Live: Pearl Jam in the Park in Nijmegen
There's only one band that I queue for. Last year it got us a third row spot, right behind the fanclub members, who are admitted fifteen minutes before the regular public. A great result, so we repeat that process this time. It had been raining for days - it's supposed to be summer! - so we came prepared and are able to cover everything with plastic if necessary. Luckily whoever arranges the weather must be a Pearl Jam fan, because it stays dry most of the day! Waiting was fun! We had lots of food, lots of booze and nice people around us. Because it's a festival, doors open at 4pm instead of 7, so it was a short wait. We run for the stage, all the way across the field, and and end up on the fourth row, on the right side of the center. Just what we wanted!
Support acts: Sattelite Part, Kings of Leon, Incubus
First band on stage is Perry Farrell's Sattelite Party. A weird mix of musicians, including mr. Farrell himself, who used to front Jane's Addiction, and Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt. It's decent enough, but Farrell's ego is a little too big. For a band that is on it's first tour, it's not bad, but they have a lot of work to do! Kings of Leon has scored a moderate hit with On Call, which does very nicely today as well, but that's as far as it goes. All the other songs are very similar and boring. The reli-rockers huddle together on stage, using only a third of it; the middle. They're enthusiastic enough, but it's just not very exciting. Only when Eddie Vedder joins them on stage for the last song do they manage to get the crowd interested. Or should I say Ed Vedder did.
Then it's finally time for Incubus. We had spotted Brandon Boyd at the side of the stage, watching Kings of Leon, looking pretty damn good! Though they aren't the main act, there are a lot of Incubus fans present, and we both would have come if it had just been Incubus and no Pearl Jam too! Their set is good! A far higher level than both previous bands. It's clear that these guys have been doing this for a long time. The interaction between the band is great and they know what to do to get the audience going. The only downside is that the band plays a very short set! It's a nice mix of old and new: Nice To Know You - A Kiss To Send Us Off - Anna-Molly - Circles - Drive - Warning - Love Hurts - Earth To Bella (Part 1) - Megalomaniac -
Are you In - Pistola - Wish You Were Here
pearl Jam
It takes the crew 45 minutes to change the stage, and our heartbeat gets faster every single minute. The anticipation of the entire crowd builds up. Pearl Jam plays a different set each night, so you never know which song they will open with. And we are very eager to find out! Last year they started with Release, which was very emotional and had a large part of the crowd of 30.000 in tears. I still have a hard time listening to that song. We're astonished to recognise the start of Release again this time. My heart is in my throat, but somehow I manage to keep my eyes dry. Nik doesn't. My tears will come later on in the set. Release is not as overwhelming as last year, but still extremely beautiful. When they finish, the band kicks in to the powerful Go and blow us all away.Halfway through the set, Eddie starts to talk about the Roskilde tragedy, which happened 7 years ago. He explains that they had just been to Denmark for the first time since they played festival, and you can tell from his face and his voice that he finds it very difficult to talk about this. But it's important to him to tell his story, because he hopes people will learn from this, so he continues. He tells us that one of the people who died was a Dutch guy, and his family are at the gig tonight. His sister has requested a song, which they dedicate to his family: Betterman. This is my teary moment, I have so much respect for this band for getting out of it this strong, being able to still play and use the tragedy to make the world a better place. I don't think many people would have managed to do that.
Another amazing moment happens when Eddie returns to the stage alone for the second encore. He explains that he is about to sing a protest song - what's a Pearl Jam gig without a little anti-Bush propaganda?! - and asks us all to help out with the chorus. Though most of us have never heard the song before, he says that it's very easy; we just have to say No More as loudly as possible. And we do. You can watch and listen to our efforts here, I recorded it with my camera. The interaction with the crowd is great. Not just Ed, but the entire band is happily waving at fans, signalling comments and throwing t-shirts into the audience at the end of the show. Ed of course drinks his red wine, and runs around the stage like a madman during Alive, sticking up his middle finger at himself when he sees his image on the screens. Hilarious!
The setlist contains more fast and agressive songs than a year ago. The crowd is friendly overall, but there's quite a lot of pushing during some of the faster songs. What I don't understand though is the crowd surfers, which is actually prohibited in the Netherlands since the Roskilde tragedy in 2000. Pearl Jam fans of all people should realise why it's not allowed anymore, and yet they still do it. And the security do very little to stop it. After helping the first few over the barrier, it gets annoying when you see the same people pass by again and again, especially after two of them land on our heads. After that, we are more than happy to smack them into the arms of the security, and grab them a little harder than necessary. Again the quality of the sound is very good, and it's a huge thrill to hear 65.000 people sing along!
Verdict: Another amazing show! The setlist could have been better, I still would like to hear some of the slow songs of the last album live. And Black, which they didn't play again. The sound was great, the weather better than expected and we had an amazing day!