Venue: Dom Sportova / Zagreb / Croatia
Concert date: 25.09.2006
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: 12.000,00 SIT
I’m just one of those people who can wake up on the wrong foot, the left one, and stay on it all day. And I’m also one of those people who can wake up on the left foot and be happily dancing on the right one by evening! Tuesday was one of those days: nothing, and I mean nothing, could convince me to cheerfully hop on a bus, have a good time and go see Pearl Jam. Even though:
a) they’re the band I started really living life with, back when I was still a teenager
b) their first album Ten is one of the best ever, period
c) my girlfriend and I “mourned” together when Eddie decided to get married (how silly we girls can be!)
d) their latest album proved they’re just… well, “IN”!
Sadly, none of that got me in the mood for a gig. But sometimes you have to do things you might not even feel like doing at that moment… And how dumb would I have been if I’d decided not to go. Because you find out later, even though it already felt like a suspiciously good show while it was happening, that you were at their best concert in Europe! And that brings us to why Pearl Jam are “in”: because eight buses left from Slovenia alone, because they packed the hall with young and old and kept them entertained non-stop for a solid two hours, and because they created a chemistry you don’t see at every show!
But let’s go back to my morning on the wrong foot…
I admit I was a little grumpy already because I had to get on the bus and go to the concert by myself. But never mind! Once all us fans and curious folks finally gathered, took our seats and got counted down to the last head under the watchful eye of our guardian Koncert Freak, it was already a party. Great company on the bus (being alone is the least you have to worry about, even if you’re not a young blonde!), solid organization, and you can already knock back a little red stuff on the bus. I admit, definitely better than going by car. No worrying about gas, no tolls… nothing! You drink, you have fun and you enjoy yourself. By the time we rolled into Zagreb in front of Dom Sportova, we were all happy, one way or another! Lots of buses, lots of fans from all over the place and a proper crush before we managed to get into the hall. I ended up with some Dutch guy and two lads (the singer and bassist of some still-unknown Zagreb band) and together we somehow squeezed our way in.
And once inside… wow! The hall was packed to the last corner and there was nothing to do but stand. Pearl Jam play every show like it’s their last, and this time I became convinced that it’s absolutely true. No opening act, no unnecessary chatter, let’s go – music! They kicked off with Severed Hand and there wasn’t a single person sitting, really! Everybody, absolutely everybody was standing, clapping and, most surprisingly, singing every single song along with Eddie! All of them, not just the two hits! We got songs from different albums, the latest as well as the first. I can say with confidence that Pearl Jam blew the hall to smithereens and woke up in people something we don’t always show. That we had goosebumps all over is obvious anyway… But the most beautiful thing was the chemistry, the chemistry they built with us – I think they don’t care who they’re playing for: Hindus, Hungarians or their own brothers, the Americans (probably those least of all!). It was phenomenal to see eight thousand people following along, letting themselves be carried off into a dream, and that night nobody was what they seem. Not even Pearl Jam were what they seem. Eddie Vedder made an effort and read the Croats a thank-you for such a warm welcome from a slip of paper, in broken Croatian, which sent the crowd, already eating out of his hand, into even bigger euphoria. During old tunes like Alive and Even Flow the crowd literally went nuts. With Black they shook us up, and with Jeremy they put a nostalgic dew in our eyes. And the people, hungry for good music, drowned out the band, and it’s just incredible how well they knew all the lyrics! And Eddie handed the mic to the people… and even on new tracks like World Wide Suicide and Army Reserve they sang as if they were hits that had been around for years. I admit, the concert carried me up to the heights! Singing, dancing and the energy of good music – how could I have even been thinking in the morning about whether to go at all! This was probably the best concert I’ve ever been to, because it had every ingredient a band needs to cook up a killer live recipe! Toward the end the “frontman” of this pearly jam served the Croats their own flag, and what could possibly have driven them into even bigger euphoria? Only Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World and then Yellow Ledbetter. Personally, the only thing I missed was Garden.
So what is there left to say about a Pearl Jam concert where they outdid themselves? That I thank them with all my heart for Tuesday night, because they stirred up my memories again and showed once more how wonderful it is when it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from… Above all, they showed they’re the kind of band you could only wish for. And even though they don’t want to be a commercial band, they commercially sold out the hall. Commercial bands make music videos – they don’t (anymore). Commercial bands don’t give it their all as if they were playing for the first time – they do. And commercial bands don’t deal with suicide and incest – they most certainly do. But the latest album is leaning toward big sales again… And opening the door to a new world – simply called “Pearl Jam”. As the whole hall sang:” I know some day you’ll have a beautiful life, I know you’ll be a star, but in somebody else’s sky!”
And they pulled it off: I went from the left to the right. Foot, that is!
Setlist
1. Severed Hand
2. Corduroy
3. Hail Hail
4. Last Exit
5. World Wide Suicide
6. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
7. Given To Fly
8. Unemployable
9. In Hiding
10. Even Flow
11. Education
12. Do The Evolution
13. Jeremy
14. Army Reserve
15. Gimme Some Truth
16. Whipping
17. Life Wasted
—encore 1.—
18. Thin Air
19. Thumbing My Way
20. All Or None
21. Black
22. Wasted Reprise
23. Better Man
24. Porch
—encore 2.—
25. Blood(Atomic Dog)
26. Alive
27. Rockin’ In The Free World
28. Yellow Ledbetter
