Pearl Jam – Dublin, Ireland

Setlist from the Message Pit:

June 22, 2010 Dublin, Ireland, The O2

Set List: Long Road, Once, The Fixer, Why Go, Corduroy, Severed Hand, Amongst The Waves, Even Flow, Unthought Known, Nothing Man, Lukin, Not For You, Down, Got Some, Comatose, Arms Aloft (Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Bullen, Shields, Slatterly, Stafford, Strummmer), Do The Evolution

1st encore: Just Breathe, Given To Fly, Of The Earth, Porch

2nd encore: Small Town, Better Man/Save It For Later (Charley, Cox, Morton, Steele, Wakeling), Kick Out The Jams (Davis, Kramer, Smith, Thompson, Tyner), Alive, Yellow Ledbetter/Cowboy Song (Downey, Lynott)

not on the Pit list: also riffed during Ledbetter:  ”Bad” by U2. Thin Lizzy + U2 = Famously Irish

Dublin, Ireland – 02 Arena, June 22, 2010.   First show of Pearl Jam’s European Tour, folks – and it was a doozy! The crowd gave the boys such a boisterous extended welcome, the night could only be what it was – brilliant.

While my more detailed review is forthcoming, I just have to say – how much do I love a band that starts a tour playing a brand new cover (“Arms Aloft In Aberdeen” by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros) and a BRAND NEW  song? I guess I love them enough to travel to Ireland from San Francisco to see them. WORTH.IT.

The cover,  was prefaced by Ed saying “my birthday is December 23rd”, and talking about how he got a call on his birthday about 5 years ago maybe longer (it was 2002) that legendary Clash front man Joe Strummer had passed away the day before.  Ed called his death ” really heartbreaking”, and spoke of how Joe and the Mescaleros were due to open for Pearl Jam on an upcoming tour (indeed, on some of the 2003 tour T-Shirt sleeves, and I think on a poster or two, the words “R.I.P Joe” can be found).   Ed called the song “Arms Aloft in Aberdeen”,  that it was one of the best things Joe had ever done , and that Joe “left us too early”.   So right, Ed.  The track was on the Mescaleros final album “Streetcore” which came out in late 2003.  A sampling of the lyrics:

Sometimes there’s no star shining
Scounting the edge of the universe
Sometimes you can’t see the horizon
Between the ocean and the earth

And just when you’re thinking about slinkin’ down
I’m gonna pull you up – I’m gonna pull ya round
May I remind you of that scene
The spirit is our gasoline
May I remind you of that scene
We were arms aloft in Aberdeen
May I remind you of that scene
Let a million mirror balls beam
May I remind you of that scene

The new song, according to the Message Pit setlist and the lovely Sea,  is called “Of The Earth”, and it is 6 minutes and 40ish seconds of goodness! Ed described it as “so new it might not even be a song yet”, and it may be in the evolutionary phase, however an astute person on the official PJ message board discovered this article in which Jeff speaks about a song with the same title, described during the release of their 2006 self-titled album (we call it Avocado) :

Ament singled out two other tracks as his current favorites. “One is called ‘Of the Earth,’ that’s a song Ed wrote that is kind of a cross between early Peter Gabriel/ Genesis and Sleater-Kinney with, like, the Who’s Live at Leeds or something.

Jeff described it perfectly: to my ears it’s quite an amazing amalgam of sounds that combine all of the the bands influences, done with their flavor in a way that is uniquely PJ. The song, to me called on the breadth of song structure at which our band excel: unique timing, jazz-esque chord progressions, strummy jam moments (I remember Ed and Jeff jamming close together a time or two) and urgent quick rocking moments that get Ed doing the splits. It was like many PJ songs and riffs all stirred together in a magical pot creating it’s own unique brew.  It sounded and looked as though Ed played the e-bow toward the end of the song, and Mike interplayed with that a whale song-like guitar riff reminiscent of the pre-chorus of “Indifference” live. Like I said, a Pearl Jam Potpourri.  A new classic! Interesting that the lyrics contain the phrase “on the horizon”, the Mescaleros cover has that word “horizon” too.

Here’s a few pix of our Pearl Jam boys at the 02 Arena in Dublin, Ireland on June 22, 2010.  Photos by the generous Shannon Monroe – do not steal without crediting her and TwoFeetThick.com!

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