*** EV Tour - Long Beach Fanviews Here 07/6/11 ***

[norm]

at the beginning of the show ed said 'hello long beach' and commented that that was the first time he'd ever said that...later he told a story of when in 1992 at the palladium in hollywood they played a show supporting spinal tap and when tap finished their set, derek smalls raised his arm and said 'thank you long beach!'

[AH3254]

Many great witnesses have written already on this absolutely soul fulfilling experience...

but the Long Beach show just completely rocked my mind and soul ---

I was 24 row orchestra... ---- only friction was a couple guys arguing about phone recording the show. Here's the bottom line on that: it REALLY sucks when you're behind someone doing it because their screen is bright and is a complete distraction (or can be) to the experience...plus, why kids ? somebody will youtube it from the 5th row for ya... or better yet, Eddie will grace us with a beautiful DVD release from this tour ( after the Long Beach show, it was so tight, I wished they were rolling cameras for it! (No, not you camera phone nuts!)

I just inhaled the show in - I was so impressed and energized -- hey on that note, anyone else find it hard to "sit there" and take the energy The Man can deliver !!! Ugh, that's the only negative - even Eddie's uke makes you wanna move...but we're all sitting...toe tapping maybe..polite...it's tough - but onto the show:

Ed later in the evening: "I get the day off tomorrow...so, uh, I can let it all hang out tonight..."
(ah, that's what we ALL wanted to hear Mr. Vedder...)

- Can't Keep opening was incredible... stage goes dark, Ed starts in, and the curtain comes up -- He looked hungry and focused -- extremely tight version -- he came to play tonight....

- Ed got a HUGE crowd response when the lights first dimmed for Can't Keep - then it erupted again immediately after he ended the song, I think everyone could feel the energy. What it must have been like for Ed... he said an interesting thing after this: "wow, this is already better than last night" (haven't read reviews on SD, but guessing Ed and the crowd was not in sync?)

- Every song before and after people were applauding, whistling - I think Ed was feelin' the love most definitely....

- Ed said he "finally gets to say "hello Long Beach" --- he told a quick story about PJ, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains playing with then headliner "Spinal Tap" back in 1992 at the hollywood palladium (in LA) - and the bass player from Spinal Tap, after the last song, raised his arm - and said " Thank you Long Beach!" ( ooops!!!)
So here was Ed actually in Long Beach.. and actually getting to say those words...

- Ed clued us into how his Uke and Guitar compete for his attention (ha) -- Ed said the guitar was calling out to him as he's been spending alot of time on the Uke -- as they are "song writing machines". ( Any spike in Uke sales will be due to Mr. V --- just like Avocado sales from 2006

- When Ed started playing guitar and uttering "the lunatic is on the..." -- PERFECT. Sounded incredible - nice echo guitar effect and his booming voice --- and perfect - right after a few verses: right into Sometimes

- I only saw the 2008 show from the DVD that was just released... I agree, Ed definitely achieved further MASTERY over his instruments and the intensity/presence that causes.. overall I thought the LONG BEACH show was perfect/flawless in that regard --

- Ed stopped once right before "Sleepless Nights" with Glen -- but he said that song can go double time too - faster - he played a few chords that way to show us --and said that screws him up... but then right back into it... Glen and Ed harmonizing on this song was amazing.

- Man.... I'm still amazed what a jewel of a voice Ed still has after pouring his heart and soul out at every show after all these years...smoke if you got'em Ed....

- He mentioned picking up a "banjo" at some point... but something wasn't ready.. so he said "later" -- but didn't go back for it...

- Some nice "hearts and thoughts they fade....fade away" chorusing with the audience....

- Psssst - Matt Cameron really likes "thumbing my way back to heaven" -- Eddie said so..

(again: Ed rocked all of our worlds with these songs.."thumbing" was an immaculate performance - and example that Ed's got so many little PJ jewels buried in the albums over the years that they take on a whole new experience when fit into a solo show like this)

- Lukin was great... before launching in, Eddie says to the string section "try and keep up" -- and at the end, Ed really started bangin' and increased the tempo -- and blew past the strings at the end ... Ed acknowledged this and turned back towards them and said to the audience: "they're probably thinking, what an asshole" -- another great funny witty moment... and many more were sprinkled throughout the evening...

- I LOVE the Arc creation experience.. Ed layering his voice... So INTENSE - and beautiful. That man could do an entire album of just over dubbing his voice.... I hope he experiments more with that on future PJ and solo works...

- Arc like MANY songs that night -- I experienced by just closing my eyes and being covered in the rich velvety sounds of Ed's voice... ( try that instead of being a cameraman with your cell phone kids! Be in the moment...)

- Porch was intense -- again, Eddie is strumming, picking, and or pumping like a musical madman on every song, he sounds so good... the result of nonstop activity on the musical front to better himself...

- was hoping Mike McCready would make an appearance -- Ed inviting his "bandmate, my brother" on the stage was EPIC... 2 pieces of "The Band" were there.... live... for one song.... sounded absolutely brilliant -- you could tell at the end when Mike stopped - he EASILY could have kept soloing... but over 2 hours of pure Eddie, I guess we gotta save some till the next one...

And so then the end came... and nobody wants it to end.... we want Eddie to keep playing.... keep talking... hell, just hang out on stage and wave Ed - and we're happy! But alas it did.... but what a force from the stage he was... all night long... every song....

Well, Wiltern LA here we go... tenclub lottery here we go... Ed's had a nice "day off" replenishing that soul shining energy he gives all of us in the crowd --- so we're in for a really big treat...again. Friday night can't come soon enough...

[tremors]

wowee

[finally]

AH3254, you so eloquently summarized my interpretation of a night I will never, ever forget.

I went solo and I was fortunate enough to sit with like-minded fans. Everyone was so respectful to both Ed and Glen.

What a beautiful, moving night. I always feel alive at a PJ concert but last night was remarkable.

[Crazy Marcus]

Completed painting that was being done live in front of the venue by
Munk One, Jeff Soto, and Maxx 242:

[finally]

Completed painting that was being done live in front of the venue by
Munk One, Jeff Soto, and Maxx 242:

Thank you SO much for posting this!
it's absolutely beautiful.

[heartdesire]

Many great witnesses have written already on this absolutely soul fulfilling experience...

but the Long Beach show just completely rocked my mind and soul ---

I was 24 row orchestra... ---- only friction was a couple guys arguing about phone recording the show. Here's the bottom line on that: it REALLY sucks when you're behind someone doing it because their screen is bright and is a complete distraction (or can be) to the experience...plus, why kids ? somebody will youtube it from the 5th row for ya... or better yet, Eddie will grace us with a beautiful DVD release from this tour ( after the Long Beach show, it was so tight, I wished they were rolling cameras for it! (No, not you camera phone nuts!)

I just inhaled the show in - I was so impressed and energized -- hey on that note, anyone else find it hard to "sit there" and take the energy The Man can deliver !!! Ugh, that's the only negative - even Eddie's uke makes you wanna move...but we're all sitting...toe tapping maybe..polite...it's tough - but onto the show:

Ed later in the evening: "I get the day off tomorrow...so, uh, I can let it all hang out tonight..."
(ah, that's what we ALL wanted to hear Mr. Vedder...)

- Can't Keep opening was incredible... stage goes dark, Ed starts in, and the curtain comes up -- He looked hungry and focused -- extremely tight version -- he came to play tonight....

- Ed got a HUGE crowd response when the lights first dimmed for Can't Keep - then it erupted again immediately after he ended the song, I think everyone could feel the energy. What it must have been like for Ed... he said an interesting thing after this: "wow, this is already better than last night" (haven't read reviews on SD, but guessing Ed and the crowd was not in sync?)

- Every song before and after people were applauding, whistling - I think Ed was feelin' the love most definitely....

- Ed said he "finally gets to say "hello Long Beach" --- he told a quick story about PJ, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains playing with then headliner "Spinal Tap" back in 1992 at the hollywood palladium (in LA) - and the bass player from Spinal Tap, after the last song, raised his arm - and said " Thank you Long Beach!" ( ooops!!!)
So here was Ed actually in Long Beach.. and actually getting to say those words...

- Ed clued us into how his Uke and Guitar compete for his attention (ha) -- Ed said the guitar was calling out to him as he's been spending alot of time on the Uke -- as they are "song writing machines". ( Any spike in Uke sales will be due to Mr. V --- just like Avocado sales from 2006

- When Ed started playing guitar and uttering "the lunatic is on the..." -- PERFECT. Sounded incredible - nice echo guitar effect and his booming voice --- and perfect - right after a few verses: right into Sometimes

- I only saw the 2008 show from the DVD that was just released... I agree, Ed definitely achieved further MASTERY over his instruments and the intensity/presence that causes.. overall I thought the LONG BEACH show was perfect/flawless in that regard --

- Ed stopped once right before "Sleepless Nights" with Glen -- but he said that song can go double time too - faster - he played a few chords that way to show us --and said that screws him up... but then right back into it... Glen and Ed harmonizing on this song was amazing.

- Man.... I'm still amazed what a jewel of a voice Ed still has after pouring his heart and soul out at every show after all these years...smoke if you got'em Ed....

- He mentioned picking up a "banjo" at some point... but something wasn't ready.. so he said "later" -- but didn't go back for it...

- Some nice "hearts and thoughts they fade....fade away" chorusing with the audience....

- Psssst - Matt Cameron really likes "thumbing my way back to heaven" -- Eddie said so..

(again: Ed rocked all of our worlds with these songs.."thumbing" was an immaculate performance - and example that Ed's got so many little PJ jewels buried in the albums over the years that they take on a whole new experience when fit into a solo show like this)

- Lukin was great... before launching in, Eddie says to the string section "try and keep up" -- and at the end, Ed really started bangin' and increased the tempo -- and blew past the strings at the end ... Ed acknowledged this and turned back towards them and said to the audience: "they're probably thinking, what an asshole" -- another great funny witty moment... and many more were sprinkled throughout the evening...

- I LOVE the Arc creation experience.. Ed layering his voice... So INTENSE - and beautiful. That man could do an entire album of just over dubbing his voice.... I hope he experiments more with that on future PJ and solo works...

- Arc like MANY songs that night -- I experienced by just closing my eyes and being covered in the rich velvety sounds of Ed's voice... ( try that instead of being a cameraman with your cell phone kids! Be in the moment...)

- Porch was intense -- again, Eddie is strumming, picking, and or pumping like a musical madman on every song, he sounds so good... the result of nonstop activity on the musical front to better himself...

- was hoping Mike McCready would make an appearance -- Ed inviting his "bandmate, my brother" on the stage was EPIC... 2 pieces of "The Band" were there.... live... for one song.... sounded absolutely brilliant -- you could tell at the end when Mike stopped - he EASILY could have kept soloing... but over 2 hours of pure Eddie, I guess we gotta save some till the next one...

And so then the end came... and nobody wants it to end.... we want Eddie to keep playing.... keep talking... hell, just hang out on stage and wave Ed - and we're happy! But alas it did.... but what a force from the stage he was... all night long... every song....

Well, Wiltern LA here we go... tenclub lottery here we go... Ed's had a nice "day off" replenishing that soul shining energy he gives all of us in the crowd --- so we're in for a really big treat...again. Friday night can't come soon enough...

Beautiful .... Mmmmmm ... felt like I was there. Thank you.

[SP96445]

Orange County Register review of LB show (better music reviewers than LA Times)





Eddie Vedder solo show riveting in Long Beach
July 7th, 2011, 1:30 pm · 3 Comments · posted by JEFF MILLER, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


“In 20 years I’ve never said these words,” spoke Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder a song into his sold-out show at the Terrace Theatre Wednesday night. Then, proudly: “Hello, Long Beach!”
It’s amazing that in two decades the seminal grunge band has never found its way to the L.A./O.C. midpoint — not in their upstart club years plundering the Cali coast, not even in recent years of rock dominance, during which a night (or two) at next-door Long Beach Arena undoubtedly would have been a cross-county sell-out.
Yet this austere, enjoyable, wholly passionate night was the first Vedder has spent by the aquarium. It was also the first of a slew of Southern California dates on his current tour, promoting his title-says-it-all album Ukulele Songs. Indeed, there are enough local shows — including Friday at the Wiltern in Los Angeles and Saturday at Santa Barbara Bowl — that an official tour shirt has an image of a California license plate with the faux-vanity lettering EDVDDER.
Clearly, Vedder has a love for Cali (he spent many formative years in San Diego before finding fame via Seattle), and he delivered in full at this show, amid a stage filled with random instruments, a sometimes- turning reel-to-reel machine (a prop idea he maybe picked up from Neil Young‘s acoustic shows), and an ever-rotating backdrop that revealed scenes both evocative (beach and sky, a backwoods tent) and surreal (like a gear-shift-looking thing that wouldn’t be out of place in an M.C. Escher retrospective).
Obviously the performance was meticulously thought-through, yet all that setup (coupled with the relative intimacy of the room) gave Vedder’s show the casual feel of a living-room jam, starting with a round of songs played on ukulele, which he later called a “songwriting machine” during a hilarious monologue about penning tunes while falling in and out of love. (To paraphrase: It’s small, so you can just leave it on the bed next to you when you need to take a break.) The program progressed into occasional collaborations with opener Glen Hansard, of the Frames, whose Oscar-winning Swell Season song “Falling Slowly” was unquestionably a highlight; he and the headliner traded gruff-but-sweet verses before harmonizing through the choruses.
Of course, any dorm-room denizens know the trademark of a casual jam is unusual covers. By request, Vedder pulled out Tom Waits‘ “Picture in a Frame” for a couple celebrating their anniversary, and he later attacked an X song (acknowledging his proximity to that band’s terrain via Dave Alvin‘s “4th of July”) and even touched on some classic Pink Floyd (with the Dark Side piece “Brain Damage”). But despite a ton of hoopla surrounding his main band’s 20th anniversary, to be commemorated with a two-day festival in Wisconsin later this summer and a career-retrospective movie down the road, what Vedder didn’t do was succumb to nostalgia.
With a few exceptions (“Elderly Woman …”, “Porch”), this was a show for die-hards, not casual fans looking for singalongs; oddities, Into the Wild vocal excursions and strings-abetted punk numbers (“Lukin”) were the norm, not the exceptions. So it was surprising — and wildly charming — that the freeist moment of the set came at the very end, when Vedder invited Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready out for a song. The guitarist showed Vedder a few chords, as his loose hair nodded along — and then the duo kicked into the PJ classic “Yellow Ledbetter.”
It took about a minute for Vedder to give up, his more rudimentary guitar skills unable to keep pace with McCready’s nimble fingers. But no matter: He smiled and shrugged, then poured his heart into emoting through the mumbled lyrics. It wasn’t McCready’s first time in town — he’s kept a home in the LBC over the years — yet it certainly felt special, and fittingly familial.
Setlist: Eddie Vedder at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre, July 6, 2011
Main set: Waving Palms / Can’t Keep / Sleeping by Myself / Without You / Goodbye (very front only) / You’re True / Blue, Red and Grey (Pete Townshend cover) / Longing to Belong (with Rudy Stein playing cello) / Brain Damage (Pink Floyd) / Sometimes / I Am Mine / Thumbing My Way / Long Nights (with Glen Hansard) / Unthought Known / Guaranteed / Rise / Lukin (with string quartet) / Just Breathe (with string quartet) / The End (with string quartet) / Arc
First encore: I’m One (Pete Townshend cover) / Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town / Picture in a Frame (Tom Waits cover) / Sleepless Nights (Bryant & Bryant cover, with Hansard) / Society (Jerry Hannan cover, with Hansard) / Falling Slowly (Swell Season song, with Hansard and string quartet) / 4th of July (X song, written by Dave Alvin) / Porch
Second encore: Hard Sun (with Hansard) / Yellow Ledbetter (with Mike McCready)
Photo by Kelly A. Swift, for The Orange County Register. Jeff Miller is L.A. Editor of Thrillist.com.

[kwarloc]

this was also a pretty fuckin incredible show but I really thought san diego had a better vibe and set list. i had row 10 orchastra but i felt like i was a million miles away from the stage. i guess i've been spoiled too many times being w/i 5 rows of the stage.

[Katyz]

This was my best EV/PJ experience ever. The energy of the crowd, Ed seemed so playful and just on. Tim Robbins and Cameron Crowe were in the crowd, Mike walked by me before the show and gave me a high five. I couldn't ask for a better EV show. The setlist blew my mind. Blue, Red and Grey?! Are you kidding me?

Oh and thanks to Jesse (I think that's his name) for the free upgrade to front row center!!!! Ed walked up to me and handed me his pick after Porch. UNREAL!

Are you KIDDING ME??????????????????????????????????????? Right on.

Thumbin'....you are the PJ/EV gift fairy and you will have your day...you REALLY deserve it xxxx

[Nothingbetter]

Sounds like a great show! Glad everyone had a good time...I'll still take our STL show with the 4 extra songs

[Ernie Vedder]

Sounds like a great show! Glad everyone had a good time...I'll still take our STL show with the 4 extra songs

It's quality over quantity... This show was Awesome!

[Jerome230]

Does anyone have any video for the aftershow meet-and-greet by Ed's bus? I wanted to find some footage for a friend of mine that met him.

[Nothingbetter]

Sounds like a great show! Glad everyone had a good time...I'll still take our STL show with the 4 extra songs

It's quality over quantity... This show was Awesome!

The quality of STL was fantastic as well

[MissPennyLane]

"Hello Long Beach!"