Do you want to play bass like Jeff Ament? You might need a ton of practice and an education in the great bass-masters of rock, but pretty soon you’ll be able to buy Jeff Ament’s “JAXT4″ signature bass, a collaboration with Jeff and local Seattle guitar-maker Mike Lull.

At $5500 you might question the pricetag, but consider it’s a hand-made guitar, not something mass-produced that you can buy at a big-box store. Jeff has been working with Jeff and Stone Gossard since their Mother Love Bone days. Many famous guitarists have their own line of custom-made guitars with large manufacturers, but few use local tradesmen. For example, Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon have exclusively used guitars made by a local guitar-maker in their native Vermont for over twenty years.

Enough of what we have to say, let’s see what Jeff has to say:

Jeff Ament Endorsement for JAXT4

From the press release:

Seattle, WA- November 30, 2011– Longtime Northwest guitar and bass builder, Mike Lull, has collaborated with Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament to create the “JAXT4” signature Jeff Ament electric bass. This handmade instrument will be available starting in January and marks the first time any member of the 20-year-old iconic musical group has put their name on an instrument. “The only bass that plays like a modern handmade machine and sounds like the best vintage Fender or Gibson in the shop,” said Jeff Ament. “I’m honored to put my name next to Mike’s on this beast. 4 strings!” (Ament’s quote in his own handwriting is included as an attachment).

Capitalizing on a 25-year relationship, Lull and Ament worked together closely to create the signature model bass. The bass features a 20% oversized body, but thinner body thickness than standard Mike Lull T4 models, along with a reverse headstock. Jeff Ament personally chose all custom colors, finish, and wood configurations. The JAXT4 comes with a metal (select models only) pickguard engraved with an Ament designed T-bass logo, Jeff’s signature on the headstock along with a special Mike Lull logo designed by Jeff to be used only on his signature model. Included is a custom Ament hardshell case with a hand-stenciled logo on the exterior, along with a bag of assorted Ament custom guitar picks.

The JAXT4 is available in these four custom color and wood configuration choices:

• Satin black polyester finish w/ chromed aluminum JA pickguard (mahogany body/mahogany neck/rosewood fingerboard)
• Satin kerry-green polyester finish w/ solid white plastic JA pickguard (mahogany body/maple neck/maple fingerboard)
• Gloss clear polyester finish w/ chromed aluminum JA pickguard (swamp ash body/maple neck/maple fingerboard)
• Satin cardinal-red polyester finish w/ solid black plastic JA pickguard (mahogany body/mahogany neck/rosewood fingerboard)

The JAXT4 will be unveiled at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show the weekend of January 19-22, 2012 in Anaheim, California and be available for purchase thereafter.

“I’ve worked with Jeff for years, on repairs and building instruments for use in the studio and on the road,” says Lull. “His instinct when it comes to quality and craftsmanship match my own sensibilities and made it a joy to create the JAXT4 to add to our lineup.”

Mike Lull Guitar Works and Jeff Ament have chosen 826 Seattle, a local non-profit, as a beneficiary for on an online auction featuring two handpainted (by Ament) signature basses. Details on the auction will be announced soon, with all funds benefitting 826 Seattle.

Mike Lull has been fixing and building guitars and basses for 35 years. Lull’s first job at age 16 was repairing guitars for a local shop. He developed a following among area musicians and opened his own shop at 21. He began to build custom basses and guitars, his fretwork becoming legendary and his fine- tuning attracting artists across genres and locales. A local cover band bassist himself, he has built and repaired instruments for numerous Northwest legends including Heart, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Queensryche and national acts such as Bon Jovi, Randy Jackson, Bob Dylan and many, many more. To this day, Mike continues to hand build and test each and every bass and guitar that leaves his shop.

Mike Lull Guitar Works was formed in 1975 as a repair shop and as the demand for his high quality work grew, Mike began to custom build guitars and basses. He has a dedicated following of musicians around the country and world. The shop boasts a computer controlled fret leveling machine called a Plek. It levels frets to within .001 mm accuracy, resulting in a type of precision that creates ultimate playability. Mike Lull’s Plek machine does more fret dressings than any other Plek station in the country. Mike Lull Custom Guitars are distributed in 9 countries and all over the United States. Visit www.mikelull.com for more information.

The Jeff Ament “JAXT4″ bass available in January 2012.

Jeff Ament playing the JAXT4 Signature Bass

As two solid months of celebration of Pearl Jam’s 20 (now 21!) years together has finally wrapped up with the 10 Club DVD box set edition of Pearl Jam Twenty hitting mailboxes around the world, we’re presenting all the great Pearl Jam memories the OTHER performers at the PJ20 fest shared with TwoFeetThick.com over that weekend.

At the PJ20 festival Labor Day Weekend, an event almost as rare as a Temple of the Dog set occurred: all three TwoFeetThick.com editors converged to share two days of music, friends, and, just as special as the epic Pearl Jam shows we witnessed there: we sat down with several of the artists playing the side stages to talk about the fest, their music, and the Pearl Jam connection that brought them into the PJ20 celebration.

I don’t think we were quite ready for the breadth of the PJ connections, from talented heirs from famous musical families who became like younger brothers to members of PJ upon first meeting (Liam Finn, Dhani Harrison) to respected veterans connected to PJ first by a cause (John Doe) to iconoclastic contemporaries whose style provided PJ members pure inspiration (Joseph Arthur, David Garza). As Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary celebration continues, these artists’ thoughts on PJ show, once again, that no great band exists in isolation: Just as important as their music is whose music touches them, and whose music they touch.

John Doe

Latest Albums: Keeper (2011), A Day At The Pass (w/ Jill Sobule, 2011)

PJ20 Moments

John, co-founder of X, really shined on Sunday (Sept. 4) when the sun broke through the clouds for Doe’s rollicking mid-afternoon set. Eddie joined him for a sweet run through of “Golden State,” and Doe paid back the favor hopping onstage for Pearl Jam’s set later that day to ‘cover’ another of his songs, “New World,” before jointing the all-band-jam on “Rockin’ in The Free World.” Poignantly, before “New World,” Doe took the mic to tell the tens of thousands gathered, “Never lose hope.”

The Doe/Pearl Jam Connection

John Doe, Photo by Kathy Davis

“[Later, in 2010] He was signing with Natalie Maines singing [Doe's song] ‘Golden State,’ it was really great. “The version with Corin [Tucker of Sleater-Kinney] was great and really flattering. He did that right after I did that song and realized we had four or five versions of ‘Golden State,’ and the record company said if you got somebody really famous to do it, if you had another version that was a tentpole then, what if we did an EP of just that song. I asked Ed, ‘Do you want to this and he said sure I’d love to but can we wait until Corin has her baby?’ ‘Sure, When’s that?’ It was like three months. And then they did it.”

And Doe’s reaction to the West Memphis 3 now being free, after the years he and Eddie, and many others worked hard to their release? “It was just thrilling to know that they can possibly go forward. I don’t know what they’ll do but I know that it’s better than them being in prison. Justice is a weird, strange beast, especially in a capitalist society like what we live in, but good things do happen. I do think that people shouldn’t take this lightly and think oh this is just a one time chance. Realize that people do have some power.”

See John Doe Live: He’s on tour with X opening for Pearl Jam in Central and South America from Nov. 3 in Brazil through Nov. 24 in Mexico.

The Golden State EP, incl. EV and Corin Tucker

Liam Finn

Latest Album: FOMO (2011)

PJ20 Moments

You missed a wild loop-tastic Finn set if you cowered from the rain in the Expo center on Saturday (Sept. 3). but chances are, you heard a little something about Eddie V. getting behind the mic (and drum kit!) for a Finn-ified take on “Habit” during Finn’s set and a plenty of collab action during PJ both nights (night one backup on “Who You Are” and duet on “Education”; night two backup on “All Night,” and “Reach Down” duet on “Habit,” all-bands-jam on “Rockin’ In The Free World”).

The Finn/Pearl Jam Connection

Liam Finn, photo by Kathy Davis

“To be honest, I don’t think dad listened to much Pearl Jam at that time,” Liam continues. “[Ed] said he wanted to meet up with dad. Dad was really flattered. As soon as he met the family, he was kind of like a long lost cousin or something. He really fit in. And he was really unhappy at the hotel he was staying at so he came and stayed with us at my family’s house. I actually had to give up my bed for him; he stayed in my room. I had to wake him up the next morning and I was big Pearl Jam fan. I was about 11 or 12, so that was a big deal for me. He was so wonderful. I think he knew I was a fan and he’s always so good to fans. He gave me a little notebook of his with a drawing of a wave at the end. It really made me go, ‘Wow this guy has been so lovely to me and I love his music.’ So from there I was just an avid follower.

“[Pearl Jam] came back again [in 98] and I saw them again and he came back for Seven Worlds Collide [in 2001] and my band [Betchadupa] got to do those songs with him. Every time I’ve seen him it’s been the next tier of, ‘this is amazing, it’s one of my heroes.’ Betchadupa opened for Pearl Jam in Australia for a few shows [in 2003] and then I didn’t see him for [awhile].

“Whenever we would cross paths we would hang out because we enjoy each others company but it wasn’t until, by chance, he had a live CD of just my show on my own at Spaceland in LA. he listened to it on New Year’s Eve [2007 into 2008] with Boom in Hawaii and he started trying to figure out how the fuck I was making so much noise. Buzzed out, probably after a few wines, he was like, ‘ah fuck!’ He gave me a ring about a week later and said, ‘I just had the best time listening to your record and I’m going to do this solo thing for the first time and do you think you would want to come and open? I was like, ‘Fuck Yea!’

“I think he hadn’t seen any of that kind of looping stuff before and to be honest that was one of the first shows I did that had the whole looping thing and it just happened to get recorded. I was pretty new at it at that point, but he liked that spontaneity and that sort of aspect that felt like it could fall apart. He responded to it.”

The 2009 ‘Live At The Wiltern’ album, which captures Finn’s opening set during Vedder’s tour, Liam says is, “a little bit further in the evolution. That’s probably one of my favorite live recordings that we did. Quite often L.A. is tough so I don’t always have the best time, but that Wiltern show was really good. We were really lucky we got to use that. I though, ‘Fuck, the Wiltern, they won’t let us use that.’ But they were like, ‘Yup, that’s fine. You’re opening for Eddie, do what you want.’”

TheNewNo2

Latest Record: EP0O2, 2011. New album forthcoming in early 2012.

PJ20 Moments

Two solid mid-afternoon jams of delectable laptop-aided rock led by the Dhani Harrison, son of Beatle George and 1/3 of the also awesome Fistful of Mercy (along with PJ-pals Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur). Dhani brought his outsize guitar talents to the big stage on night two as he ripped through “Elderly Woman” with PJ and joined in on the all-hands-on-deck “Rockin’ In The Free World” jamboree.

The Harrison/Pearl Jam Connection

“We went to Seattle to play, and the first night after we got off the plane we went to play ax darts with Ed and old pals. Eddie said that night that the next day he was going to Arkansas to do the West Memphis Three gig. We all kinda turned around and said, ‘we should go,’ changed our flights and went. So the next day we ended up in Little Rock, weirdly enough, me, Joe Arthur and Ben [Harper] with Eddie. After that he said, “We’re having a festival.” I said, “give us a buzz.”

thenewno2, photo by Kathy Davis

Joseph Arthur

Latest Album: The Graduation Present (2011)

PJ20 Moments

Arthur’s contemplative groove rocked the side stage both days, and you weren’t seeing things if you noticed Jeff, Matt, AND Mike joined him onstage for “When The Fire Comes,” the Ament tune handed out on CD to all fan club ticketholders, and tantalizingly labeled as being “from the forthcoming LP ‘While My Heart Beats.’”

The JA/Pearl Jam Connection

Joseph Arthur, photo by Kathy Davis

“The first time I knew Jeff was when he had this band Three Fish and I opened up for them at Wetlands in New York City. It was me and David Garza opening up. Also, there was a best of the decade list and he mentioned me and it’s just like man, that’s so fucking nice of him, you know? David Garza is here today and so am I. Pretty amazing. More recently I went to Seattle with Fistful of Mercy [Arthur's band with Ben Harper and thenewno2's Dhani Harrison] and meeting up with Eddie and then going down to do West Memphis Three event. It was amazing, incredible.”

David Garza

Buy Oversea on davidgarza.com

Latest Record: Oversea (2011)

David on Jeff

“It’s very very humbling to walk around and playing shows with these guys. Seeing it from the side of the stage is one thing, but walking out among mudsliding people in the rain just singing every word to the most cultish obscure b-sides… They started in ’91 and I started in ’90, so they’re ‘younger’ in a way, but it’s funny to see this museum. Each of us has our own history.

David Garza, photo by Kathy Davis

“We play very different music in a lot of ways, but a lot of times it’s very similar. He lays down such an undeniable bedrock for those guys, he’s a force of nature. I think that the fact that he’s so interested in new music and other music is a testament to how far reaching his scope goes. His bass in the band is large, dinosaur steps. The stuff he does with he jams with me and Joseph is like building bird cages or doll houses, such intricacy.”

Star Anna And the Laughing Dogs

buy from Pearljam.com

Latest Album: Alone In This Together (2011), featuring Mike McCready on three songs (“Time,” “Wolves In Disguise,” “Alone In This Together”). It’s available on PearlJam.com for $10. https://secure.pearljam.com/store/product.spring?sku=6292-CD

PJ20 Moments

The Washington State native grew up playing drums but found her voice in her teens and brought the bluesy rock singer/songwriterly chops she’s honed ever since — now with her band the Laughing Dogs — to the PJ20 second stage early in the day, both days. With special guest… surprise… Mike McCready. She confided that while she’s friends with McCready and he appears on her album, PJ20 marked the first time she saw Pearl Jam live.

Star Anna on Pearl Jam

“Through some mutual friends Mike [McCready] and I were involved in some benefits, Hootenanny For Haiti. And we had met Mike before that, but that was the one where we really connected. Justin, my guitar player, and I did ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is,’ an Otis Redding tune. And Mike says that when he saw us do that, he was just like, ‘THIS is something.’ At some point in the night he leaned over to Justin and said, ‘When are you putting your third record out?’ We had no idea. We’d been kinda wanting to do it for three years and just hadn’t gotten there yet. And he said, ‘Let’s make it happen. Let’s do it.’ And so, I’m there. We’re on Local 638 Records, but [PJ's] Monkeywrench Records is distribution.”

Young Evils

Latest Album: Enchanted Chapel (2010). New album due in 2012.

PJ20 Moments

You missed some dark-sweet boy-girl pop if you didn’t catch The Young Evils during their early afternoon PJ20 side-stage set, but if you were at the fest, chances are you caught several of them wielding tambourines during the all-band “Rockin’ In The Free World” jam with PJ on night two.

Young Evils on Pearl Jam

“Mike [McCready]‘s been supportive of the band for a long time,” says co-singer Mackenzie Mercer, who, as the daughter of longtime Pearl Jam photographer Lance Mercer, has been around the PJ guys as long as she can remember. “Mike and my dad and Stone and Jeff go back way further than even Pearl Jam days,” she explains. “They go back to just being just kids growing up in Seattle. Mike went to Roosevelt [High] and my dad was kinda a little Ave rat hanging out skateboarding with Duff McKagan and this whole little scene of people.

Young Evils, photo by Steven Dewall

It also seems fitting where Mackenzie and frontman Troy Nelson joined forces, and also where they all connected with manager Jessica Curtis, whose father is Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis. “Mackenzie and I worked at a record store together, Easy Street. I didn’t even know she could sing. We were already friends and I thought she was cool,” Nelson says. “Actually Jessica our manager used to work at Easy Street as well.”

photo by Rubens Chiri -Sao Paulo.net

Well, a chilly evening in Sao Paulo, Brazil was warmed up by Pearl Jam’s performance at Morumbi Stadium to kick off their 10-date tour of South America, Costa Rica & Mexico.  We offer some info on the evening’s events to remember the night by…

Setlist from the Official Message Board

Morumbi Stadium
São Paulo, Brazil
Nov 03, 2011

01. Release {Ed mentions “Johnny” in the lyrics, a reference to Johnny Ramone}
02. Corduroy
03. Why Go
04. Animal
05. World Wide Suicide
06. Got Some
{Ed addresses the crowd in Portuguese}
07. Evenflow
08. Unthought Known
{crowd sings the “olé, olé” football song. The band plays along with them}
09. Whipping
10. Daughter/WMA
11. Olé
12. Down
13. Save You
14. The Fixer
15. Do The Evolution
16. Porch

Encore Break 1
{Ed introduces the band in Portuguese}
17. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
18. Just Breathe
{Ed thanks X for playing with Pearl Jam. He then addresses the crowd in Portuguese. He talks about the Ramones playing in Brazil and mentions that “Come Back” was written for Johnny Ramone}
19. Come Back
20. I Believe In Miracles-(Ramone, Ray)
21. Alive

Encore Break 2
22. Comatose
23. Black
24. Betterman
{Ed talks about being glad to be back in Brazil and that they see more Brazilian flags than any other no matter where they play.}
25. Rearviewmirror
26. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young) {changes lyric to “there’s color in the streets/ green, yellow and blue” referring to the Brazilian flag}

TFT General Notes:  The was an added show after the tickets for the concert  Nov. 4th sold so quickly, so the stadium wasn’t as packed as tomorrow will likely be.  The show started 30 minutes late.

Poster designed by Chuck Sperry, courtesy the always awesome InsideTheRockPosterFrame

poster by Chuck Sperry

Incidentally, the San Francisco-based artist will be offering a release of 100 signed/numbered “Artist Edition” and 20 signed/numbered “Variant Editions” of the above beauty on Sunday, November 6th “at a random time”.  Collectors, be on the lookout! Sperry’s online store can be found  here,   and the variant is shown on his site as well.

Photos, and photo links:

Some nice ones from MTV Brazil, taken by Katia Flavia:

And here are links to bunch more:

The best of the lot: 50+ from Yahoo Musica, taken by Alexandre Ferreira

A nice gallery from UOL Musica, taken by Rogerio Albuquerque

A lovely bunch from SaoPauloFC.net, taken by Rubens Chiri

Brazilian Rock!

Pearl Jam Twenty, the documentary by Cameron Crowe, opens today September 20 worldwide one day in select theaters (and for a week-long run Sept 23-30 in select cities).

From Iceland to Indonesia, fans can get a chance to see the film in theaters before its premiere on TV on October and its DVD/Bluray release on October 25.

Pearl Jam Twenty - Movie Released Sept 20.

Jump Around

Though it’s certainly  not the avalanche of press that the band received in Toronto, some nice info, photos & reviews have surfaced for the band’s night in Ottawa.

Setlist taken from the Official Message Board:

Pearl Jam
Scotiabank Place
Ottawa, ON. CA
Sept. 14, 2011

Set List
01. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
02. Last Exit
03. Do The Evolution
04. MFC
05. Unthought Known
06. Low Light
07.Given To Fly
08. Setting Forth
09. Whipping
10. Corduroy
11. Evenflow
12. Grievance
13. Lukin
14. Breath
{Ed talks about the 5 year anniversary of “Wishlist Foundation” and some of the causes they have been supporting. He also thanks the founder Laura Trafton.}
15. Wishlist
16. Olé
17. 1/2 Full
18. Betterman/Save It For Later-(Charley, Cox, Morton, Steele, Wakeling)

ENCORE BREAK 1
19. The End
20. Inside Job
21. Just Breathe
22. Off He Goes
23. Why Go
24. The Fixer
25. Rearviewmirror

ENCORE BREAK 2
26. Come Back {played by request of an unnamed friend of the band}
27. The Real Me-(Townshend)
28. Alive
29. Yellow Ledbetter

Props to our homies!  Awesome of the most righteous Laura Trafton and the incredible Wishlist Foundation to be recognized. It’s the creme de la creme of fan communities, mobilizing to raise half  a million dollars over the years for various causes…

Poster (courtesy InsideTheRockPosterFrame):

Ames Bros. designed Ottawa poster

Press Reviews: (click titles to view complete articles)

Pearl Jam Better With Age Ottawa Sun – by Denis Armstrong

“By the end of the night, this should feel like Friday,” Vedder promised before Given To Fly… The first half-hour tore past in a sonic blur. Pure and unadorned, this was turning into a vintage guitar-rock concert, hellbent on playing as long and hard as possible. What other band has that kind of stamina? Or a voice as beautiful as Vedder’s growling baritone. There’s a lot of emotion in those 46-year-old pipes and Vedder uses them all, whether its funny, sad, pissed off or hopeful. There’s simply a lot of emotional content to their music.”

Pearl Jam Takes Fans Across The Universe – Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen

“I understand it’s Wednesday,” he said early in the concert, “but by the end of the night, it should feel like Friday around here. Come witness as we go across the universe.”  …Vedder is a compelling singer but the best thing about the band is how they function as a unit. Guitarist Mike McCready tore into the lead guitar riffs that influenced a generation, bouncing them off the chords crunched out by rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard, while bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron created a bottom end that was thunderous but precise.

Photos:

Full photo galleries from Ottawa newspapers can be found here for the Ottawa Sun (13 pictures) and here for the Ottawa Citizen (9 pictures).

Holy Uncle Neil! What a way to get back to the tour, guys! First full performance of Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns…guest appearance from Canadian legend Neil Young…where do they go from here? Likely to heights unknown, if the show Sept. 11 in Toronto is any indicator.

Setlist: from the Official Message Board

Pearl Jam
Air Canada Centre
Toronto ON. CA
Show 1
Sept. 11, 2011

01. Long Road
02. Do The Evolution
03. Once
04. Got Some
05. Faithfull
06. Nothing As It Seems
07. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
(Ed talks about PJ20. Thanks Cameron Crowe. Says now they feel like they can put those 20 years behind them and start work on the next 20. Talks about Neil Young’s 51 years putting out albums)
08. Setting Forth
09. Not For You/Modern Girl-(Sleater Kinney)
10. Given To Fly
11. Just Breathe
12. Off He Goes
13. Daughter/It’s OK-(Cole)
14. Grievance
15. Down
16. Unthought Known
17. The Fixer
18. Porch

ENCORE BREAK 1
19. Nothingman
20. Betterman/Save It For Later-(Charley, Cox, Morton, Steele, Wakeling)
21. Leatherman
22. Black
23. Rearviewmirror

ENCORE BREAK 2
24. Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns-(Wood, Mother Love Bone)
25. Alive
26. Rockin’ In The Free World w/Neil Young-(Young)
(Partway through the song Mike McCready runs off stage and hands his guitar to Neil Young. Neil comes up and plays with the band)
Notes from the PJ Message Board- the enthusiasm of those in attendance tells quite a story in itself!

(Innocent Bystander) Absolutely epic, thank you Pearl Jam, and Neil Young, for an awesome show and possibly the coolest moment I’ve ever seen on a stage. Seriously, how spritely is he? He was running around the stage like a demented school child, and what a solo! The guys faces were priceless, beautiful moment, too late to recut PJ20 or add another extra feature? Too tired to even attempt to articulate the feelings from the show, great crowd also, fantastic night. Here’s to night 2.

(RidinTheWave) That was by far the most amazing show I have ever witnessed. I totally agree with what everyone else has said so far, especially that I don’t think anybody but Mike knew that Neil was coming out. Eddie’s face was awesome.

(mcgruff10): the setlist was just incredible; huge sing a longs for the majority of the night. the band was on fire, the crowd rivaled if not better than a msg/spectrum audience. pj is in top form, i honestly don’t know how they can get better. this show definitely topped last sunday night in wisconsin. thank you pj!

(rodent): In all the shows that I’ve seen over the past 20 years, this was in the top 5 FOR SURE. You could feel so much excitement & energy in the air building up before the band hit the stage and could just tell it was going to be an epic night. Seeing Cameron Crowe on the side of the stage taking pictures with fans was great. The band was on FIRE. Mike’s solo during Black – f*****************ck. The look on Jeff’s face when he was jamming with Neil – priceless. That version of Porch blew my mind, definitely my favorite aside from the Unplugged version. And of course Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. My heart & mind imploded tonight. The end.

(100 Pacer): The crowd didn’t seem as loud, to me anyway, as the Montreal crowd but the with the band’s friends (Cameron Crowe and company sitting Mike’s side in the stands) and family (girlfriends, wives, and management sitting Stone’s side in the stands) in attendance (Ed commented on the fact it was rare for all of their wives/girlfriends to all be in attendance at the same show) you could certainly tell the band was ready to kick it into high gear immediately. Faithfull and Nothing As It Seems (played for Dimitris, Tim came over to find Dimitris right as the song was beginning to acknowledge his request) were my main set standouts. Just Breathe slowed the momentum right down and at that very moment it felt like a total buzz kill. Once the It’s OK tag rolled around the momentum picked right back, but Grievance mixed things up a bit again because it sounded like someone was either playing in the wrong key/tuning and/or someone wasn’t keeping up with the tempo. Come Back was to follow Down but got passed over. The crowd was on board for the loud segments, and Porch was a highlight as a result. The “Man” trilogy was another high note (and a 1st for a Toronto show if I’m not mistaken). Ole was on the setlist before the “Man” trilogy and got bumped down on the setlist to then follow the “Man” trilogy only to get ignored altogether. The 2nd encore is obviously what this show will be remembered for. Chloe Dancer wasn’t originally on the setlist, it was written into the setlist right before the 2nd encore began. The PJ20 premiere yesterday definitely cast a positive shadow over tonight’s setlist and we were very fortunate for that. State of Love and Trust was to follow Crown of Thorns (another rarity for Toronto) but was scratched off. It was a toss-up between RITFW and Fucking Up on the setlist, and we know what they ultimately chose. All of McCready’s guitars operate on the same wireless transmitter frequency, so after he handed Neil his guitar he was left to operate his pedalboard for Neil as he couldn’t pick up another one of his guitars…until it dawned on him that he could pick up Ed’s guitar and join in. Ed appeared to be awestruck and in partial disbelief that Neil was actually there and joining them on stage. The song could have easily continued for another 10 minutes.

(Torontoian) My wife was induced at 2 pm today. She told me to go to this show.  I have been to about 10 shows and I have never felt like I do right now. I have tickets to tomorrow night’s show which I cannot make as my first child will be born tomorrow or Tuesday morning at the latest. If I just have to give up the tickets for tomorrow or tonight is my last show ever I would be at peace. Thanks to the best band, fan club and fans ever.

Video , courtesy TFT pals mfc172 on YouTube:

Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns – epic.

Rockin’ w/Neil!

Press reviews:
Toronto Sun, by Jason MacNeil Excerpt:

The group – in town also for the premiere of their Cameron Crowe-produced documentary Pearl Jam Twenty – had the audience up and belting out songs without any coaxing. This was particularly evident on Better Man as Vedder opened the nugget before realizing the arsenal of amplification wasn’t nearly enough to fight the united thousands.

Toronto Globe & Mail, by Brad Wheeler:

As you might imagine, the event was well attended by people judged to be important – actors Woody Harrelson and Jay Baruchel, and directors Crowe and Paul Haggis among them – but Vedder and crew do not play to Hollywood. The singer used stage monitors as a personal jungle gym and was easygoing (in contrast to his sometimes sullen singing) between songs. Before the first encore set began with the acoustic ballad Nothingman, he noted the similarities between Toronto and Seattle. “We share large concrete erections and, yeah, we know, yours is bigger,” he allowed, before adding that his town’s tower had “kind of a nice shape.” …the band endures with melodic guitar rock, leanly and boldly presented, especially on stage, where their level of consistency, charismatic passion and generosity of energy is fairly unparalleled.

A plethora of great images from the night: (all Kevin Mazur,  Wire Image except as noted)

That’s it for now, if we find more juicy bits, we’ll post ‘em. What a way to get back on it, boys!  Rock. Seriously.

September 2011 gifts us all with glorious avalanche of Pearl Jam – how lucky are we? This month brings us the PJ20 Book (September 13th -though some people have it already), soundtrack (out September 20th) , movie (Sept. 20th in select theatres) and Canadian shows (on now). Between shows, the band and director Cameron Crowe attended the premiere of “Pearl Jam Twenty” at the Toronto International Film Festival. We offer you first a transcript of the post-premiere 30 minute press conference, thanks to our roving reporter, Jessica Letkemann.  If you would like, you can listen to the full press conference here.

Pearl Jam Twenty, Press Conference Transcription

To the band: Had you seen the movie in the theatre before today?

Eddie Vedder: The very first time it was at a place called the EMP – which wasn’t the cut that we saw today, we saw it with a lot of family and friends and locals and Cameron came up –that was the first time we were watching it. And so that was in a theater. After that we saw the different edits as we worked together. Today was much different to see it with a real audience and people that weren’t friends and family. I think that was actually what gave it a sense of thinking it was pretty damn good.

Moderator: So Cameron I’ll start with you- You’re taking this emotional journey over 20 years with the band and the fans. That seems like a huge thing to try and tackle in two hours. How do you grapple with that?

Cameron Crowe: I was really inspired by No Direction Home, the Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan. That’s a huge subject that spans a long time and I just love the way Scorsese – as a fan and a musicologist and a as director- chose the chunk that he chose examined the roots and shows how the music was born. I felt so satisfied and inspired. I wanted to listen to more Bob Dylan and it felt like a Bob Dylan experience. So that was my guiding light in making the movie with the guys. If we can make a movie that lets you feel the way a Pearl Jam concert or record lets you feel then we’re in good shape.

Moderator: A Pearl Jam concert certainly has a different set list every night. You’ve got one movie and one group of songs that are telling this story. How do you guys feel about that?

Mike McCready: I feel like the songs were diverse enough to show what our set lists are like every night. The movie, first of all, it sounded great. I felt like I’d kinda been through a concert. Without sweating (laughs). Emotionally I sort of feel like that – it was a ride that was fantastic.

Moderator: You’re a band that basically lets the music do all the talking and it makes it clear in the movie it’s for protective reasons. To Stone and Jeff, who were there at the beginning, what did it take to get you to say ok come on in Cameron, we’ll open up to do a movie?

Stone Gossard: I just think Cameron’s interest in doing it was the biggest inspiration. I don’t think we would have taken this thing on had it not been all the pieces that fit together and Cameron being open to the task of looking through the footage and seeing if there’s a story to be told, or what’s the right story to be told -how does it make a great movie and how does it represent the feeling he has for the band? Once we knew that he was involved we trusted that it was going be ok. Without Kelly and Cameron having a vision for it, we probably wouldn’t have made it for another 20 years. It would have been a while probably.

Jeff Ament: We don’t get to hang out with Cameron that often so it was sort of an excuse to hang out with Cameron a little bit. He’s one of the great people to be in a corner of a room talking music and movies and art with. That was a bonus – an added bonus to this whole process

Moderator: So when he showed up on the Seattle Scene in the mid-80s, did you guys let him in right away?

(Jeff Ament: makes a face; all laughs).

Cameron Crowe: I met Stone and Jeff first; I was researching the idea of doing a movie based in Seattle about people, some of whom are musicians. And I met Stone and Jeff and I loved so much that (they) were guys that had jobs who also played in bands. It wasn’t like the LA experience which is like “yeah, I live with my girlfriend she pays for everything. [Laughs] I play at night, sleep all day…” These guys were like “we pull espresso, we do this, we this we do that, and then we earn the experience to pay for our love which playing music and buying instruments and doing it. I met these guys and thought they were a great example of people who love music and chose to make music their purpose in life really responsibly and passionately. Loving their music came from knowing and loving them as guys first.

Moderator: Were there things in the movie that you guys had forgotten about? It’s amazing the footage that you dug up. There must have been some moments for some of you where you thought “Oh, I don’t remember that.”

Jeff Ament: Backstage at the Cult show for sure. That’s one of the shots that open the film. First time I saw that I was like, “where was I?” Josh obviously was shooting that footage but I didn’t remember Josh being there. To have a memory of something in your head that’s probably drifted away from really what happened. As time goes on and as you tell the stories, (because) during that time we took guys from the Cult down to the Vogue, we remember Lars showed up. So I told that story a lot. And then to all the sudden be pulled back to really what it was like was shocking. I didn’t know I wore hats like that. [laugh]

Moderator: Were there moments for any of you that made you cringe?

Matt Cameron: Stone and I were commenting. I wore PJ pants for one show.

Moderator: Like Pearl Jam pants?

Stone Gossard: No, actual pajamas. [all laugh]

Matt Cameron: So that was a surprise. I normally wear shorts.

Eddie Vedder: See when you’re Matt Cameron that’s about as bad as it can get [all laugh]

Moderator: Were there finds when you were coming through that were particularly great, like was there a holy grail that you couldn’t find?

Cameron Crowe: No. The Holy Grail really was the piece of footage of Kurt Cobain and Eddie slow dancing at the (MTV Movie Awards). That had been talked about. Some people didn’t quite remember it even happening. Some people swore somebody had been there with a camera. So with the help of the people that had the footage and people that really wanted to help us get everything, we did find that footage. And it’s so powerful. I was watching it again tonight -and it is just such a human moment and it is what happens outside the glare of the spotlight. They were really in a blender of media explosiveness at that time and here was this moment below the stage while Eric Clapton is playing Tears In Heaven where Kurt and Eddie got to be alone and kind of express themselves as people. The fact that it’s on film is amazing. It’s so poignant. We also had a million concerts that had been filmed and the guys hadn’t put a lot of it out. Then they were great enough at a certain point…Jeff says the movie kinda snuck up on them because we were working on it for so long. At a certain point we called up and said we’d like to do some interviews and do them in your house so they’re personal and they feel like a conversation. So we started doing those interviews. And the guys really opened the door for us to look in all the nooks and crannies and see whatever we could find. And I think that’s why we were lucky to have so many different things from so many areas of their lives, very little of which had been seen.

Moderator: Eddie what did you remember of that Kurt Cobain moment?

Eddie Vedder: Not that I remembered it, but I saw today for the first time that the segment was a little longer in the cut than what I had seen before. For a second the camera gets blurry or someone walks in front of it, and you see Kurt got like this [puts his fingers to lips in a shh gesture]. And it wasn’t saying don’t tell anybody or keep a lid on this little private moment, actually, it was because on the stage above us Eric Clapton was playing Tears in Heaven which is pretty quiet song and we were jumping up and down and clapping and all that. The first time I saw that footage it was incredibly emotional. I think just because he’s smiling. You just think that if he just could have pulled through… that’s the thing about today, maybe it’s good that this movie happened now. We’ve been in grateful mode, appreciation mode of each other for quite some time, the last few years has been a grateful period for us. But…it’s a galvanizing kind of moment for us to look at each other and it doesn’t happen that often. You look at each other and all the crowd reaction or the family that is the people that come to see the shows and it really, it’s just music. It’s just guitars and drums and bass. And it’s something that to have it turn into this other thing, this monument in a way, I don’t mean to self-aggrandize, but it’s really something to see it and witness and in this case be reminded of it , have it right there in front of us so we can appreciate it even more. And know that we have a really strong base to go the next 20.

Moderator: I would think your goal always was to get beyond, “it’s just music” and push it to somewhere else.

Eddie Vedder: It’s like catching a butterfly. You can’t grab it too hard. It’s really a delicate thing. These are five men, five men who used to be teenagers, who met in their 20s. And if you’ve ever tried to order a pizza with five people, it’s difficult. [laughs] So to have gone to this other level of being able to create records and songs that are different than the last songs that you had written and put on shows and have each one be different. One thing we’re all very fortunate is without having known each other, just having come together at this quick moment, to have all these people that are into long relationships. It’s a very lucky thing. Because then you get to higher planes of communication. Every time you accomplish another thing, you’re elevated again. It keeps going up. It doesn’t stay the same or start going down, it keeps going up, and that’s a long relationship thing.

Moderator: There’s a question that Cameron asks in the movie that never gets answered in so many words. It’s how did the last ten years happen and how did you survive?

Mike McCready: Wow. Well, with a lot of careful effort and talking to each other. And hopefully having as clear lines of communication and open lines of communication as possible. That’s still an effort but I think we take the time to want to find solutions if there’s issues and problems and things. Because I think we love each other. I know we love each other. And I love playing music with these guys. There’s love and there’s understanding and there’s commitment, and those are things that have helped us. And a lot of luck too probably. Some timing.

Moderator: I was talking to someone last night who asked me, where does this movie fit in Cameron’s career?

Eddie Vedder: Right at The top. [all laugh]

Cameron Crowe: Thank you Eddie, I agree. I”ve always just wanted to be lucky enough to tell a good story. I always felt the story of Pearl Jam is a great story. It’s beyond just a rock story. In fact it takes the usual rock story and turns it on its head. The usual rock story is incredible promise, brilliance maybe, tragedy cuts it short, and aren’t we sad we’ve lost this wonderful opportunity. Pearl Jam is exactly the opposite. It’s a tragedy that was surmounted and these guys found joy through survival and from studying what had happened before in rock from some of their heroes. In some ways it was a hard story to tell because it’s a happy ending, and it’s not even an ending. But what it is is unique. All these guys, you can tell, approach their interviews open heartedly and wanted to just put everything out on the table and even Jeff said early on I hope there’s a little bit of group therapy that happens here so I can learn a little [more] about my band. Every one of these guys, Mike poured his heart out. All of us wanted to tell the story of how the music came to mean so much today and tomorrow. So I’m just lucky enough to have had the opportunity to help tell the story.

Moderator: So Jeff was there group therapy there?

Jeff Ament: I was listening to what Mike said about how as band we get through stuff by talking. Really that first five or six years there wasn’t a lot of talking. We would just put our heads down and get to the next place. We were just holding on. I don’t remember a whole lot of conversations about what we were going through at the time. We didn’t know what we were going through. I think that’s the beauty of this movie and trying to make sense of that first 5 to 10 years. But I hadn’t seen all the interview stuff. That was the thing I got excited about when Cameron said I want to interview you guys. I was just curious, good and bad. Like to hear Stone say he didn’t want to be in a band with me any more [re 1990]. That stuff is all good because when that was all going down we weren’t talking with one another. We’d take a bike ride every day after Andy died and wed hang out for a 2 or 3 hours but we really wouldn’t talk about anything. I would prod, (to Stone) I”d say “I hear you were playing some music,” and you would be like “Yep.” (laughs) It’s been great to see a little bit of what just how we feel about one another, I think we occasionally tell one another but you know – we’re guys.

Cameron Crowe: See, they had to pry this movie out of my hands This could have easily been “Pearl Jam Twenty-Two” or Twenty-Three. Watching the movie tonight I thought, “Damn I had a great opportunity to ask Eddie a question and I blew it”.

Moderator: Ask him now.

Cameron Crowe: Okay. (to Eddie) When you’re on the plane…

Jeff Ament: Director’s cut.

Cameron Crowe: Right. Director’s cut. Thank you. When you’re on the plane to Seattle for the first time what are you thinking? Are you thinking-(that) it could go either way or are you thinking “I know in my heart this is going to work” ?

Eddie Vedder: I thinking oh my god, I’m on a plane and I offered to drive. [All laugh]. Who are these guys that can a afford plane ticket? That’s what I was thinking.

Cameron Crowe: Ok, director’s cut.

Eddie Vedder: And then I was thinking well, no I wouldn’t say that, I was going to say don’t fuck this up. Well no, I took a razor blade, and that’s when you could take razor blades on planes, and I would do collages and I did some crazy collage. And I was just excited to play music. I had been in a few different groups with some people that, you know the nature of being in bands you try to write stuff or you play some covers, or do whatever, and stylistically you try to do whatever, but it never felt like anything real. It never felt anything that wasn’t highly derivative of something else. When I had heard the music I got through Jack Irons, which is the demo stuff, the instrumental stuff that Matt Cameron had played on, I just heard something that I had never heard before. And to be able to be a part of that, and really not knowing what would happen. I thought I would have a week in Seattle and it was like an art project just like the razor blade collage.

Moderator: We can open it up to some questions.

Mexican Reporter: How do you see (the band) ten years from now?

Eddie Vedder: I think the same thing just better. I think we’ll just keep getting better. Maybe try to push boundaries musically. I don’t see stopping. I don’t think any of us see stopping. And I think everyone’s doing stuff outside of the group too, which I think is really healthy. So by the time we get back we’re excited to be back. Some groups will have a record and tour for 2 1/2 years and then they’ll need to take 2 years off because they don’t want to see each other. Or they’re just so wrecked and exhausted. Whatever way we’re doing it, it’s still reaching out in the dark, but it seems to be working. It’s not like you have a formula. We just want to stay healthy, we have families, we want to be dependable to not only each other and the audience.

Next reporter: Do you still study rock? Do you see yourselves getting to the point where you’re Neil young, you’re the adult to some young up and coming band?

Eddie Vedder: I’m up to the “L”s. The La’s.

Reporter: Are you like the adults now?

Eddie Vedder: If you’re taking about a young, young, young group…. (laughter) But really that was a huge thing was when we didn’t know how to get through, Jeff was saying we didn’t know how to talk to each other, some of the people that broke open those conversations are people who gave us advice on things you can’t teach or take a class on. It was really them talking outside the interviews, outside of the things that were available people. Tom Petty for Mike. Or Neil or Kim and Thurston from Sonic Youth. Or Pete and Roger or John for me. We’re grateful that they saw something in us that they recognized and thought “these guys might need a little help and that they’re worth helping”. We’ve always been grateful.

Jessica Letkemann: I’m Jessica from Billboard. In the midst of all this deep diving into the past, with the book and the film, (at the festival last week) you’ve said it made you feel like a rebirth and new beginning and have played/ released two new songs this week. Has the project been inspiring PJ to look forward as well as back?

Jeff Ament: Yeah. Being in the middle of this a few months ago, we only had a little bit of time off, a few weeks, but we carved out half that time to go into the studio and record some new songs. That kinda got us through all of this looking back part. It reminded us of the job at hand, where we’re headed. That’s the funnest thing at this point, being in a room with these guys and making music. It’s just the greatest. I’m so curious about what everyone’s going to come in with, and where it’s going to go.

Reporter David from Classic Rock: Can I ask Cameron Did you have any Almost Famous moments where being friends with the band got in the way of making a dramatic movie about them? Did you have to sensor yourself on personal questions?

Cameron Crowe: What I wanted to do is use the fact that I did know them. And have known them for a while. To do interviews felt like actual conversations as opposed to (makes air quote gesture) “interviews”. I think knowing them and having lived in the community with them for long periods of time I think I was able to hold a mirror up and show them how they look to me, as somebody that had been able to watch them over a long period of time. I appreciate them trusting me enough to go through all the footage and hold this mirror up. But it’s different in this case because I wanted to get across a feeling of what it was like to be inside the band as opposed to outside the band looking in. So I think it was a plus

Reporter: A follow up. Is there any similarities to the band in Almost Famous and PJ, a (not) midlevel band dealing with the harsh realities of stardom. Can you talk about that? Are these two movies cousins?

Cameron Crowe: I think they are, actually. “Almost Famous” is about loving music and being a fan. And Pearl Jam Twenty is what it’s like to be a fan IN the band. And from their point of view looking out at the William Millers [Cameron Crowe's reporter character in "Almost Famous"] of the world. “Almost Famous” is the other side of that.

Mike McCready: And I played leads on both of them. [all laugh] [EV laughs uncontrollably.] (FYI, Mike played the guitar solo leads for the fictional band Stillwater in Crowe’s movie Almost Famous-KD)

Cameron Crowe: That’s true. That is true. The uniting force: Mike McCready.

Kerri Roberts/ Filmography on Movie Central: Cameron, you used the band in the movie “Singles” and we see in the movie the (MTV Singles movie) promotional party and what happened there, and of course the soundtrack had Pearl Jam songs. Did that change the relationship between you and the band when that happened?

Cameron Crowe: Mercifully no. I was always so embarrassed about the Singles party. The fact that I had to ask, beg, and say please “come and play this show because they won’t put out this movie if they don’t play this show”. I actually came to Lollapalooza to ask them.

Eddie Vedder: You didn’t even know how embarrassing it was gonna get. [all laugh]

Cameron Crowe: Oh my god! In a world where I feel like I can talk about anything, that thing we never talked about for twenty years. When we interviewed the guys I brought it up, with cameras, and there’s a moment where Eddie looks at me like “oh great, NOW we talk about the Singles party with a camera here.” I think it was cathartic for me.

Stone Gossard: I think we owe you an apology [all laugh].

Cameron Crowe: Oh no no no…

Stone Gossard: The fact that this was your moment and we just…lesser people would have just said “you guys are assholes! This was my chance; couldn’t you guys lay off the tequila for another hour? Just say a couple nice things and play a show? God damn it!”

Cameron Crowe: The original idea -I love that we’re now actually really talking about it- (laughter), that you guys were gonna play an acoustic set. You guys are like “we’re gonna do an acoustic set. Kinda like “Unplugged”. I remember Stone came up to me at a certain point…Stone already saw the avalanche that was starting to happen, and Stone was like “I think we’re gonna do a punk rock set tonight.” And then it went from there. I gotta say – nobody died, and…

Eddie Vedder: It goes great in the film! It really does.

Cameron Crowe: It works in the movie. I leaned forward to Kelly (Curtis) when we were watching the movie tonight and it was like “Twenty years later, Yes! It all worked out.” But at the time it was a quandry because I didn”t want to be one of the guys after the band had started to explode coming to ask for something. I love the way Stone talks about it in the movie, like “this hideous event actually was the birth of “no”. We gave it a context.

Final Reporter: To Ed (she first contrasts just seeing Paul McCartney film w/him walking streets of NY after 9/11 talking to people, saying he felt like the mayor, jumping out of a cab going for a walk, then to Ed) You on the other hand are a reluctant rock star, having to build a wall (Ed speaks of this in the movie-wall around his house to keep a stalker out) How do you feel about fame now?

Eddie Vedder: You gotta understand it was different then. It was really…I don’t know how people do it these days. I don’t know how young people or the people that have all that media thing, and then the media is way more intense, social bullshit-whatever it is, I don’t know how they deal with it. Paparazzi, that kind of thing something I can’t even fucking imagine for a second. And what we had at the time was too much for me as a human even as a writer, to not be able to walk into a situation and observe because you were being observed, I mean 20 years later I’m not still moaning about it, it’s just that you asked. But you know we just had to figure out ways to where if you’re on the music channel, and you’re in people’s living rooms and all that many times a day back then, we had to take responsibility for that, it was more just kind of manicuring it (to) a level that you could deal with. It’s all pretty positive. It was interesting. The crowd laughed tonight, I don”t know if they understood, there are photos of that truck crash (into the wall of Ed’s house) with the woman inside it, bloody…it was an incredibly serious deal. That was the day of the Grammy Awards. That’s where your life was at that time, then you’re thinking what the fuck is going on here and how are we gonna survive this? Where’s it gonna go next?” So by paying attention to it, and now I”m really proud that we all have lives that we can live and be who we want to be. Be who we want to be as parents, be who we want to be as community members…it’s all just a very maintainable level. We’re very grateful to the people that have listened to us over the years, that they seem to have certain respect for that, and allow us that as well. It’s a relationship. We couldn”t do it without them, and we’re very appreciative.

And Yet More Coverage

During the already busy weekend, Eddie found the time to perform at a fundraising luncheon for Artists for Peace and Justice. Established in early 2009, by (Director) Paul Haggis and friends to encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world. The organization’s immediate goal is to build schools to serve the poorest areas of Haiti, providing an education, hot meals, clean drinking water and regular medical treatments to the children living in the slums. Here are the details, according to this article:

On Saturday afternoon, real estate exec Michael Cooper opens up his grand Annex home (best known in diplomatic circles as the former German consulate; , for a $1250-a-ticket backyard lunch and private concert by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. APJ has raised over $300,000 at TIFF and Haggis is keen to keep upping the party ante. “We just got our charitable status in Canada,” said Haggis. “So we’ll be in Toronto even more.”

A couple of pictures from the lunch are in the below gallery.

Here is video of Cameron Crowe introducing the band at the premiere, courtesy MyETVMedia on YouTube:

Gallery from the event, including arrival, premiere and press conference: (photos by Kevin Mazur, WireImage; Ed at Benefit photos by Pimentel)

Pearl Jam kicked off their 2011 Canadian tour in lovely Montreal September 7th with a solid set of crowd-friendly tunes; we’ll post reviews, pictures and details here to kick off our tour coverage.

Setlist: (from Official Message Board)

Montreal Bell Centre
Montreal, QC. CA
Sept. 07, 2011
Set List

01. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
02. Last Exit
03. Hail Hail
04. The Fixer
05. Amongst The Waves
06. Severed Hand
07. Setting Forth
08. Corduroy
09. Given To Fly
10. Insignificance
11. Daughter/Blitzkrieg Bop-(Ramones)
12. Glorified G
13. 1/2 Full
14. Do The Evolution
15. Unthought Known
16. Why Go

ENCORE BREAK 1
17. Evenflow
18. Come Back
19. Sleight Of Hand
20. Down
21. Black
22. Arms Aloft-(Bullen, Shields, Slatterly, Stafford, Strummer)
23. Lukin
24. Porch

ENCORE BREAK 2
{Ed thanks the crowd and says Montreal was a great place to start the tour.
He then reads his horoscope in the local paper which suggests he should avoid glum people and needs to surround himself with happy, laughing people today}
25. Betterman
26. Crazy Mary-(Williams)
27. Alive
28. Yellow Ledbetter

Poster (courtesy InsideTheRockPosterFrame):

Bernarde Perusse  at the Montreal Gazette posted this review of the night, excerpted below:

Before Pearl Jam unleashed their encore set near the end of a triumphant concert at the Bell Centre Wednesday night, lead vocalist Eddie Vedder read from his horoscope, which recommended that he avoid people and places that depress him and instead go where there is music and people are happy.

He took the advice.

Just over 15,000 people showed up for the kickoff stop on the group’s 20th-anniversary Canadian tour. The faithful came prepared to celebrate, with lung-busting and throat-shredding intensity, the band’s happy milestone…. continued here.

Photos:

A sampling of Pictures from Pearl Jam’s epic second night in Alpine Valley, WI Sept. 4, 2011. Photos by Kathy Davis (the ones not credited), Matt McPherson & Jonathan Goetz.

A small gallery of the most epic night in Pearl Jam ever experienced by your humble co-editors…Our Band and their guests,
PJ20. Night 1. All photos by Kathy Davis/TwoFeetThick.com