Indie rock icon David Berman has attacked Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam for releasing bad albums later in their career. Despite this criticism, Vedder opened for The Who at Wembley Stadium a few days ago and received positive reviews from fans on the Ten Club board, though some wish he’d played longer. Vedder made a heartbreaking death announcement of a legend at the show.
Peasant Tents wrote, “I thought a full set would mean 90 minutes but to be truthful, I bought my tickets on the day they went on sale as I was happy to see both on the same bill. I think it was the result of poor ticket sales that led to the promotion coming weeks after tickets went on sale saying full set and also the underground posters.
A bit naughty really, as that maybe convinced EV fans who were wavering to take the plunge and buy tickets….
It seems very much at odds with anything I’ve ever seen before but then again , by the letter of the law, full set didn’t say 90 minutes so it could have meant 60 minutes…. Good old live nation….”
David Berman had a much harsher take on Pearl Jam and Vedder in 2019, as he told Aquarian Drunkard, “If critics were harder on the musicians that they love, there would be better songs. But as they grow older and they lose their talent, critics refuse to let them know that and protect them, and they get to the point where they put out music that just isn’t up to the levels where they’ve already been.
It must be very strange to live in the world of Willie Nelson or Bruce Springsteen or Pearl Jam. I don’t know what kind of handle they have on their own loss of talent. Obviously Willie Nelson understands that it’s been forty-five years since anyone’s really cared about any song of his, but I feel like I don’t see very much vocational unhappiness. I heard Springsteen was an unhappy person. I don’t know, I haven’t read his biography. But a lot of people in my field should be a lot more unhappy than they are. They go to press with bullshit.”
