Eddie Vedder had an ‘angry outburst’ at Pearl Jam’s second show in Oakland over the weekend, fans report on the Ten Club boards. He later apologized for the meltdown.
HeartofaDog posted, “Purely speculation but if I had to guess, the stress of waiting two years to tour, then having the drummer out with the virus after four shows, and having to split up the set between two drummers who aren’t prepared/haven’t really rehearsed these songs with the band (at least not on drums, in Josh’s case) is probably weighing pretty heavily on these dudes. As much as it’s novel and fun for the fans, it’s probably pretty frustrating to have the fill-in drummers be unfamiliar with tempos/arrangements.”
Varitek wrote, “I posted this in the set list thread. I was 10 back from stage, directly in front EV. Ed apologized for his angry outburst and said it was on him and he was upset with himself. I am paraphrasing but I got the impression he felt like he f***ed up. He then mentioned that there are a lot of people with real problems to worry about and that he needs to remind himself of that sometimes. There was plenty of joy coming out of the man the rest of the night but I think he may have been frustrated with a number of things, some of which may not have anything to do with a rock concert.”
WAMorican said, “As a fan, it was a fantastic show, though it pains me to know/see the band was so frustrated at times. But despite that, they’re professionals and put on an amazing show. I was down on the floor and could see/sense Ed’s frustration, but I bet 75% of the crowd had no idea and again, they’re so good, what were mistakes to them were probably lost on most of the crowd. And as others have said, a lot of that was likely frustration with two years of the virus, finally doing the tour but with all of the attendant hassles, Matt not being there and all the drummer craziness, throw in Putin’s evil war and Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, and Ed just reached a boiling point.
But while it bothers me that he’s troubled, a little ferociousness in Ed does give an added edge to the likes of Porch, RVM, etc. so call it a silver lining for us to some dark clouds for the band. Hopefully they get Matt back soon and stability on the kit that takes at least that stress out of the equation.
But I loved it, my 35th show and I finally got a full version of my beloved user-name song (I’d gotten a small tag at the end of Daughter back in ’95 but that doesn’t compare), plus my first Smile and Bee Girl, my first BOJ since ’98. Immortality, State and Hatred were insane.
My only complaint would be only hearing three different Gigaton songs over the two nights, but I understand why that probably happened. Ed teased Bridge School again for the second straight night so maybe I’ll get lucky and get to see Comes Then Goes or River Cross this fall ; )”
