Pearl Jam – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 21st November @ ENGIE Stadium, Syd NSW

Pearl Jam
ENGIE Stadium, Sydney NSW
November 21, 2024
Supports: Pixies and Cosmic Psychos

“Did I tell you that I’ve got Eddie Vedder’s mic stand?” – Slaka. Pearl Jam fan. Aged 47.

It’s been almost 30 years since Pearl Jam first graced our shores and on one fateful night at Eastern Creek Raceway on March 11, 1995, where iconic frontman Eddie Vedder smashed up his microphone stand in front of the steaming hot rabble before him and piffed it straight at my mate Slaka who, with a beaten up ribcage from spending hours on the barricade, fought valiantly to acquire said mic stand. Do you know how often he tells me about that mic stand? Every fucking time I see him.

Tonight, Slaka is back, sans mullet and this time he’s brought his beautiful adult daughter Emily along with him. He’s not the only one who’s brought their kid tonight. Engie Stadium is littered with parent/kid combos with the youngsters ages ranging from “just outta nappies” to “designated driver”. The family friendly environment in tonight’s crowd is a far cry from the youthful fury that populated the Pearl Jam pits of the 90’s, and looking around, it looks to be a welcomed one. Add in the fact that this stadium was the central structure of the Big Day Out and Soundwave festivals of yesteryear, there’s a certain sense, for the older crowd at least, of coming home.

The sun is well and truly out as the Cosmic Psychos banner is raised and to everyone’s surprise, Eddie Vedder emerges to introduce the local legends to the stage. Eddie exits as the mad Aussie trio bludgeon the growing crowd with ‘Pub’ and ‘Nice Day to Go to the Pub’. There’s a bit of banter on stage and a lot of smiles on punters faces. ‘Fuckwit City’ goes down a treat and as they lean into closer ‘David Lee Roth’, Eddie re-emerges with a beer in his hand, tips it down the throat of vocalist/bassist Ross Knight. The lads get a rousing reception and have set the mood for the night. Honourable shout out to Dune Rats‘ drummer BC Michaels on the skins in place of Dean Muller.

Pixies swan on out to the stage and hit the ground walking. They kick off with depressive shoe-gazer ‘Cactus’ and after having just been thumped by Cosmic Psychos, I can feel the energy in the stadium quickly wane. They play surfy 60’s groover ‘Here Comes Your Man’ and reggae influenced guitar murderer ‘Vamos’ and it’s clear that this mob aren’t for me. I was genuinely interested in sussing out this band. They are, after all, a very highly regarded and important group that made an enduring and significant mark during the alternative rock boom of the 90’s. Despite being a teenage music fan in said era, I can’t get into it. To be fair, they’re not a stadium band and the few Pixies die-hards I talked to tonight absolutely loved it. Black Francis would have to be one of the more versatile and emotional vocalists on the planet. The band’s sound was inch perfect and the delivery flawless. But for the most part I, along with the majority of this crowd stood bored, headed to the bar or just talked amongst themselves. They close out with ‘Caribou’ and exit the stage to a solid applause as the rest of the stadium starts to fill out for the main event.

Darkness envelopes the stadium as a white ball of light glows from the depths of the back of the stage. The opening notes of ‘Release’ are playing and the silhouettes of Pearl Jam emerge to a chorus of cheers. Not even a minute in and its the first of many holy moments. ‘Even Flow’ hits and the crowd loses it. It’s a huge singalong, even during the fast bits that no one has really learned all the words, despite having been released 34 years ago. Eddie tells us about all time Aussie PJ fan Stuggs and his recent passing as they dedicate ‘Given To Fly’ to his memory.

They launch into a Pink Floyd cover of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ and Mike McCready throws the guitar behind his head and shreds like a demon. The rest of the band gather around the drums like they’re in their jam room while Mike separates himself to the sides and gives his guitar hell. It cools the room a bit, but when ‘Corduroy’ kicks off, the Vitalogy die-hards lose their mind, and when followed up with ’Nothingman’ it becomes a stadium-wide prayer circle. Another holy moment that had a few punters in tears.

Eddie stops for a sec to talk about Matt Cameron and this bloke has been praised so much in his lifetime that he looks almost bored of it. But when Eddie says “He’s our engine. So let’s take him for a ride” that the ball gets rolling and they hammer through ‘Scared Of Fear’, ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘Wreckage’ from their latest album Dark Matter. At one point bassist Jeff Ament brings out his Hamer 12 string bass and it is a monster. The sound coming from that beast could stop an army in it’s tracks. They get a great response from the crowd and a few fans will revisit this one on the way home tonight.

The singalong really kicks off though with ‘Daughter’ as Eddie wanders across the breadth of the stage, waving at the kids that have been thrown up win their parents shoulders. One lucky six year old girl gets his particular attention, and lands herself one of his prized tambourines.

Before the next song though, the band takes a moment to talk about the two young Aussie girls that have been killed in Laos from Methanol poisoning. Eddie talks of the Australian sense of adventure and joy, this awful tragedy that has occurred, then goes on to dedicate ‘Come Back’ to  Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones.

‘Waiting For Stevie’, ‘State Of Love and Trust’, and ‘Running For Cover follow. Ament brings out that huge 12 string bass and kicks of ‘Jeremy’. That intro alone rattles Engie stadium and every soul in it. They close out the main set with ‘Faithfull’, Lukin’ and one of my all time favourites ‘Porch’ and looking around the faces in the crowd, I’m not alone there.

One fake encore later, Eddie walks out alone, acoustic guitar in hand and with the help of the crowd, rips through Wayne Cochran cover ‘Last Kiss’. The rest of the band arrives and bursts out ‘Animal’ and ‘Do The Evolution’.

But when they start ‘Black’ from their debut album Ten, that’s when a few tears flow. I know when that album came out, ‘Black’ became a particularly poignant song for a lot of fans and remains, to this day, an important song in any Pearl Jam fans catalogue. A truly holy moment. Goosebumps everywhere. Tears on this 47 year old’s face.

The rest of the setlist kicks up a notch with ‘Sonic Reducer’ and their most famous song, the one we met them with, ‘Alive’. The stadium lights are well and truly on at this point, signalling that it’s time to call it a night and for me, they could end it now. I could die on the walk out and I’d die happy. But they close out with Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ and the beautiful ‘Indifference’, the lads take a bow and at this point I think Eddie has handed out a dozen tambourines to eager and deserving fans.

This great stadium, that has hosted some of the most important bands to walk the planet, has just had it’s proverbial roof blown off by one of the greatest bands to ever do it. Each and every fan feels connected to Pearl Jam and no one leaves looking miserable. An absolute baller of a night, so good that I’m definitely thinking of going again tonight.

On the way out I catch up with Slaka and he asks me “Did I tell you that I’ve got Eddie Vedder’s mic stand?”

Review by Duane James @duanejamestattoo

Setlist

Release
Even Flow
Given to Fly
Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover)
Corduroy
Nothingman
Scared of Fear
Dark Matter
Wreckage
Daughter (with Dead Moon’s “It’s O.K.” tag)
Come Back
Waiting for Stevie
State of Love and Trust
Running
Jeremy
Faithfull
Lukin
Porch

Encore

Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran cover)
Animal
Do the Evolution
Black
Sonic Reducer (Dead Boys cover)
Alive
Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
Indifference

Photo Gallery by Jess Fonti @jessfonti.jpg
Please credit Wall Of Sound and Jess Fonti if you repost photos.

Absolute last tickets here