Rock and Roll

Tuesday night was the big Arena Schlock Rock show at the Xcel. [I'm eternally annoyed by that stupid spelling- same thing with Qwest.]

I spent an hour in traffic after work, and found an open meter (gotta love St. Paul- free after 4:30). We had a bite to eat and a few pre-show beers at Great Waters Brewing Co., then headed in just before 7:30. Mal had been to the show the night before, as well, so we knew Pearl Jam would be starting on time.

Our seats were in the club level, section C27. They would be great seats for a hockey game, but not for a concert. I can't believe the face value of my ticket was $86! With TicketMonster charges, that's over 100 bones! Mal got the two tickets for a total of $100 on eBay, but I'm going to avoid him for a while, hoping he forgets I owe him money. Here's the view from our section, from the arena's Web site. (Although, we were in the last row, so it was actually a little further.)


The only band I've seen in arenas in the last 10 or 15 years is Phish. I've always had pretty decent seats. They also have a top-notch sound guy, and the best light show of any band out there (with the possible exception of Pink Floyd). Phish was my favorite band, so I was trying hard not to compare the Pearl Jam/Petty concert experience with a Phish concert. It was hard, though, and I kept thinking about how much I miss Phish.

I've heard people talk about how great the sound system is in the Excel. I wasn't all that impressed. It was kind of muddled during PJ, and could have been louder. Here's the Pearl Jam setlist:

Interstellar Overdrive/(Corduroy)
Severed Hand
Hail Hail
Love Boat Captain
World Wide Suicide
Marker In The Sand
Given To Fly
Even Flow
Light Years
Not For You
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Come Back
State Of Love And Trust
Glorified G
Black
Life Wasted
Alive

When I read the setlist, and saw Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive listed first, I was very confused. There was some intro music playing as they took the stage. It sounded vaguely familiar. I'm not sure if the band actually played this song for a bit, or if it was just piped over the PA. When Eddie Vedder announced that they were going to play Love Boat Captain, there was some booing from the crowd. Did they play it in reference to the Viking's boat scandal? I think some people thought that's what was going on.

Luckily, they played some early stuff during the end of their set. Butchie loaned me their latest CD, so I was somewhat familiar with the new songs. Mal had me excited for a Who cover, but sadly, it was not to be. Eddie had a great stage presence, running all over the place, pouring wine for the people in the front row, and playing a lot more guitar than I realized he would (and sounding pretty good). I wasn't impressed with Mike McCready (lead guitar). His solos seemed uninspired.

I didn't realize until a few days before the show that Matt Cameron, formerly of Soungarden, was PJ's drummer now. He was the highlight of the show for me. The drums were nice and loud in the mix, and we had a great view of him. He was all over the place. Good stuff.

Petty's set was basically full of his greatest hits, with a few new tunes thrown in. The band was very tight, Petty's voice sounded good, and Mike Campbell's guitar solos were fantastic. Halfway through, they brought Vedder up to sing on The Waiting, which got me pretty psyched- I hadn't seen it on any of Petty's recent setlists. One problem: Eddie's mic wasn't working. The Strib's Jon Bream couldn't have been paying very much attention- he didn't even mention that in this review. Eddie sang a verse by himself, and you could hardly hear anything. Thankfully, they got him a new microphone before the encore, when he came up for American Girl, which sounded great. My favorite part of the Petty/Heartbreakers set was a cover of Mystic Eyes, a Them (Van Morrison) cover. It rocked as hard as anything Pearl Jam played.

Overall, I had a good time, but I realized that there's a reason I don't go to arena rock shows. I'll stick to First Ave and other clubs for live music.