Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Eddie in Berkeley

Eddie Vedder in concert was amazing the last two nights. Tuesday was a Top 5 concert of all time for me. The cliff notes version is:
  1. He played a song about Santa Cruz that he had written two days before. It was fantastic. Can't wait for that one to get out on mp3.
  2. He did this looping thing with his voice where he created layer upon layer. The initial loops morphed into an organ like sound, and then he layered sharper sounds on top. The best way to explain it, and best compliment, is that I hope that is what heaven sounds like. (note: this is not hyperbole, it was stunning.)
  3. He brought Sean Penn up on stage. I'm not a huge fan, but he did make an incredible movie with Into the Wild and he did give Eddie a shot at the soundtrack, which made the movie way better. They toasted Robin Wright Penn for her birthday, and then Eddie sang a song he wrote that made fun of Sean Penn. He wrote the song 10 years ago after the first night he met Penn. (note: apparently the Penn's are back together)
  4. They wheeled Mike McCready (lead guitarist for Pearl Jam) onto the stage in a dolley and played a really fast version of Yellow Ledbetter, maybe one other song, and then closed with All Along the Watchtower which had the crowd in a frenzy.
If you weren't lucky enough to make it, here is a blog that has a representative sample of many of the songs played over the two nights. Check it out.

Until next time, I'll be Walking the Cow...