“Off the planet”: The concert Eddie Vedder called the greatest experience of his life
For any music fan, a concert is far more than listening to a few good tunes when they’re off work. Most artists want to establish a genuine connection between themselves and their audience, which means making things a much more interactive experience whenever they perform onstage. Although Eddie Vedder always claimed to be incredibly animated whenever he took to the stage, he said he didn’t know what true musical ecstasy was until seeing this punk band live.
While Vedder has been known for enjoying all kinds of music, it always comes back to punk at the end of the day. Despite each subgenre having something to offer, punk was known as one of the purest forms of musical expression anyone had ever conceived of, with every band looking to break things down to the essentials.
Then again, the beginning of Pearl Jam couldn’t be considered punk in every sense of the word. Compared to the biggest names in grunge, Vedder’s croon was more in tune with classic rock acts like Bad Company than straight-ahead punk, and when they did decide to get heavy on tracks on Vs., they never forgot to put in the heartfelt tunes as well like ‘Daughter’ and ‘Indifference’.
The more time Vedder spent in the limelight, though, the more he began to realise how important punk was to the mainstream. Anyone could have tried to put together the kind of gargantuan rock epic, but there was a visceral sense of urgency to the hardcore scene, and while Guided By Voices were never the most dangerous band in the world, they left everything out on the table whenever they played.
Outside of their airtight songs, the group seemed to approach their shows like an impromptu jam session among friends. Whereas most legendary acts feel so popular that no one can even touch them, the division between the band and the audience didn’t get more blurred than at these shows, especially with everyone kicking back and having a few beers.
Although Vedder was run down the first time seeing Guided By Voices, he still holds that night near and dear to his heart, saying, “Guided By Voices was playing down the road; it was their last Seattle show. I had never seen them. Me and (producer) Adam Kasper had talked about going. They played for three-and-a-half hours. We went from being tired and beat to having one of the greatest musical experiences of our lives. Just having guitars and drums and vocals and beer—with those elements, they just take you off the planet.”
Even if Pearl Jam and Guided By Voices feel like they belong on two completely different radio stations, Vedder did take one thing from their performance that night: the setlist. When looking at their current approach to the show, Pearl Jam are known to never play the same setlist twice, usually sprinkling in the hits while keeping things interesting by throwing in deep cuts or fan favourites people hadn’t heard in a while.
Because by seeing Guided By Voices, Vedder learned that it wasn’t about playing the hits all the time. It was about taking the audience on a journey, and if they could make that happen with a handful of their grunge classics, that would have been more than enough.
