Review by Ron Lyon & Shawn Perry
Photos by Ron Lyon
“Hello Long Beach…”
Three words Eddie Vedder apparently thought he’d never put together. But as someone who spent his formative years in Southern California, the Pearl Jam singer had to be more than aware of the city’s prominence, especially in the 70s, as home to the legendary concert venue, Long Beach Arena.
Tonight, however, Vedder was playing it solo without Pearl Jam at the more opulent next door neighbor of the Arena — the Terrace Theater. The venue’s intimacy provided the perfect atmosphere for Vedder to indulge himself and dabble with the whimsical. In other words, he was free to play the ukulele for most of the night.
Touring behind his second solo album, Ukulele Songs, the singer, known for his on-stage intensity, assumed a low-key demeanor, lighthearted at times, for the nearly three-hour performance. He regaled the audience with short stories in between newer tracks like “Can’t Keep,” “Sleeping by Myself” and “Without You,” mixed in with songs from the Into The Wild soundtrack, and the odd Pearl Jam or cover tune thrown in for good measure.
Glen Hansard
A particularly strong “Guaranteed” from Into The Wild did wonders to set the mood. And an alluring read of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage” elevated the audience to new levels of excitement — more so perhaps than the two Who songs, “Blue, Red & Grey” (Pete Townshend played ukulele on the original) and “I’m One,” Vedder played.
Maybe next time, Townshend will join him because it seemed like just about everyone else did. Irish singer, songwriter, musician and actor (he played Outspan Foster, the guitarist in The Commitments) Glen Hansard, who opened the show with a nine-song set of his own, accompanied Vedder on several songs.
During the encore, Hansard came out for a sweet run through, despite a goofy false start, of “Sleepless Nights.” Hansard took the lead vocal on his Academy Award-winning song, “Falling Slowly“ (from the 2007 film Once) with Vedder on backing vocals and the grace of the string quartet that had sat in on a song or two during the main performance.
Vedder brought Hansard out again for “Hard Sun” to begin the second encore. And joining Vedder for the final number of the night was Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. After the anxious crowd calmed itself, the two fell into “Yellow Ledbetter,” an infamous B-side to “Jeremy,” the third single from Ten, Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut. It easily earned the biggest ovation of the night.
One story Vedder told was taken from Harry Shearer — author, radio personality and actor. Shearer is also known as Derek Smalls, the bass player for Spinal Tap. According to Shearer via Vedder, Spinal Tap finished off a show at Hollywood Palladium show with a big “Thank you Long Beach!” Obviously, Vedder believed the sentiment was much more appropriate for the conclusion of tonight’s show.
And as the lights went up and Vedder left the stage, various audience members making their way out of the Terrace Theater were heard to say, in no uncertain terms: “Thank you Eddie Vedder.”
