Pearl Jam - Live At Astoria

25th April 2006
Pearl Jam 20/4/06 London Astoria 18:30

After 6 years Pearl Jam have returned to the U.K. What finer venue to welcome the greatest rock band in the world back, the London Astoria.

The queue wound around the Astoria theatre in two directions. Touts were thin on the ground and soon non- existent. There were no spare tickets as everyone in the queue held tickets close to their hearts… this was going to be something special.

The queue started moving forward at 18:30 and we were in by 19:15. With no support band, Pearl Jam arrived on stage just before 8pm. The theatre was filled with a positive energy and a sense that we were about to witness a fine display of art.

Eddie Vedder took centre stage, with Matt Cameron on a raised platform with his drums. Stone Gossard and Mike McCready to Eddie's right, and Jeff Ament on his left. World Wide Suicide was the first of five new tracks to begin the performance. From this point on music took hold of the audience and carried us through another 20 tracks.

At half way, Betterman saw a magical combination of the audience and Pearl Jam, where every fan of the 1600 capacity crowd felt like they were sharing the magic of Pearl Jam by being able to sing half the song back to the band.

Eddie was delighted and humble in his pause and reply of, 'that sounds nice'.

Mike McCready embodied the energy the band clearly felt with his guitar art and ability to share this with everyone. The Astoria was where Pearl Jam would feel at home, they were made to perform in venues like this one. What an immense privilege to see Pearl Jam right at home outside Seattle.

Stone Gossard commented about Neil Young that he had "never seen better- so tight, but laid- back and groovy too" (Clarke 1998 p.73). He got it right and together the band allowed its Astoria fans to feel the same about them.

"A lot of the times, music is like a wave, so once it starts, you get caught up in it." Eddie Vedder (Clarke 1998 p.92) we were and are caught up in it too, thank you.

Set 1

World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Unemployable, Gone, Even Flow, Sad, I Am Mine, Insignificance, Army Reserve, Present Tense, Better Man, Marker In The Sand, Do The Evolution, Why Go

Encore 1

Man Of The Hour, Given To Fly, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Porch

Encore 2

Comatose, Leaving Here, Yellow Ledbetter

Encore 3

Alive