Eddie Vedder at The Zellerbach Thatre
April 7, 2008
By Christopher Victorio



Better than: Waiting around SoCal to catch Vedder. (Editor's note: Crazy CV flew up just for the show. That's devotion.)
Download: Bit torrents of Eddie's work. Then donate a hour of time to community service.

The empty box of Corona sat in front of the man, who sat on a lone stool onstage with the spotlights trained on him. A small desk light kept sheet music illuminated on a stand and a tape recorder with its giant wheels lay motionless on a crate.

Eddie Vedder sat on that stool as a sold-out crowd roared and cheered at Berkeley's Zellerbach Theatre, and with that the Pearl Jam front man kicked off the third stop on his April Fools Solo West Coast Tour.



Vedder sang tunes from his work with movies, including Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," for which he wrote the soundtrack, which "should have won the Oscar nomination," according to one very loud fan. He talked about his work with Penn, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon and the work they are doing for the West Memphis Three (i.e. creating a defense fund for three men who were -allegedly- wrongfully convicted for the murders of three children in Memphis).



"Who are you voting for?" one fan asked, to which Which Vedder responded, "I keep my personal political beliefs to myself." As he said that, the crowd stood up and cheered (a few jerkwads jeered) as a giant "Obama 2008" banner was carried across the stage behind Vedder.



Critic's Notebook:
Personal Bias: What made my night? I somehow parked next to Sean Penn. He and his son were going to his very nice ride just as I was loading up my gear. I asked him for a photo, but he was in a hurry.

Random Detail: In other Vedder-related fare, look out for "Body of War," which will be released later in the month.

By the Way: If you were unable to catch him this past evening or last week in Santa Cruz, don't be disappointed. Vedder performs again in Berkeley Tuesday evening before heading down to SoCal. But don't expect him to sing a Pearl Jam song. Well, perhaps "Freebird," but not "Yellow Ledbetter."

Vedder ventures into the wild, without a band, and connects with Berkeley crowd

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

With an Academy Award-nominated soundtrack far removed from the dense electric rock of his band Pearl Jam, songwriter Eddie Vedder took his first tentative steps toward galvanizing that solo career with a theater-date tour around California that played Monday at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium.

So earnest it almost hurts, Vedder sampled his "Into the Wild" soundtrack, some Pearl Jam songs, favorites from the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and others, in a sprawling, accomplished two-and-a-half-hour concert for an exuberant crowd that gobbled up the precious tickets as soon as they went on sale. Billed as his first solo tour, it is an act he has previously tried out before Bay Area audiences at acoustic performances for Neil Young's annual Bridge School benefits at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

He ambled out, sat on a stool and bent over an electric guitar to sing "Walking the Cow," a song written by Texas "outsider" songwriter Daniel Johnston, and didn't look up until he'd finished three songs. "I'm going to connect a lot of dots up here tonight," he told the reverent, raucous crowd.

Purposefully, carefully, Vedder worked his way through a program drawn from deliberately different areas of his work. He featured his guitar playing - something he doesn't get to do a lot in his rock band - decorating his strumming with Gypsy flourishes and sudden, little percussive belches. Slowly he opened up under the spotlight, warming to the task and allowing the fervent audience - Pearl Jam was one of the few rock bands of the '90s to attract that kind of fanatical followers - to shout out greetings he vaguely, respectfully acknowledged.

Vedder knows his audience. He could recollect in detail watching punk rockers Fugazi - and this was an audience that gave a roar of recognition to Fugazi, but barely tittered at the mention of folksinger Phil Ochs - at the defunct University Avenue nitery, Berkeley Square, where he met Tim Armstrong of Berkeley ska-punkers Rancid, name-checking Armstrong's original group (Operation Ivy) and mentioning an obscure set of records released from the Berkeley punk club, 924 Gilman Street.

He not only featured a segment devoted to songs from his Academy Award-nominated soundtrack - "Ahh, just something else to clean," he countered to someone from the crowd hollering he should have won the Oscar - but he also brought out Marin County songwriter Jerry Hannan at the encore to sing Hannan's "Society" from the soundtrack. "Wild" director Sean Penn was in the audience.

Vedder played electric ukulele and banjo. He also used a pair of microphones to make vocal loops that created an eerie wall of his own vocals to end the first set of encores. His own material leans toward an intense, droning style, using ringing chords to build rising choruses. When he applied his trademark vocal style to more melodic pieces, such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," he toed the edge of caricature.

His low-key manner and self-effacing instincts put him at ease with the audience, and Vedder is very much a performer who never entirely strips away his shyness. In the end, he wins over the audience with cozy intimacy that doesn't seem forced or practiced partly because he so clearly isn't entirely comfortable.

"I never went to school and I'm not used to being on campus," he said. "I'm not used to being around people smarter than me."

He chuckled at his own remark. "That's sort of evil, if you think about what I just said," he added.

Vedder wants to melt away the distinction between him and his audience. His songs stand on strong moral values, not just the obvious, preachy songs such as "No More," but even the more imagistic, evocative pieces. He may be a serious-to-the-point-of-somber, somewhat humorless young man, but he is desperately trying to communicate ideas to his audience.

Almost alone among the '90s rock bands, Pearl Jam kept a devoted following intrigued with the band after the hits. While there is no denying the contributions of his bandmates in the challenging rock outfit, it was Vedder and his sensitive, passionate persona - thinking man to slackers - that stood at the center of the band's appeal. If he wants to take this sly, personable solo act on the road, Vedder will find lots of interest.

E-mail Joel Selvin at jselvin@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Eddie Vedder delivers a Pearl of a solo show in Berkeley
By Jim Harrington
MediaNews Staff
Article Launched: 04/08/2008 06:53:15 AM PDT

EDDIE VEDDER is best known for his intense performances fronting Pearl Jam. Yet on his first-ever solo tour the poster boy for moody alternative rock is showing a drastically different side to his personality.

On Monday, during the first half of a two-night stand at Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium, the 43-year-old singer was charming, personable and — no joke — downright funny. In one instance, he even showed the type of comedic timing that a professional funnyman would admire.

"I like to keep my personal politics private," he said, barely keeping a straight face.

At that moment, two stagehands carrying a gigantic Barack Obama sign paraded across the stage. That bit went over extremely well with the Berkeley crowd and was a pleasant change of pace for a man often criticized for preaching heavy-handed messages.

It was the rare chance to see the superstar perform in this kind of intimate and informal setting that made Monday's gig such a treat for fans. What he actually played — mainly a mix of relative obscurities from his songbook, selections off of the acclaimed "Into the Wild" soundtrack and an assortment of covers — wasn't nearly as important as how he played it.

Vedder took the stage around 9 p.m., opening the show with a nice cover of Daniel Johnston's "Walking the Cow," and for the next two hours he acted as if he was just playing whatever came to mind in front of a small gathering of friends in
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his living room. Alone beneath the bright lights, he simply sat on a stool and belted out such songs as "Around the Bend," "I am Mine" and "Dead Man Walking." He performed on a variety of electric and acoustic instruments, including guitar, banjo and ukulele, and he proved more than competent on each set of strings.

Vedder's guitar work, in particular, matches his forceful vocal approach — it's powerfully rhythmic and emphatic to the extreme. His strumming arm fires like a piston, whether or not that technique actually serves the song. Indeed, Vedder seems be trying to compensate for his missing Pearl Jam buddies with each stroke across the strings.

Making music, however, is only half of what's expected during these stripped-down, semi-acoustic solo shows. The other part is the between-songs banter, during which the stars use the intimate occasions to tell jokes and stories. Vedder started out slowly, but warmed up to the role as the night progressed.

Besides the rehearsed Obama bit, Vedder also drew big laughs with the story that followed the "Into the Wild" track "Guaranteed." Many expected that the Golden Globe-winning tune would be a surefire bet come this year's Academy Awards. Yet, voters thought otherwise. Thus, Vedder pointed out, "Guaranteed" did not get to join the illustrious musical company of such past-Oscar nominees as "Ghost Busters."

"That song I just played you is not as good as `Ghost Busters,'" Vedder smirked. "But I'm going to keep trying."

This solo tour is just a temporary gig for Vedder — he'll reunite with Pearl Jam for a batch of shows later in the year. Yet, his showing in Berkeley was impressive enough to make one hope that he'll make this routine part of his regular arsenal.

Reach Jim Harrington at jharrington@bayareanewsgroup.com. Read his Concert Blog at http://www.ibabuzz.com/concerts.

parting ways

"for the rest of my life.. man from massachusetts "?

"song for damien echols (wm3) never before played live..ukelele love song" but played because his wife(gf?) is in the audience

society (with guest jerry hann(?), who wrote it)

Once again, I miss parting ways.....oh well.

Arc?

He played Arc?

he has been for the last 2/3 shows now.

Nice!

Interesting that "Santa Cruz" was on the setlist, but not played.

were you there? i guess so since you're a local nice setlist.. I see he had both santa cruz and sing out in parentheses, so maybe they were both pretty tentative or he was either going to pick one or the other