A Night At The Opera

Eddie Vedder descended on the stunningly-beautiful Boston Opera House this past weekend, and seeing the lead singer of Pearl Jam onstage alone was a treat none of us could pass up—despite not knowing quite what to expect. We were not disappointed.

The sellout crowd was an interesting mix of the rich, the famous, and the not-so-much. Liberal icon Howard Zinn was there. So was Bill Saggio. There were even rumors of a clandestinely-clad Theo Epstein. Truly the best and the brightest of what Boston has to offer. That is, at least as far as the second show on Saturday is concerned. Friday’s opening performance was marred by large contingents of drunken frat boys and massholes, yelling out requests and commenting at will. The singer, to his credit, took it in stride, telling the audience “I figured we’d make it to New York before the drunken assholes showed up.”

Vedder, in kicking off only his second solo tour, gave a performance Saturday night that no one could find fault with. The 26-song set list featured a few from Pearl Jam, several from the Into the Wild soundtrack, and an assortment of covers. Highlights included a mandolin-only performance of Man of the Hour and a masterful rendition of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, a song Eddie Vedder is quickly claiming as his own. (Check out this performance and tell me that statement is not true.) ARC, an entirely vocal performance using a voice-loop machine, needs to be seen to be believed and shows just how good Vedder is at what he does.

We expected the music to be great, and it was. What we didn’t quite expect was how funny Vedder turned out to be. Before launching into James Taylor’s Millworker, he delivered a hilarious monologue on why James Taylor “is a badass.” He chastised the crowd for not being able to tell the difference between a ukulele and a mandolin, but then admitted that he “really couldn’t play the fuckin’ thing anyway.”

No Eddie Vedder performance would be complete without a little politics thrown in. He (sarcastically) congratulated Exxon on their record-breaking profits, noting that they were a company that obviously doesn’t believe in passing the savings on to the consumer. Vedder has long been a critic of the Iraq War, and he shared the story a paralyzed veteran, urging those in the crowd to write him letters of support before launching into the protest song No More.

Strangely enough it was politics that brought about one of the evening’s funniest moments. Coming back for his encore, Eddie explained that he had come to realize that while it is OK for everyone to have strong feelings and opinions, artists did need to keep those opinions to themselves and not try to influence their fans with them. As he spoke, two stagehands ran behind him carrying a giant Barack Obama banner. Even the Republicans in the crowd had to laugh at that.

This was a fantastic show that we all left knowing we were lucky to have seen. Tickets sold out quickly, but we were able to pick up some fairly priced seats through a reseller just days before the show. The tour heads to New York City tonight, and then to Newark, Montreal, Toronto, Washington, DC and Milwaukee before wrapping up in Chicago. Do not miss your chance to see it.