An Evening with Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolts and Rain Storms
by: Kitty White
Back in July a little band called Pearl Jam had a gig at a
little place called Wrigley Field. This girl was lucky enough to win tickets to
this show through an awesome organization called Global Citizen. So when July
19th hit, I donned my best cut-offs and flannel and headed to
Chicago for one of the greatest concert experiences of my life.
Now I was nervous for weeks because I knew storms were in
the forecast for the night. But I put all my faith in Pearl Jam to not let us
down and cancel because of a little bad weather. Around 8:15 the band got on stage and opened
with Release, of course off their
debut album ‘Ten.’ They went straight into Nothingman,
another great. The band was on par, and the sound was great for such a large
venue. After the first few songs though Eddie started talking with some
personnel on stage and announced that they were watching the radar and skies
because sure enough, there were some heavy storms rolling in. When they finished
a touching rendition of Come Back
dedicated to a friend who had lost their spouse Eddie announced after the next
song that they would be evacuating the field until after the storms passed.
There was absolutely no assurance that they would be back on stage besides the
faith of Pearl Jam fans and the dedication Eddie had towards his hometown. This sense of the unknown brought about a power within the crowd and the band as we all belted
through Elderly Woman Behind the Counter
in a Small Town.
The next two and a half hours were filled with lightning,
downpours, suspense, and a little bit of irritability. It was great getting to
meet all the other fans around where we were sitting. Some had travelled a long
way for this concert and wouldn’t unfortunately get to stay for the rest of the
show when the band went back on stage. One of the highlights of the rain delay
though is some of the people behind us in our seats were actually relatives of
Eddie’s and we got to chat with them. That alone made the rain delay worth it.
After a few different bouts of rain everyone started cheering
as we saw them start removing tarps from the stage and setting everything back
up. That was the light at the end of the tunnel. When it came to letting all
the fans back onto the field it was like unleashing a stampede of wildebeests.
There was more excitement in the air at this point than there was when the
concert initially started. Pearl Jam was not about to let their fans down. In
was already known that the other events happening in the city that night
including Phish and Pitchfork Fest have already cancelled for the night. But
not Pearl Jam. Even though it was around midnight and already past the usual
allotted noise curfew, the show went on. The band had a surprise up their sleeve
too. Being a Chicagoan and a huge Cubs fan Eddie came back on stage donning a
Cubs jersey and gave a little backstory about his song All The Way. He had written the song because Ernie Banks, a legendary
Cubs player, had told him he needed to write a song about the team and Wrigley
field. One does not simply ignore orders from Ernie Banks, so Eddie did as he
was told. And his treat was that the inspiration for the song himself, Ernie,
would come on stage and sing along with him. Ernie has always said, “let’s play
two” and Eddie added on for the night saying, “let’s play ‘til two.” It was a
great moment and really brought the crowd and band together. After we all had a
“Chicago moment” it was time to go, as Eddie put it, “balls to the
wall.” The setlist definitely picked up it’s pace with songs like Do The Evolution, the newly released
single Mind Your Manners, and State of Love and Trust. During this
time the band also had the live debut of the aptly named title track from their
new album ‘Lightning Bolt.’ This was exactly what the audience needed as all of
Wrigley was on their feet dancing like there was no tomorrow. By this time
though it was already tomorrow and it was pushing close to one in the morning.
Mike McCready was far from tired though, showing off his skills in the solo
during Even Flow and also playing a
quick cover of Van Halen’s Eruption.
One of the highlights for me was when Eddie broke out the accordion and
serenaded us with the rarity Bugs. Closing
out the set Pearl Jam continued with their high-powered hits of Why Go, Unthought Known, and Rearviewmirror.
Even though our adrenaline was high since at this late at
night it’s all the crowd was running on the band pulled out their stools and
played a couple of acoustic songs. They also debuted another song of the new
album called Future Days, which was on
the slower side, but I have a feeling it will fit in great with the other
tracks on the album. Secondly they covered Pink Floyd’s Mother, which just fits Eddie’s voice beautifully. The best part
was the crowd interaction of when he sang “Mother should I run for president?”
and everyone cheered and then the opposition to the line “Mother should I trust the
government?” As soon as the solo came in though we knew that they weren’t quite
settling down yet. From Mother they
went into some fantastic throwbacks of Mother Love Bone covers of Chloe Dancer and Crown of Thorns. Time was closing in on 2 o’clock but there was no
stop to the music. The band went straight into Porch, which somehow brought the energy up even further. People
were beginning to sit down or even leave since it was so late but the rest of
us were in for the long haul and just soaked up all the energy they left
behind. After playing Life Wasted
with the reprise and of course their top hit Black the band announced they only had five more minutes to rock
our faces off. It was a bittersweet moment knowing that our time with Pearl Jam
was coming to close but remembering that we just witnessed a historical concert.
Then they started with the iconic riff of the Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. Now I’ve seen Neil himself perform the
song, but Pearl Jam has an absolutely flawless cover of it. 
Despite the extensive rain delay the concert was a memorable
experience. Unfortunately due to the delay we missed out on a few songs that
were eliminated from the playlist including Daughter,
and a cover of The Who’s Baba O’Riley.
It was worth it though to know that when every other act in town cancelled,
Pearl Jam just kept going with a vengeance. I honestly don’t think it would have been as
special without the storms. I mean their new album is titled Lightning Bolt; it
was kind of fitting, right?
All photos taken by Will Byington.
Check out the full setlist here.
I won the tickets through a super great organization
called Global Citizen. Not only do they give out awesome concert tickets they are
helping to fight global poverty along with a lot of other important issues.
Help out others while enjoying rad music!
The other Global Citizen ticket winners with my friend & myself.
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