Eddie Vedder Wiltern 7/8/11

Eddie Vedder brought his ukulele, and some friends (Glen Hansard, John Densmore and at times, a string quartet) to a packed Wiltern Theater last night. He played a lengthy set pulling from his two solo albums, Pearl Jam's catalog and a handful of covers. In between songs he entertained us with stories about everything from nooses to an unusual wedding ceremony that he attended when he was living in a tiny apartment in San Diego. The sound quality was amazing and Ed's voice gave me chills!

I must say I was very happy with the crowd. Aside from a few comments yelled out in between songs, everyone was there to hear the music. Which isn't always the case in this city that I love! Towards the end of the show, Ed and Glen stepped away from the mics, came to the edge of the stage and used the vocal chords that their mamas gave them to project into the theater. The song was Sleepless Nights by the Everly Brothers and you could hear a pin drop the crowd was so quiet!

I couldn't have been happier with the setlist. He played my personal favorite songs off of Ten (Porch), Vitalogy (Immortality), Into the Wild soundtrack (Guaranteed).

John Densmore came out for Long Road, Wishlist and later during a second encore, Rockin' In The Free World!

Here is the setlist from the message board that I found on PearlJam.com

Set List
01. Waving Palms
02. Can't Keep
03. Sleeping By Myself
04. Without You
05. Light Today
06. Goodbye
07. Longing To Belong w/Rudy Stein playing cello
08. Soon Forget
09. Trouble-(Yusuf Islam)
10. Sometimes
11. I Am Mine
12. Betterman
13. Long Nights w/Glen Hansard
14. Far Behind
15. Guaranteed
16. Lukin w/string quartet (fast version)
17. Just Breathe w/string quartet
18. The End w/string quartet
19. Unthought Known
20. Immortality
21. Arc

Encore Break 1
22. Long Road w/John Densmore playing djembe & Tibetan bells
23. Wishlist w/John Densmore playing djembe & Tibetan bells
24. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
25. Sleepless Nights w/Glen Hansard (no mics no amplification)
26. Society w/Glen Hansard-(Jerry Hannan)
27. Falling Slowly w/string quartet {Glen singing and playing acoustic, Eddie duet vocal}-(Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)
28. Open All Night-(Bruce Springsteen)
29. Porch

Encore Break 2
30. Rockin' In The Free World w/Glen Hansard & John Densmore-(Neil Young)
31. Hard Sun w/Glen Hansard-(Peterson)


Suzie Katayama: String contractor & quartet music consultant
String quartet members
Charlie Bisharat-Violin 1
Sara Parkins-Violin 2
Alma Fernandez-Viola
Rudy Stein-Cello

The show was seated, so photographers shot from the back bar area. Photos HERE.

When You're Strange 4-9-10

April 10, 2010

Last night, I went to see the much anticipated Doors documentary, When You're Strange. Beautifully directed (Tom DiCillo) and narrated (Johnny Depp), this film is a look at the Doors and the 60s. It contains incredible behind the scenes & concert footage along with clips from a film that Jim Morrison made with Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill in 1969. Like many Doors fans, I've seen grainy footage of HWY: AN American Pastoral online. But, the footage from HWY used in this film completely floored me- it was worth the price of admittance alone! The best part? No actors! The Doors- Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, play themselves!

I received a Light My Fire 45 on the way into the movie:



The audience was treated to a very special surprise! John Densmore came out to talk about the film and to tell a story about the Doors song by the same name- When You're Strange. The video I took is here:



Afterwards, I headed over to Barney's Beanery to continue the Doors celebration! In honor of Jim, I sat at the bar and had a beer and a shot of Jack.



To find out where this movie is playing near you, check out the website: http://whenyourestrangemovie.com/