be a big disconnect between the artist and audience, and oftentimes the thousands of fans at a large arena get herded like livestock. I get it.

But.

Some artists just figure that it's part of the deal to go along with it. You get big enough to play arenas, the lack of connection is part of what comes with the deal. But what if you got to that point because your fans felt some kind of real connection with the band (as opposed to just liking some of the band's songs). Arguably, no one has handled the problem as well as Pearl Jam (maybe Bruce Springsteen). I've seen Pearl Jam probably about 20 times since 1992 (at the Limelight!) and I've always appreciated the way they respect the fact that there are people paying to hear them perform. For a few years, they seemed to struggle with the conundrum and Eddie Vedder didn't always seem happy on stage.  I'm happy to say that it seems like he's gotten over this in the past few years.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to see the band three times this week: once in Newark, and twice at Madison Square Garden. At one of the MSG shows, Eddie had a beam of light reflecting from his guitar into the audience. He slowly moved the guitar so that that beam of light touched every seat in the audience. It's more than just a cool looking effect, it's him acknowledging every single person in the crowd. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's a cool gesture.

A few numbers: they played 76 songs over three nights, with only six songs being played all three nights: "Alive," "Do The Evolution," "Lukin" (although the last night featured a very different, slower verison), "The Fixer," "Unthought Known" and "Just Breathe." Quite a few rare tracks over the past two nights, including "Sweet Lew" (Jeff Ament on lead vocals!) and "Black Red Yellow" (which I'd never heard them play before), "Hunger Strike" (with Band Of Horses' Ben Bridwell on guest vocals), and lots of cool covers: The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and "The Real Me," The Ramones' "I Believe In Mircales" and The MC5's "Kick Out The Jams."

But really, what it was about was this: they emptied the tank every night. They played great songs, and made it worth everyone's while (and money) to come more than once (which I'm sure many people did). They played the songs that hooked us in the first place, but their latest songs from last year's Backspacer showed that the band is as vital as ever ("The Fixer" isn't just one of my favorite songs, it's becomming my mantra!). I'm always amazed by how great they are. Yes, Eddie Vedder is one of the best frontmen in music. Mike McCready is one of the rock's great underrated lead guitarists, and his heroics prevent the band from descending into boring indie rock pretension (he happily runs around the stage, striking excellent poses with classic rock guitars: Fender Strats, Les Pauls, a flying V and even a double neck Gibson like what Jimmy Page used to use).  But the other guys hold it down.  Stone Gossard, as I mentioned, is a guy you would want in your band.  He plays every instrument, but is rarely flashy, is a riff playing monster, and really holds everything together. Jeff is a great bassist, he can play in any style. And PJ fans can thank god for Matt Cameron, the perfect drummer for the band. He also adds the occasional great song (like "You Are") and great backing vocals too.  I can't wait to see him back in Soundgarden later this year, but I hope he never leaves PJ. And of course touring Hammond player Boom Gaspar is a great part of the band also, giving them an even more timeless sound.

Night 2 at MSG was the last night of the US tour. Then, they have some European dates and then Matt is doing the Soundgarden tour. I think Stone is doing another Brad tour and album, and I guess Eddie will do solo shows.  But when Pearl Jam tours again, I'll be there. I want my moment in the spotlight again!

BRAD: NEW ALBUM, UPCOMING GIG

Over two years ago, I wrote about Brad - the band featuring singer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Smith (also of Satchel and Pigeonhed), drummer Regan Hagar (also of Satchel) and guitarist Stone Gossard (of Pearl Jam) - being "back." Well, now their relaunched website says that they'll have an album, Best Friends?, out next month on Pearl Jam's Monkey Wrench Records.

Brad will also be doing a show at the Showbox in Seattle on April 14, which will also feature Satchel, the live debut of Pigeonhed, Stone's "Hank Khoir" (Hank Williams cover band), and other guests at the show will include Jeff Ament and former members of Mother Love Bone and Malfunkshun. Man, I wish I could make it to Seattle. More info on tickets at Brad's website.

THANK YOU PETE TOWNSHEND

No secret that I'm a huge fan of Pete Townshend

and The Who. He's so interesting to me, just as a personality. He was one of the first rock stars that I was aware of who blogged, and in his interviews have always been interesting to read. It's like, he feels compelled to be honest. He recently sent an email to Rolling Stone writer/Left Of Center DJ Jenny Eliscu, which you can read at RollingStone.com. Among the interesting points is that at one point in 1993, Eddie Vedder considered hanging it up. He said, "To think he nearly quit in 1993 and went back to some surfing beach. Lucky he came to speak to Uncle Pete. I told him — submit" While I don't generally think of "submit" as great advice, I'm glad that he talked Eddie out of a pointless retirement.

I was thinking about the recent Green River reunion at SubPop's 20th anniversary concert. It must have been a bit weird: on one hand, you have Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, millionaires who can do whatever they want to for the rest of their lives. On the other, you have Mark Arm and Steve Turner of Mudhoney, who still record and tour (some of their recent stuff is truly awesome, by the way) but they tour in a van and play small places and have day jobs (Arm manages SubPop's warehouse). I think Vedder used to romanticize these bands that were less popular and had some kind of guilty conscience about Pearl Jam's success and maybe felt that that somehow made them less cool/good/relevant. But I think - I hope - that these days, with most of his peers playing small venues, if they are still playing at all, Eddie is grateful to be in a great band like Pearl Jam with a loyal following.

PEARL JAM CLOSES THE SPECTRUM

People overuse the word "epic," but last night's Pearl Jam Halloween/last-concert-at-the-Philly-Spectrum truly was one for the ages. The above clip (not my video, I wasn't sitting that close to the stage) was from the first encore, when the band came out dressed as Devo and covered "Whip It." It was pretty classic. (Devo apparently approved: a video with a different angle from the above one, is posted at their website. On another note, this gave me a great idea for my halloween costume for next year: Devo actually sell these outfits).

I'd have to check on this, but I think it may have been their longest show ever. It was certainly one of them - I'm sure the live album will be three CDs. (all of Pearl Jam's concerts are available as live downloads or CDs through the band's website) Like Bruce Springseen 's recent concert closing down Giants Stadium, there were crazy rumors of who would show up... and like that show, there were no guests. Which is fine: they played over three hours, that's more than enough, who cares about guests (although Eddie Vedder did sing a song with opening band, Bad Religion, who were great). Eddie addressed this towards the beginning of the show, mentioning that he had heard rumors that Bruce, Neil Young, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews and Jon Bon Jovi were going to be there, and he said that, in fact, there would be no guests.

Instead, we got performances of some songs that had never, or rarely ever, been performed by the band. That included "Pilate," from Yield, "Out Of My Mind," which was the b-side of "Not For You" and which wasn't even included on the b-sides collection, Lost Dogs. Eddie explained that a fan offered a large sum of money to a worthy cause if they played it - it was only the third time they ever performed it.

Eddie strapped on a button accordion for the first ever performance of Vitalogy's "Bugs," which was better than the studio version. There was also the first ever performance of "Sweet Lew," featuring Jeff Ament on lead vocals, Eddie on backing vocals and dribbling a basketball, and Stone Gossard on bass. Stone also played bass on one of my favorites, "Smile," which featured Jeff on lead guitar. Plus there were some other rarely played songs that I love, such as "I Got ID" and the Mother Love Bone song "Crown Of Thorns."

But the show wasn't just for aficionados: they also played some of their biggest songs, including "Evenflow," "Alive," "Yellow Ledbetter," "Better Man" and "Daughter." As well as a bunch of songs from their very solid new album, including one of my favorites, "The Fixer," along with "Just Breathe" (which featured a string section) and "Got Some." I've been seeing the band for seventeen years, I've very rarely been disappointed, but this was one of the best shows I've ever seen by them. They seem like they are at the top of their game, and I hope they tour some more in 2010, I'll definitely go to see them again.

BRAD AT NYC'S GRAMERCY THEATER 6/23/12

photo credit: Maria Ives 

You can’t call Brad a “side-project” anymore, they’ve been around for almost 20 years.  They’re a band… a funky band and a great one. Singer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Smith, drummer Regan Hagar and guitarist Stone Gossard have been together for a long time, and they play like it (even though there are sometimes long breaks between albums).  They now feature bassist Keith Lowe and are often accompanied by multi-instrumentalist/singer Happy Chichester. 

When Brad first came out, Pearl Jam were the biggest, hottest band in the world, and I guess it was annoying to Stone and the other guys that people were showing up to their gigs hoping to hear Pearl Jam. That has, thankfully, faded.  And maintaining that they are their own thing has definitely paid off.  While Shawn Smith is the focal point of the group (he’s one of the greatest singers around), people go to see the band.  Everyone has their favorite songs, and favorite periods. I know: they skipped some of my favorite tunes! 

They opened with “Waters Deep,” a song that they gave away for free on their website, and went into a set that drew from their five album catalog.  For me, the highlight was “Every Whisper,” from their last album, Best Friends? (I wish they’d played “Bless Me Father” from that album as well, but I was lucky enough to film them performing it a few years ago). Two other highlights were their most rocking songs from their second album, Interiors, “Secret Girl” and “Sweet Al George.”

Photo Credit: Maria Ives 

But their most popular album is still their debut, Shame (indeed, when I posted to my Facebook page that I was at a Brad show, a friend immediately commented that Shame is one of her favorite albums ever).  I was totally stoked that they drew heavily from it towards the end of the show, playing “20^th Century,” “Buttercup” and “Screen.”

There were some great covers also: Shawn sat at the keyboard by himself for a solo segment, where he played Mother Love Bone’s “Crown Of Thorns,” and Prince’s “Purple Rain.”*  That was incredible, and a good reminder that Shawn has his own solo career, which is worth following as well.   As a band, they performed Neil Young’s amazing “Don’t Cry” (from his Freedom album).

photo credit: Maria Ives 

I don’t know what it takes to keep Brad on the road. I'm sure there's lots of scheduling issues involved, and I know it's not cheap to get them out there.  I know last time they toured they got a break when Band Of Horses offered them an opening spot (I’d have to think that they’d blow them away nightly). So, here’s hoping they get the break they need, because twenty years in, more people need to see this incredible band. I know they're reissuing their catalog this year, so it's the perfect time for people who have been missing out to get into this band.  Trust me, you'll dig it! 

*In a funny sidenote, I once filmed an interview with champion surfer Kelly Slater guest DJ-ing on Pearl Jam Radio, where he described going to see Brad and Shawn performing “ a couple of Prince songs.”   I tweeted the video once, and Shawn tweeted back at me that he only played one – “Purple Rain” – but he was flattered that Slater thought the rest of the songs were by Prince.  

COME ON DOWN TO GREEN RIVER

Green River - the semi-legendary Seattle band that featured future Mother Love Bone/Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament and future Mudhoney members Mark Arm and Steve Tuner is reuniting for a party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the great Sub Pop label. The shindig will take place July 12 and 13 in (duh) Seattle. Mudhoney will also play, as will Comets On Fire and some other cool bands. I guess a Soundgarden reunion would be out of the question, but it would be cool if they could get The Afghan Whigs and Mark Lanegan to play (not to mention The Reverend Horton Heat).

Happy 20th, Sub Pop.

BEST OF 2012 - #10 - BIG BOI "VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS"

I'm definitely a big fan of Big Boi.  Ever since I started listening to OutKast (I was turned on to them when Stone Gossard played one of their songs on a Pearl Jam radio show).  He's a really interesting and underrated MC. But more than that, he has an interesting musical sensibility.  I think in OutKast, Andre 3000 got most of the credit for that. But if you listen to Big's two albums (Sir Luscious Leftfoot was one of my favorites of 2010).

His new one, Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, came out late in the year and made me shuffle my year end list a bit.  I'm not mad, it's a great album.

There's some cool funky party jams, which I guess we'll always expect from him. I like "In The A" (which features T.I. and Ludacris) and also the new wave-y jam "Mama Told Me" with Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child. "Apple Of My Eye" is also a very strange, and very cool song. Then there's also a song called "Thom Pettie" that name drops "Free Fallin'."

But the ones that stand out to me are "She Hates Me" and "Tremendous Damage," which are both pretty revealing.  "She Hates Me" seems to be about his marriage.  When he says "Forgive me if I raise my voice, I won't raise my hand/But one thing I will do baby is raise my lil' man." What a line.

"Tremendous Damage" is about his father, a Vietnam vet, who passed away recently.  Not your average subject matter for a hip-hop song.  That's why I like Big Boi, and why (to me) he stand out above the pack of MCs.  Musically, he always looks for something a bit funkier and more creative, and lyrically he goes to different places.

Like everyone else, I hope that Andre 3000 wises up and agrees to an OutKast reunion.  But if that doesn't happen, Big Boi's second act is turning out to be a very strong one.

HORRIBLE BOSSES - GREAT FILM SCORE

The new film, Horrible Bosses, has a bit of a ridiculous premise - three guys with bosses of varying degrees of horribleness, decide to team up and kill said bosses - but it's very funny, in a Hangover kind of way. But I'm writing about it because of the cool approach they took to scoring the film.  Composer Christopher Lennertz put together a really cool group of musicians to play on the score, including Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Stefan Lessard of The Dave Matthews Band and Beastie Boys collaborator Money Mark. (Lessard and McCready are pictured here from a totally different event, I think Lessard originally posted this photo to Dave Matthews' website).  Anyway, the score is available on iTunes, and you can buy separate tracks, as there are some different musicians on different tracks (also appearing on the album is frequent Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, and a drummer named Matt Chamberlin, who has played for lots of people, including Tori Amos and Stone Gossard). You can watch a cool video about the making of film score here.

#20YRSAGO: NIRVANA - NEVERMIND (+ boxset review!)

A lot of incredible albums came out in 1991 (hence my series of "#20yrsago" posts), but none had the game changing impact of Nirvana's Nevermind.

I remember hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time.  I was driving my car on the Meadowbrook Parkway in Long Island while I was in college.  I ejected whatever cassette I was listening to, and my radio was set to 92.7 FM (it was either WLIR or WDRE).  I heard the guitar first. Why are they playing a band as heavy as Metallica?  Of course, when I heard the singer, he sounded nothing like Metallica or anyone else. Who was this?  I soon found out.

I got Nevermind when it first came out. Obviously it is a classic album.  I loved "Lounge Act," I thought it sounded like The Smithereens (I later read that they were, in fact, an influence). At some point, I found Kurt Cobain a bit too precious and annoying (wearing a "corporate magazines still suck" shirt while doing a corporate magazine cover was cute, but complaining about Pearl Jam bugged me), and I stopped listening to them for a bit. That was dumb of me.  They are one of the greatest bands ever, and Nevermind is an incredible album.  I'm sure Dylan said some things about other artists that I like, it would never make me stop listening to his music.

There's lots of stories about Nirvana's concrete impact (the oft-told stories of hair metal bands hearing Nirvana and realizing that their day was done) and how they didn't care about their new-found status (famously turning down opening slots on tours by U2 and Guns N Roses/Metallica). My story is this:  I was DJing at a great rock and roll bar called Fezziwigs, owned by two great guys, ex-hippies who performed at the bar as an acoustic duo.  Almost all of their repertoire was '60s and '70s songs, but they threw in Dire Straits and Traveling Wilburys songs as well. They didn't always "get" the music I played, but Nirvana was the only band they ever paid me to NOT play. $5 extra per night, just as long as they didn't have to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Sometimes I would have to sacrifice the extra fiver, other nights I played "Lounge Act" instead.

Anyway. I've been listening to the super-deluxe box set lately, and I'm stunned by how great it is.  Why did I buy the super deluxe version, instead of the just the deluxe one?  Well, one reason is that it comes with a live concert recording from the era, and a DVD of the same concert.  You could buy that DVD/CD package separately.  There are tons of B-sides and bonus tracks, many of which come with the deluxe version.  I was kind of attracted to the super-delxue by the idea of the Butch Vig's original mixes.  Butch Vig, of course, produced Nevermind, and went on to be a famous producer, as well as the drummer of the band Garbage. But this was one of his first big major label projects, and I guess the label didn't like his mixes, so they hired Andy Wallace to mix it instead.  So, it's cool to hear Butch's original vision for the album. Also included are "boombox demos": literally, the band performing and recording themselves on a cassette deck on a boombox.  It's interesting to hear them in that raw of a format, but I don't think I'll listen to that too often.  Finally, there are some early demos of the songs that pre-date Dave Grohl joining the band: they feature Chad Channing on drums.

Nevermind is an album that I have a complicated relationship with, but it's certainly one of the greatest and most important albums released in my lifetime, and I'm grateful for it.  It helped to wipe out a lot of crap bands (of course, it inspired a movement of those crap bands pretending to be Nirvana, instead of pretending to be Van Halen). It also sort of brought a system of ethics to bands who come from the underground and end up in the mainstream.  Stone Gossard basically admitted as much in Pearl Jam 20.  The idea of Kurt Cobain giving a public beatdown over something that smells like a sell-out helped to keep the band on their best behavior.  For a time, it felt like most of pop music felt the same way. Maybe a lot of us (including some of Kurt's bandmates, friends and fans) have outgrown that rigid ethic, but you know that people are probably influenced by Kurt's personality as much as they are by his songs.