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2008 Eddie Vedder Concert Chronology

April Fool's Tour | August Tour

ADDED April 3, 2008

04/02/08 - The Centre, Vancouver, BC, CAN
set: Walking the Cow, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man of the Hour, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Goodbye, Broken Hearted, You're True, Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Picture in a Frame, Trouble, I Won't Back Down, Forever Young
first encore: Society, Growing Up, No More, Porch
second encore: Hard Sun
TFT Notes: Aside from benefit and other appearances in the past, this show kicks off Eddie Vedder's first official solo tour, presenting songs from the Into the Wild Soundtrack. More notes coming soon...

ADDED April 3, 2008

04/03/08 - The Centre, Vancouver, BC, CAN
set: Walking the Cow, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Goodbye, Broken Hearted, Soon Forget, Used to Work in Chicago, Drifting, Hide Your Love Away, Trouble, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, Porch
first encore: Forever Young, Society, Lukin, No More
second encore: Arc, Hard Sun
TFT Notes: "Society" and "Hard Sun" are accompanied by Liam Finn. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" is by Cat Stevens.

ADDED April 10, 2008

04/05/08 - SC Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA
set: Walking the Cow, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Setting Forth, Far Behind, Rise, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Millworker, Broken Hearted, Goodbye, You're True, Chicago, Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Trouble, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Happy Birthday (to Mike McCready), Society, Lukin, No More, Arc
second encore: Santa Cruz, Hard Sun
TFT Notes:

ADDED April 10, 2008

04/07/08 - Zellerbach Theatre, Berkeley, CA
set: Walking the Cow, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Goodbye, Satellite, Driftin', You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Here's to the State of Mississippi, Trouble, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, Parting ways, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Society (with Jerry Hannah), Growin' Up, Lukin, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (with Liam Finn)
TFT Notes: Jerry Hannan joins Ed for "Society". Liam Finn, Eliza Jane Barnes and Jerry Hannan join Ed on "Hard Sun".

ADDED April 10, 2008

04/08/08 - Zellerbach Theatre, Berkeley, CA
set: Walking the Cow, Around the Bend, I am Mine, Masters of War, Dead Man, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Soon Forget, Broken Hearted, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Driftin', You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Trouble, Picture in a Frame, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Society, Santa Cruz, No More, Arc
second encore: Song to Sean Penn, Hard Sun, Yellow Ledbetter, All Along The Watchtower
TFT Notes: Jerry Hannan joins Ed for "Society". Liam Finn, Eliza Jane Barnes and Jerry Hannan join Ed on "Hard Sun". Mike McCready and Liam Finn join Ed for "Yellow Ledbetter" and "All Along the Watchtower".

Catching up is hard to do .... doo dee doo ...

ADDED August 4, 2008

08/01/08 - Opera House: Boston, MA
set: Walking the Cow, Trouble, I Am Mine, Dead Man Walking, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Wishlist, Setting Forth, Guaranteed (stopped), No Ceiling, Guaranteed , Far Behind, Millworker, Goodbye, Broken Hearted, Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I'm One, Porch
first encore: Untitled, Small Town, Society (w/ Liam Finn), Lukin, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (w/ Liam Finn on drums)
TFT Notes: Stage setup similar to West Coast tour with Ed surrounded by equipment, kickdrum, applebox floor apparatus. The batwings are there, with the Golden Globe tucked in the middle and wrapped in a black shirt. Backdrops: First is new - a giant mural that looks like an old neighborhood or village-with back of red brick buildings, a large alleyway with dumpsters, old fashioned metal trash cans. The perspective is painted in such a way that it looks like some of the buildings are coming toward you and you could walk through. It later switched to the "behind the scenes" stage backdrop, then the for "Hard Sun" it was the sea/sky landscape. Clad in a black "Devo" shirt, gray button down shirt and grayish jeans, from the beginning it seemed apparent that Ed was unwell; during the first 6 to 8 songs he was sweating, dropping chords, missing lines, blowing nose, not looking up to crowd. The first time he spoke was at the beginning of "Wishlist" when the crowd started clapping along with the beat extremely loud and he said "Ah! But can you sing it?" and the crowd did. (When he started "Wishlist", he couldn't get it going, then started tapping the beat. Some people tapped along, then the crowd recognized the song and everyone started clapping). Before the second verse, he turned his head to the side and ran from the beginning off mic trying to remember it. As soon as he got it, he looked up at the audience and smiled, acknowledging that he remembered. Before "I'm One", Ed told the crowd that when he was going to work in Chicago, this was the song he sang to himself to tell authority to fuck off. Prior to "Elderly...", he did an improv about Boston; some people were shouting out things (AGAIN with this????-Kath) and Ed commented "You can yell all you want, but I can't hear what you're saying" adding something like ..."oh wait, I can hear you and yes I do want an omelet." (Favorite overheard yelled-out request: "Obscure Pearl Jam rarities!") At one point to quiet the yelling, Ed said "I thought I wouldn't run into the screaming assholes until New York" and that got to the proud Boston crowd to quiet down. Prior to "Rise", people started yelling out "Luuuuuke" thinking they recognized Ed's ukulele ... to which he teasingly said "mandolin....it's a fucking mandolin!" At the beginning of "Arc", Ed had trouble getting the in ear monitor set up, saying he'd work on "a way to do this faster tomorrow." He started the first loop, for the 2nd loop George came out, but the song never really caught on and he let it play out while the crowd cheered. Between main set and first encore, the giant white furry Yeti came out, lab coat on, and swept the stage. Early in the first encore, Ed motioned to George Webb for a towel and wiped his face off, eliciting a hearty cheer from the Boston crowd. He motioned for Kleenex and blew his nose a couple of times. Then he wrapped the towel around his head and said "Who am I? Gimme another 10 million dollars!" (recently traded Red Sox centerfielder Manny Ramirez) Ed then finally told the crowd that he had an "issue with his health" and that he was on prescription medication. The container said "do not drive, do not operate heavy machinery" or do "anything that requires alertness. We'll see what it's like to play Boston when you're not alert." He tried to launch into the opening riffs of "Guaranteed", but just couldn't quite do it right, so he gave up, commenting "Some songs are more difficult to play on drugs than others" and launched into "No Ceiling". Liam came out join Ed on "Society" with him and Ed said he was really happy that Liam could come out and do these little satellite shows, but that they haven't played these songs since we were together in April, and he always forgets the 2nd verse, would someone in the front mind whispering it to him when he gets to it.

ADDED August 4, 2008

08/02/08 - Opera House: Boston, MA
set: Walking the Cow, Trouble, I Am Mine, Dead Man Walking, Man of the Hour, Sometimes, Masters of War, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Soon Forget, Goodbye (incomplete), Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Don't Be Shy, Growin' Up, Wishlist, Society, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (w/ Liam Finn on drums)
TFT Notes: The recorded version of "Elderly Woman" by African singer Mburu played as the curtain went up and as soon as Ed came out, the crowd started singing along with the song. "I just wanna scream HELLO..." ; after the first "hearts & thoughts" verse he commanded that everyone sit with one swoop of his hand. He then sat down with his guitar and said "Thank you. And welcome to a night at the opera." Ed mentioned that he wanted to "see what we can do" and that he wanted to push the boundaries. After the first couple of songs, Ed remarked about the shouting that he was "not going to tolerate the shit I tolerated the night before." After "Dead Man", Ed retrieved some lyrics from his notebook and launched into "Sometimes". The song developed a different vibe toward the end; where the song would normally have faded, the audience were clapping along and it transformed and strengthened the song. Ed seemed very pleased by the transformation. Again when Ed got out the mandolin for "Rise", people were shouting "Luuuuuuuke", and he scolded "you uncultured bastards this is a mandolin!" and later, "This is the first time your ass has been in a velvet seat, right?" He spoke of how nice the theatre was and that he'd had an opportunity to play there...and held out the mandolin, showing off how "nice" it is. He started to play "Rise" and couldn't quite get the fingering, saying "looks nice, but I can't play it." Regarding the shouting, Ed said that no matter where you are in the building, in the balcony or anywhere it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, it sounds like "I'm an idiot!". Then the first time someone shouted "I'm an idiot!" after that and it caught Ed's ear, it made him laugh pretty hard. Before "Millworker", Ed commented about the song's author James Taylor "He's a badass motherfucker. Walk up to him and say 'hi' and he'll tell you to get the fuck away and you wanna know why? ...... Cuz he's a bad ass motherfucker." He then impersonated one of his fans talking to James Taylor and kind of whimpered "But...Ed...said...to say hi." He commented that Exxon made 11 billion dollars in the last quarter, saying "I'm so bad at math...maybe it's my low intellect but I don't really get this math thing" incredulous at their glut of profit. He dedicated "Soon Forget" to Exxon. He started "Goodbye" next, playing the first verse then stopped, saying it didn't go with "Soon Forget". For "Driftin'", Ed got a harmonica, started playing it then said "fuck it" and tossed it. He got a second one and said he didn't like that one either, "it must be me or something." After "Driftin'", he retrieved a piece of paper that George put on the clipboard; Ed dedicated "Forever Young" to a young girl named Lindsey that he met earlier that day before the soundcheck. She had given him this letter that meant a lot to him - [A run down of the letter's content, from the writer herself: "In a nutshell, I explained that I just graduated high school and in general I am disgusted by the amount of materialism and conformity in most other teenagers. I told him that his music saved me from this. I wrote that at the end of middle school I was headed down the same path- listening to pop music and obsessing over brand name clothes. I told him about the first time I ever heard Pearl Jam and how I stayed up all night listening, completely blown away. Then I used the phrase (which he read out loud) "4 years and 11 Pearl Jam concerts later.. I am a completely different person" I explained a couple other ways he changed my life that he read out loud. It was something like "Instead of listening to pop music on my ipod, I'm listening to albums like Quadrophenia on vinyl. Instead of watching tasteless reality TV, I'm playing guitar and writing music. Instead of voting for the next American Idol, I'm making sure everyone my age is registered to vote for the next president."] After the song, he pointed out Howard Zinn in the crowd (who gave him a standing ovation) and said that what the band's music had done for Lindsey (inspiration-wise), Howard had done for him. Prior to (Bruce Springsteen cover) "Growin' Up", Ed remarked on how Bruce was also in town (he was playing Gillette Stadium that night) so he was surprised that we had all given up that show to come see him instead, but that we were better off because it was raining so hard. So he figured he would do a song by him for us. The crowd started going "Bruuuuuuuuuuuuce!" and Ed remarked to Howard Zinn, "Howard, I just want you to know they are chanting 'Bruce', they are not booing" and smiled. Before "Wishlist" Ed said "I tried this last night and liked how it went so I'm trying it again." Instead of using the e-bow to play the solo at the song's end, Ed sang the notes instead. He uses the apple box foot platform to drive the beat of the song. "No More" is played on an almost glowing radiantly white acoustic guitar with a red sticker by the sound hole. "Arc" continued to play as the curtain went down; Ed came out in front of it and spent a few minutes blowing kisses, shaking hands and soaking in the love from the crowd. He seemed touched and emotional by the crowd's response.

ADDED August 8, 2008

08/04/08 - United Palace Theater, New York, NY
set: Walking Cow, Trouble, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Sometimes, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Soon Forget, Goodbye, I Used to Work in Chicago, Walk Hard (tease), Driftin', You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Porch
first encore: Wishlist, Let My Love Open the Door, Society, Masters of War, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun
TFT Notes: Notes coming soon...

ADDED August 8, 2008

08/05/08 - United Palace Theater, New York, NY
set: Walking the Cow, Trouble, Sometimes, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man of the Hour, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Goodbye, Broken Hearted, Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Girl from North Country, Thumbing My Way, Porch
first encore: Wishlist, Here's to the State of Mississippi, Society (w/ Liam Finn), No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun
TFT Notes: Notes coming soon...

ADDED August 8, 2008

08/07/08 - New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
set: Walking the Cow, Trouble, Don't Be Shy, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Sometimes, I'm Open, Man of the Hour, Unthought Known, Driftin', Masters of War, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Elderly Woman..., You're True, Soon Forget, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Society (with Liam Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (with Liam Finn), Growin' Up, Lukin, Let My Love Open the Door, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun
TFT Notes: After "Walking the Cow", Ed indicates the he was going to choose between the next two songs but that he'll "just play them both", playing Cat Stevens' "Trouble" and "Don't Be Shy". There are tolerable shouts from the crowd, to which Ed says maybe later they'll have "a little question and answer". Someone asks "What are you drinking?" and he tells a story about drinking a lot the night before and coming up with a new song at 5AM that day. He uses a few analogies - "fruit that's not yet ripe and "pants that need to be hemmed" - and plays a new song listed as "Unthought Known" on the setlist (three verses, three choruses) with one chorus repeating "Nothing left..." After "No Ceiling", he puts a guy in the front row on the spot and asks him if he has a question and the guy asks "Can I request a song?". Ed jokingly responds that he intended to give him an answer to a question, not give him a song. He makes a song request but Ed continues with "Guaranteed". After "Rise" Ed grabs a guitar, strums a few (familiar) chords, and shakes his head realizing "I think I just played 'Turning Japanese' (The Vapors)". He comments that of all the songs that could have channeled through him, he's going to figure out why it was that song. Prior to "Elderly Woman...", Ed says it's "not requested but by request" and says that it's the middle of the show and encourages the crowd to stand up for a "seventh inning stretch", leading to a rousing version with Ed letting the crowd sing most of the lyrics. Following "You're True", Ed says after soundcheck he was walking around the venue and walked all the way up to the 4th tier (the venue has orchesta seating, then four vertically-tiered balconies) and recalled how he saw his first concert at the very last row in the top balcony (Springsteen at the Auditorium in Chicago). He mentions that because of the steep balconies he wasn't going to play as many sad songs "to prevent jumpers". He continues by mentioning he woke up and read his "first bad review" in the New York Times (of the August 5 show) that called him "brooding" and "righteous" and - after stating how Exxon/Mobile had $11 billion in profits while people couldn't afford gas - that he's "right" not "righteous". "Forever Young" is dedicated to everyone whose birthday is today. Coming back from the first encore, Ed praises the venue saying that he gets asked a lot of questions at various events like barbecues and is always asked "where is the best place to play?" and for now on he's going to say "Newark". Getting back to the Q&A, Ed asks for another question and one fan's asks "What are the lyrics to 'Yellow Ledbetter'?". The crowd roars in approval and Ed says "Wait ... you mean there's lyrics?" He then proceeds to tell the story surrounding the lyrics, saying it was written around the time of the Gulf War when "Papa Bush" was President. He knew an "alternative-looking" friend from Seattle who received a "yellow letter" when his brother died in the war. Ed was walking with this friend and there was a flag hanging from a porch on a house along the road. When the friend acknowledged the flag patriotically, the people seemed to not reciprocate his homage ("but they don't wave") because of his appearance. Bordering on tears, Ed wraps up the story and plays "Growin' Up" because of the Bruce Springsteen / New Jersey connection. "Hard Sun" closes the show as the theater's centerpiece - a large, spherical, gold/silver, illuminated chandelier - is lowered slowly over the crowd.

ADDED August 11, 2008

08/09/08 - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Montreal, QC
set: Walking The Cow, Trouble, Sometimes, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man Of The Hour, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Goodbye, Brokenhearted, Driftin', You'Ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Blackbird, Gone, Porch
first encore: Society (with Liam Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (with Liam Finn), Wishlist, Lukin, I'm One, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (w/Finn, Barnes)
TFT Notes: Ed talked before he even started playing ... hit the ground talking. "Has anyone seen the Olympic opening ceremony? These people are going to rule the world!" As ever, there was a lot of shouting from the crowd; early on a guy kept calling out incessantly, "Love you Eddie!" and chanting "Eddie, Eddie!" and it went on. Finally Ed responded "It's been established, I know my name. "Touche'" The guy responds, to laughter. Ed says, "Okay we'll call it a draw". He mentioned at one point that on the first solo tour, he was in a place that didn't speak English, and that he should speak French but he won't be tonight. Before "Millworker", he said that this is an American story. "Goodbye" featured several misfires; he kept stopping, finally saying, "one more mistake and this guitar is going to be in pieces. I blame other things for my mistakes." Prior to "Blackbird", Ed said that he's been trying this out lately and he was going to try it with us and see how it went. " It's not a political song. Tim Robbins (went to) the last couple of gigs and said 'people that come to these gigs, they are really fucking good singers' ... There's a part in this song, you might think it's over but it's not...but that's when the birds come in...so feel free to sing like the birds." The crowd responds by whistling, to which Ed comments "That's not a bird, birds have more respect than that...that's how you're looking for a bird....this may work it may not, I'm gonna try it...you'll hear the bird part." People started clapping, he said "no no, let's keep it quiet. It's a quiet one." While strumming, he commented, "so what I've been thinking of is actually images of more of the African-American story in the United States, all they've ever overcome and at the end of this song whenever I've been playing it to myself, like at the end everything, when I think of this story I think, I think of all the bad things that have happened, I think of them getting hosed down in the 60's, (still strumming) I think of all the bad images I have and at the end of the song, I see this picture in my head of Barack Obama in my head with a big smile on this face..." and back into the song. [Paul McCartney, regarding the writing of "Blackbird" from The Beatles biography "Many Years From Now" by Barry Miles: I developed the melody on guitar based on the Bach piece (Bouree in E minor) and took it somewhere else, took it to another level, then I just fitted the words to it. I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.']. When Liam joined Ed on "Society", Ed first related a story, saying "I've told Liam this story, and I haven't told anyone else this story expect my...(long pause) wife." He said he woke up at 1 p.m., the TV was on what he thought was the shopping channel....and he saw what he thought was a wrist. But there was no watch on it. And then he realized it wasn't a wrist it was a sex toy. The camera pulls back and he sees other things attached to this toy...he reaches to the side of the bed, puts on his glasses, and it says on the screen "3-way stimulation". "So I took off my glasses...." Liam responds "So you called the number?" and Ed says..."I'm not here long enough to receive it". Ed thanked Tim Robbins for introducing him to Sean that brought him to this tour. Prior to "No More", Ed mentioned Tomas Young, telling about how Tomas had pulmonary embolism, it was 7-8 hours before he was found, and that he was coming back from this, learning to speak again, and that Ed was going to see him when he goes to Chicago. He encouraged people to write to thim, that Tomas starts every day by reading letters he gets from people.

If TFT readers would like to write, Tomas's family will forward mail sent to him here:

Tomas Young
112 NE 113th Street
Kansas City, MO 64155
USA

Toward end of show, Ed tells the crowd that he has a little girl who is 3-1/2, then corrected himself saying she is 4. She is really smart, and they read her books with French words in them sometimes. He was telling her about playing tonight and that he was playing to a French audience, and he asked her (kind of testing her) and "how would I say thanks?" And that she got that one easily. And then he said how would you say good night, and she said, "Bon....bon....just say hi!". At one point between songs, he says to someone in the front row "Did you find what you were searching for in your purse?" He explained that "this girl...woman" was rooting around in her purse all during the last song. He said he was really distracted because the purse was white, and on the floor in front of her, and her pants were white and it almost looked like her pants were down around her ankles. Ed leaned over with gesture of pants around ankles, blocked by his open suitcase to kind of demonstrate how it looked from his angle. Ed said "I don't know what it is tonight"...girls with pants around ankles...sex toys, I just can't stop talking about this. At end he told the crowd, "Montreal you've been great. When I go home alone and lonely, I can't be grumpy because of you. No songs will be written tonight."

UPDATED August 12, 2008

08/10/08 - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Montreal, QC
set: Walking The Cow, Sometimes, Around The Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man Of The Hour, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Masters Of War, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Soon Forget, Unthought Known, Thumbing My Way, Drifting, Forever Young, Porch
first encore: Society (w/Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (w/Finn), Wishlist, Girl From The North Country, Lukin, Let My Love Open The Door, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (w/Finn, Barnes)
TFT Notes: Ed walked out during the Small Town cover and proceeded to dance to it. The crowd was singing along mightily and he grinned along. He said he thought he was in Montreal for their summer, that summer is an amazing time, people fall in love in the summer. He went on to say that when they arrived on Friday morning, it was raining and it reminded him of Seattle. "Just like Seattle, but old... and French" Then he announced he was going to take the cow for a walk. Before Dead Man, he once again told the story about Stone "great guitarist.. brother" when he first heard this song. "He liked it but said maybe in the chorus, it should say "Dead Man Walking .. Around". "He's had some great ideas over the years but this definitely wasn't one of them". As usual, the loud male "Love You, Eddie" scream came early. Ed smiled and said "You sound handsome" and that he was willing to bet he wasn't 5'2. There was a massive, very loud sing-along to his Small Town and one guy near the front turned around and conducted the crowd behind him. Ed was obviously impressed with the singing, and announced he "really needed a cigarette". As he puffed, he said "I'm not saying that was like sex or anything." The conducting guy hadn't gone unnoticed by Ed and he said "this guy - here" (pointing) "turned into Leonard Bernstein" and seemed greatly amused by that. The guy said something (presumably "what do I get?") and Ed responded "A beer with me" and asked for two beers. (George came running with them) He called the guy up, who kissed Ed soundly on the cheek (to Ed's laughter and a bit of a recoil) and arms around each other, drank a beer with him. A short chat ensued, where apparently "Ralph told me his life story". And brief nod to the state of the US followed with an angry and rousing "Masters of War". Despite forgetting the first lines to a couple of the Into The Wild Songs, the guitar/mandolin/uke play was subtle and delicate but immensely powerful. Ed introduced "my friend the mandolin" when he said people were requesting uke songs and this wasn't one. Ed announced that in the last 7-8 years he'd got about 8 uke songs and he was thinking about adding two more and putting out a 10 song uke album to "test everybody's patience". The new song "Unthought Known" which was "48 hours old" included the lines (paraphrasing) "the path the moon cuts for you to walk on, distant shores to welcome you". Ed mentioned meeting a young girl Jenna that day and decided he'd bring her on stage. Waiting for this to happen he told his "good joke for you": about a Dumb Blonde who came into a library and loudly asked for a cheeseburger. The prim, hair-pulled-back librarian bristled and whispering, told her this was a library. The dumb blonde responded, in a whisper, that she'd like a cheeseburger. He seemed to think Jenna would like this joke. Still waiting for Jenna said "it's not like it's her birthday or anything" when a voice from sidestage revealed it was. "You're fucking kidding me".. "Fuck" (at saying fuck to the young girl) and "Jiminy Cricket" came out instead. A brief chat revealed Jenna was too nervous to come on her own and "her Pop is going to join her". Not sure who was more thrilled to be onstage with Ed singing "Forever Young" to them. After a stunning and emotional version, (tears in the voice) Ed said it was her first concert and she was now ruined. Ed wiped his face with a towel and then announced that the towel smelled "weird, really weird". Some guy asked loudly if he could have it. And Ed responded that "it smells like you've already had it (long pause) a long time, your favorite towel", and that it "smelled like cinnamon and then it didn't" (with a grin). Requests for PJ songs had two funny responses: "When people ask for Spin the Black Circle, I feel like a prostitute who says 'don't touch me there...or it will be more money'" and RVM prompted a behind the head perfect rendition of the opening riffs. "Three Dylan songs tonight" brought an amazing "Girl from the North Country". Two lovely duets with Liam and a chat that revealed they met when Liam was 11 and "who knew I'd end up looking up to him." "Let my Love Open the Door" was spirited and joyful. "Arc" featured a rapt Ed rocking up and down as he added each harmony; the layered voices filling the room was otherworldly. A beachy Hard Sun ended, but Ed was reluctant to leave; there were kisses thrown and hands touched and long looks at an audience that was sated, "You're very kind to a guy from West Seattle".

UPDATED August 13, 2008

08/12/08 - Massey Hall, Toronto, ON
set: Walking The Cow, Trouble, Sometimes, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man Of The Hour, Long May You Run, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Here's to the State of Mississippi, Picture in a Frame, Brokenhearted, Goodbye, Driftin', You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Last Kiss, Porch
first encore: (Believe You Me)/Wishlist, Society (w/Finn), Parting Ways (w/Finn), Elderly Woman..., The Seeker, No More, Arc
second encore: Hard Sun (w/Finn, Barnes)
TFT Notes: A very long, very loud standing ovation started the show. Ed said it was humbling and "besides, you have to be cocky to do this, come out on your own, and (we) were spoiling that." A false start on Trouble had him commenting that he "wasn't cocky enough". He's obviously a fan of Massey Hall and mentioned the "Young Neil" connection, saying "Neil Young means Massey Hall". Then it was "Johnny Cash means Folsom Prison" and commented that there seemed to be some inmates there tonight, pointing to various audience members. Tonight's first male "love you Eddie" was recognized by Ed to be a Brit, which seemed to please him but followed that with "but his voice in an intimate setting may be a bit rough for me." The Neil connection continued with him saying he'd only played the next song once, for his mother's birthday and "Long May You Run" followed. The next audience suggestion that got Ed's attention was "Play without speakers". Ed responded "We could try that. How about you leave, we'll try it and if it works, we'll let you back in." Much audience yelling surrounded Ed's mention of the Elgin Theatre (next door) and the "Into The Wild" premiere with the audience repeatedly correcting his pronunciation of Elgin ('gin' not like the drink). Ed just wasn't getting what they were saying and when he went frontstage to have someone tell him literally in his ear the correct way of saying it, he said "bring me the head of ..Smith who told me it was the ElGIN Theatre." A funny story followed about said premiere and how they were all dressed and having a great time, but at some point in the evening "all the liquid I'd imbibed all night was in the physical confines of my body and ... needed release." He went outside, went around the corner, "took the appropriate gear out, saw the sign on the wall and thought 'you can't piss on Massey Hall'" So he put the "gear" back, went around the corner to a dumpster ("no one would complain about that") and found release. Just at that moment a fancy, well dressed couple came by and he was sure they were thinking "scumbag". "See, this business isn't all glamour". A loud request for "Lukin" prompted "you can't play Lukin on a Mandolin", but he tried briefly, anyway. A rousing "Here's to the State" was followed by the clarifying that "when it said 'Find another country', it was NOT THIS ONE"! "Let's get romantic" brought "Picture in a Frame" and "this is the dark side of love" was "Brokenhearted" with incredibly beautiful picking. "Goodbye" followed and when "play Black" came from the crowd, he said "I just did." Another long storytime from Ed - the "Allegro story". The night before, during a visit to a pool hall, he took a smoke break ("cause you can't smoke anywhere and you meet the most interesting people that way") where he saw a guy on a bicycle, who "hadn't bathed in a month" and came up and kept saying "Allegro". "Ask the sound guy, he was there". They weren't understanding him, ("I'm not Allegro") but then realized it wasn't "allegro", but "where did my leg go?" as he was missing a leg. He talked about how bad he felt for the guy and wanted to go right now and search for it. He said something along the lines of "so if any of you find a leg ..." Then came the question from the crowd I'd been wondering myself, "How did he peddle?". "Good question", thought a minute and then demonstrated that he pushed the bike along on one leg. A previous mention of "the band and the connection to Toronto" came back a while later with a very loud "what band are you in?" to much laughter. Ed, Without missing a beat said "Stone Temple Pilots". And then "you fuckers are getting out of hand" with a grin. A really beautiful and delicate "Believe You Me" snippet prefaced "Wishlist". Liam's entrance was met with "You're looking particularly stoned tonight, Liam" who responded "well, it's Massey Hall". Ed - "I'm just saying that cause I'm more than a little jealous.. but I'll catch up later". After "Society", Ed played charades - "We've been working on this: two words, a song (with charades song gesture), first word sounds like...". And then "don't say it" to Liam - the song: Parting Ways. An argument with himself followed about whether to play "Small Town" again "as you've already heard it tonight" and a short story about African singer Mburu, ("He's 65, blind and had about 3 teeth") who his brother and the video director of "Life Wasted" worked with and how this song was a present to his brother at the end. What seemed like an inner battle of what to play next, "I don't know what I'm doing" produced "The Seeker". It should be noted that Ed twice referred to checking things online but both times, hesitated, made a box gesture and instead said "on that computer thing". The night ended with "lots of fun, the least it's ever felt like work"!

ADDED August 15, 2008

08/13/08 - Massey Hall, Toronto, ON
set: Walking the Cow, Trouble, Sometimes, Around the Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man, Man of the Hour, Long May You Run, Masters of War, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, You're Tue, Soon Forget, Lukin, Let My Love Open the Door, Porch
first encore: Wishlist, Helpless, Society (w/Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (w/Finn), Elderly Woman..., No More, I Am A Patriot, Arc
second encore: Old Man, Rockin in the Free World (w/Finn,Barnes), Rockin in the Free World Hard Sun (w/Finn, Barnes)
TFT Notes: The crowd gave Ed another extended standing ovation before he even played a note. After "Sometimes" and some vigorous foot stomping, Ed turned his back to the audience, made some "adjustments" to his person and turned back around around, saying, "sorry about that, a bit of a wardrobe malfunction." Ed told the crowd about how a guy that worked for Neil Young called Elliott (Elliott Roberts, Neil's longtime manager) gave him a copy of a show from Massey Hall and said it was the best Neil show ever . Ed mentioned that Neil had put out the recording a couple years ago and that was his initial connection to Massey Hall. Early on, Ed caught sight of a guy in the front row wearing a Star Wars T-Shirt with Stormtroopers on it. He pointed and asked, "Why are you wearing that shirt?" They guy's reply was unintelligible, and Ed answered aloud "I thought so, I thought that's why" and proceeded to talk about when he and Dave Grohl were on tour with Mike Watt in 1995 and stood outside the Watt show in Toronto and bought those exact same shirts. Ed pointed to his head, as if to tell the Star Wars shirt wearer "good thinking". He seemed to get a kick out of the obscure reference. Prior to "Dead Man", Ed spoke of the West Memphis Three, saying that something was going to be finally happening in about 10 days (Judge David Burnett has set aside Sept. 8 - Oct 3, 2008 to hear the new evidence and all three cases). He said it was 10 years in the making, and (regarding Damien Echols) that he got to know him, visited him, looked into his eyes, and he knows he's not guilty, he would swear on everything, he would swear on his daughter. He noted the song is about the death penalty, but the difference (between Sean Penn's character in Dead Man Walking and Damien) is that Damien is not guilty. Prior to "Man of The Hour", Ed explained about writing the song for the movie (Big Fish), that a lot of people when they saw the movie thought about their own fathers and relationship with father, and that he thought about Johnny Ramone. When Ed wrote the song, "he was still with us, but very ill" and it was only a matter of time. He said he still thinks of Johnny whenever he sings it. Compared to the previous night, the seemingly less "rude" crowd mostly yelled out song titles and the occasional request for "Uncle Neil" rather than trying to "talk" to Ed. He commented that there will be lots of his songs tonight, we had to wait until later in the show, right now he was in the driver's seat. Prior to one of the "Into the Wild" songs, Ed spoke about how he got to know (Chris McCandless's) sister and family during the making of the movie and it felt like "he" was with him during this whole experience - motioning to the physical space beside him on the stage - which he liked (Ed never actually said the name Chris McCandless when he was telling the crowd this). People yelling 'uke' when the mandolin came out for "Rise" prompted an introduction to the instrument. Someone let Ed know that "Losing My Religion" is also played on a mandolin since he says he only knows one song on the instrument. Prior to "Masters of War", Ed mentioned that he can't wait until the day the song no longer has any meaning, and that "wasn't going to apologize for being 'righteous' "(obviously a reference to the NY Times review), that he "wasn't going to apologize and certainly wasn't going to apologize for being an artist with an opinion". He sounded quite angry and passionate about it. Ed talked about paddle boarding on Lake Ontario, paddling on shore over to Toronto Island, saying it was the first time he'd seen the Toronto skyline from the water. It reminded him of the Seattle skyline, and that "we both have these phallic symbols", and "they are (both) erect" phallic symbols. He noted that Toronto's (the CN Tower) is bigger but dirtier than Seattle's, that Toronto had been ignoring their hygienic rituals. Ed spoke about how he is "constantly" asked to play at weddings, which is frustrating, saying emphatically "I ... don't ... play ...weddings." He said he hates being asked to play weddings not only 'cause "I don't play weddings unless it's a bandmate..." but because he hated letting them down. [The previous night, there was a woman who yelled "Play at my wedding!" to which Ed had responded how she "should be glad someone was going to marry her."] He apologized for his snide remark in response to the request the previous evening, explained that he only plays at weddings if it's his brothers or his bandmates. Or if Neil Young asked he would play at his wedding too. But (Neil) already has a wonderful woman named Pegi, so he may play at their 50th anniversary. Prior to playing "You're True", Ed spoke about meeting a couple earlier in the day and that the man was "in trouble" from his wife for spending so much money on the shows. Ed wanted to make sure that everything was going to be okay because this is it for a long time and Pearl Jam are going to make a record. So this love song was "for them", and that it was the song that Ed played at Mike McCready's wedding...and he only played there because it was a bandmate. "Soon Forget" was next, which had been yelled out multiple times that night. There was a tease of "Lukin" (to appease yellers for the ukulele), which Ed said sounded like "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, and so he played a few bars of that too. Massive crowd sing a long for "Let My Love Open the Door"; for the high parts/low parts in the song, Ed didn't want to split the crowd into men and women because if the men wanted to sing the high parts then go ahead and if the women wanted to sing the low parts then that was ok too. After "Wishlist", Liam Finn's musical partner Eliza Jane (EJ) Barnes walked out on stage and sat down in front of the microphone. More rude comments from yellers, and Ed said "Hey, there is a lady onstage." They do Neil Young's "Helpless" (from the CSNY album "Déjà Vu"). Off goes EJ, and on comes Liam for "Society" and "Throw Your Arms". "Elderly Woman" was another massive sing a long. Ed prepared to ready himself for "Arc", and someone yelling out a song toward the front catches Ed's ear, he says "that's a good one" and motions for George to bring back his guitar for "Patriot". He then does "Arc" and goes off stage. There is no curtain at Massey Hall, so the techs could be seen setting up for the encore; the microphones in the center were not moved and another seat was brought out... a bit different from usual. Ed, Liam and EJ come back out, and Liam and EJ sit down, and Liam has a guitar. Ed says "I'm going to go over here" and walks over to Liam's drums and sits down. They go into Neil Young's "Old Man" with Liam and EJ singing and Ed playing drums! The crowd stood in awe of the sight. (Liam and EJ played "Old Man" in their set on night 1). They finish, Liam and EJ go offstage, Ed gets a guitar, sits down in the middle of the stage and starts into "Rockin in the Free World". Another massive sing a long... again! Liam and EJ come back for "Hard Sun". Show ends at 11:25 p.m., nearly 2.5 hours.

Copyright © 2008 J.Reynolds, J. Letkemann, K. Davis, All Rights Reserved

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