This blog is now dormant... it was too much work and I gave it up years ago... Look my profile or www.neilmck.com for more up to date info on what I´m doing these days.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, September 18, 2006
The Italian Job day 4 - Recovering in Milan
The next day, we wake up... the tiredness has turned into aching bones... almost every muscle that supports a limb is sore and painful.
A couple of quick showers freshen us up enough to get us checked out of the hotel.
The idea of airing the clothes to freshen them hasn't worked... with each step a puff of wiffy BO oozes out of the bags.
Although we've been in Milan for almost 24 hours, we still have no idea what the city looks like, what the tourist attractions are, or where they are. We head to the underground, as we seem to be in the middle of nowhere.
After an espresso and a panini, we decide that metro station Duomo sounds most like a historical centre......
....turns out we're not wrong. We get out of the underground and seem to have hit tourist pay dirt:
It's a really bustling historic tourist centre. With a very busy square:
We have a wander around a little bit - go to the toilet in MacDonalds etc... and then take to the cathedral. Normally at this point, I would stick on Nine Inch Nails for a bit of atmosphere, but since Mowgli's here we just do a traditional church visit:
It's pretty massive. It seats 40,000 worshippers... which technically means that Pearl Jam could have played here.... but they would probably have to scratch Do the Evolution from the setlist.
We head outside and wander around the outside of the cathedral. Apparently you can get up to the roof for a view over Milan...
While I'm trying to work out where the lift is... I hear Mowgli say "You have got to be shitting me!!!" He's found someone he knows. I look over and see two women and a guy... the women look uncomfortable as if Mowgli is intruding... I realise Mowgli has found Stone Gossard, rhythm guitarist for Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Green River and Brad:
One of the backbones of the Seatle Music scene...he who composed Alive, Evenflow, Black , Cadillac and countless others.
I go for the whole non-chalant -appreciative of the music thing. He is so subdued it's unbelievable... he says very little. He seems to recognise us as the guys in the kilts, and comments on how much fun the previous evening was. I feel pretty uncomfortable, as if we're intruding, so I'm glad to end the experience. I'm glad I can say I met him, but compared to our experience in Barcelona, it's far less fun.
Instead it's better to walk on with Mowgli through this wonderfully picturesque historical centre rattling off the achievements of the great man who's hand we have just shook. It's pretty strange. Initially, you think. "wow... Stone Gossard. The man who's been in posters on my wall since I was about 12."... then slowly it sinks in what he's done... what he's brought your life, all those personal moments you have with his music, visions of MTV Unplugged, DVD's... posters... photos...guitar licks.... wow!!!
3 down..... 2 to go..... although... If I wanted to get away from Stone as soon as I met him... I can't imagine what I would do if faced with Ed.
Stone is different from Mike and Jeff. With Mike and Jeff, their stage personas have convinced you(Probably wrongly) that you know a little bit of their personality. Stone however, does so little on stage, that you have nothing to go on. It is either a wonderful achievement in keeping his private life private, or he has no personality.
Our euphoria... finds us drifting into a shopping precinct. We meet a Pearl jam friend from the concerts. She is super excited. She's just met Jeff. We're jumping up and down telling her we've met Stone. This is getting so sad....
The band seem to be spending the day wandering around Milan. They clearly don;t have that much of a problem with being recognised, accosted and photographed, although I'm proud to say I still haven't taken the cringe-worthy "Me and Mike" photo, but it's been sorely tempting.
We wander down Via Torino... there is an exhibition of arial photos of Italy, which are pretty spectacular. We're now just aimlessly wandering. Our plane is quite late, and we're wired with adrenalin, euphoria and espresso, with no real party to take it out on. Milan still seems to be closed, so we can't even wander round the expensive shops.
We head back to Duomo square. I'm keen to get up to the roof of the Duomo. Mowgli is less keen("I'm not paying money to stand on a roof. There's nothing up there."). I manage to convince him that while we are too poor to pay the 6 euros to go up in the lift. We can afford the 4 euros to climb the 165 stairs. As we're going through the turnstyle, someone recognises us and talks about our kilts. He tells us that Mike is at the top of the roof, and if we hurry, we might meet him.
We've already met Mike. I don't like to intrude on them. There's 165 steps.....
30 seconds later, we are on the roof, close to vomiting. we rush up to the next level, and then wander onto Mike's part of the roof, relaxed and Non-Chalant. we get a "Hi guys.." There's a group of Norwegians talking to him. So I take the time to get some photos from the roof:
We then it for about 15 minutes talking to Mike. It's good that we've met him before. We're getting to the stage where we feel a little more relaxed about talking to him. It's not like an out of body experience any more. The good thing is that we just talk crap... asking a few things about the show the previous night...asking about his Scottish heritage(He knows nothing).
The previous evening Matt gave a girl in the audience an autographed cymbal. we aked about this. Apparently she held up a sign saying "Matt. Can I have a cymbal". "you never know it's worth a try says Mike"... We inquire if "Mike can I get your 1959 Fender Stratocaster" would get any response... we're told we might get a string:
I could sit up here all day talking crap with Mike. eventually, he tells s its his wife's birthday, he has to buy her a present and he's shit at buying presents. He's human!!!!!
We spend another 20 minutes talking about great Pearl Jam memories with the Norwegians while we wander round the rest of the roof. If you read this guys.... get in touch...
Once back down on the ground.. we meet some more Pearl Jam fans... including the girl from before. She's met Stone and Boom now... I would like to have met Boom.... I imagine he's extremely chilled and lovable... still a good relaxed conversation with Mike in a beautiful setting is hard to beat.
The Duomo square is going crazy for another reason. Another band is in town: My Chemical Romance. I don't know much about them, but they seem to produce music for baby goths, as there are lots of 12 year olds sitting around with eyeliner... died black hair and black clothes, holding posters which profess their ability to carry on thanks to the music with interesting use of English grammar. They're all holding up signs to the camera's coming out of their hotel room. The band are making a DVD apparently.
I'm interested in how this was organised. Did the band actually post on their website. "We will be at X hotel filming a DVD on X date... please turn up with messages for us...." Hmmmmm. Spontaneous. If you ever see the DVD, you'll notice a taller person in the crowd of people holding up messages, whose message appears to be a Pearl Jam live in Italy limited edition poster. The goth kiddies just thought my message was really subtle......
After some lunch, it's finally time to head to the airport. We can stop hanging around Milan waiting for something as interesting as a Pearl Jam concert to happen.
I've been to Orio al Seria airport in Bergamo before... It's tiny. It gets even smaller when our plane is delayed by 2 hours. There is nothing in the airport. The Italian's don;t tend to use their airports to seel things to their captive audience, so you just have to sit around entertaining ourselves... and trying to get a payphone to work to find out how bad Paprika's laryngitis is.
Two very tired Pearl jam fans stagger into the flat in the early hours of Tuesday to get some sleep before another week of work without a relaxing weekend.....
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The Italian Job - Day 3 - Pearl jam - Fila Forum, Milan - 17.09.06
After a pretty good night's sleep which is surprising given that it was on a floor, we wake up late and get our stuff together before heading for the train station.
Between the water-logged gig in the Arena, Mowgli's swimming, Kilts that have seen a 4 Pearl jam concerts so far this year, and the sweat of several thousand Pearl jam fans, we smell of a mixture of wet face cloths and male changing rooms.
The train to Milan takes just over 2 hours. We make the 12:48 with minutes to spare... which means we still haven't eaten today.
We explore the train for a Buffet carriage - no luck... we begin to crave, water, espresso and pasta... the combination that has set us up for so many previous adventures.
When we arrive at Milan main station, we are both famished and astounded by the grandiose architecturse of the station:
We make the stupid decision of heading quickly to the Bostonians Hotel and then getting something more substantial than what's offered at the station.
This puts us outside the hotel, thats in the middle of nowhere for about 4pm.... we assume we can get a quick bite to eat somewhere around the hotel... but we couldn't be more wrong. After an hour of walking around the streets of Milan in the baking heat looking at closed restaurants, we find ourselves tired and grumpy back at the Station, grabbing anything edible in the supermarket within the station.
By now, we are running out of time, so we get a taxi straight to the venue. It's the Fila Forum:
A pretty nice venue.... until we get inside and realise that there is no cloakroom yet again.... what is it about these venues... do they think people arrive from outside in the same attire as they stand in a moshpit in.... We wnder aroudn frustrated for a while before a wodneruflly nice friend who isn;t going deep into the crowd offers to take the bags.... yet again.. we have avoided protecting abag full of stuff in a mosh pit.
The security in Italy are quite strange. They insist that we stay seated on the ground before the bands come on and police this fact like bulldogs... It's maybe just to keep them busy till the show starts, cos it seems to serve no purpose other than to make our legs stiff from knelling down or crossing them.
It's something I've never done at a concert before. When we are finally told to step forward, there is a massive crush as people run over people that are sat down to make for the barrier.
My morning Jacket come on. I get a much better chance to see them tonight.
They are a really interesting band... at times they rock like no other with this huge wall of sound. At other times they are experimental and delicate:
One'things sure they are not consistant. The audience are getting restless, as wonderful as they are. Wolfmother was a much better warm up act.
Once again, we are waiting.... watching the clock.....
Once we hear Master/Slave(The opening instrumental from the first album), we know by now that Pearl jam are going to take to the stage.
What a way to start a gig... last night was the subdued release.. Tonight is the exact opposite..,. Possibly the most in your face riff Pearl jam have... Pearl Jam are here to take the roof off the place, and it's clear from the first note. I'd love to knopw if they warm up before the show... cos this is hards.... and they get it not perefect from the the first note.... Mike From here, there isn't a pause before they rock into Last exit... From the opener of Album 2 to the opener of Album 3....
Instead of going to Sometimes(Opener from Album 4), which would have been the natural progression, they keep the energy up and give us Save you, then World wide sucide. I seem to hear new lyrics in this song every time I listen to it. I've never been much of one to listen to lyrics. I tend to pick them up when I'm listening and then forget them once the song is over allowing me to rediscover them next time I listen. Sometimes I even have to listen to myself singing along to work out what the words are. This time the lyric is:
"That the president took for granted, Writing checques the whole world pays.:
Corduroy - and the audience start clapping to the riff as soon as it starts. This has been a rocking start to the concert.... and the crowd are alive as a result.
I don't have many photos, cos the crowd is pretty rough:
The band go into Severed Hand, the drums play such a role in this song, they are almost like tuned percussion playing along with the riff, antil that electric theme starts... and the bass follows every note... jamming along. The crowd know every word and every note...
Ed says good evening in Italian for the first time of the night, and then launches into a full translated speech.
Unemployable is next. A track from the new album. It was the B-Side to the first single. So it was one of the first track's made available. It's not been played that much this tour, in fact I don't think I've heard it since the Astoria.
Evenflow. It doesn;t get boring to listen to but its hard to put into words againa nd again... even though it's so different every night. For tonight, I have Mike right in front of me again. He's already nodded a few hellos to me which make my night.
I'm sure the band get faster at the solo to see if Mike can handle it....
Matt's on fire too rattling all over the kit and reminding us of his SOundgarden days...
They still don't play Moby Dick :-(
The world is dangerous, but it's safe in here tonight....
It can only mean, I am Mine... The first slow number and the second time I've heard this song. The first being at the Astoria. It's a good rousing song... a waltz... so the crowd don't know how to dance to it. That coupled with the slower nature of the song, means I get a breather from being squashed.
They stay with the slow mood, and give us the wonderful, beautiful, emotional Man of the hour.
MFC - Written 8 years ago on a drive from Roma to Portecali... Which is one reaosn to eb happy to be Italian... It's one of my favourite Pearl jam songs, and I;m glad to hear it. It has a rhythm and flow to it like Given to fly and so many others... that arpegiatted wave like motion that Ed is so good at.
Then... the Cello comes back out fo Daughter... after the song, once it breaks down... the audience wait around to see where the experimental tag to the song will go. We start with a Hey Ho Let's go tag like we got in Arnhem... which then turns into Pink Floyd's another brick in the wall...
"President Bush... Leave this world alone"
The crowd have picked up Ed's experimentationa dn are going with it.... I think it's the best version of Daughter I've heard this summer.
After this, it's another live first for me...Faithfull a meandering song with a meandering bass... it's a really great song... so I don;t know why they don;t play it more often... until the outro... I relaise. Mike doesn;t seem to ge able to rememebr the chords.... Jeff has to whisper them in his ear... They are Human!!!!
Ed announces that comatose will be next... He's either getting more confident about his the ability of his voice following comotose, or they are going home early tonight. It appears to be the former, cause State of Love and Trust comes up next,
and it's hardly a walk in the park. My voice is struggling already. I have never had the time, or clean living to recover my voice between concerts, and no matter how much I try to take it easy at each concert, I belt out the tunes and destroy my throat even more. The song just rocks like no other... and so early in the concert. We've had about three slow songs in an hour and a half, and I've been at the front for the whole time. The Italian's are going pretty crazy, so when the band kick into Why Go...I head out for a breather before I get damaged... It turns out the crowd is rougher a few metres from the front, then it is from the frotn, with full on slam dancing, so it;s a bit of a fight, but I eventually resurface near the toilets.. and head in to rehydrate myself....
When I come out, why go is finishing and I'm glad I went for water. I feel much better, and Ed is dedicating a slow tom waits cover to his daughter and girlfriend. It's pretty beautiful and much nicer to listen to it from somewhere with oxygen....
As Ed continues the slow set with Parachutes(Another first), I find some English girls I know from the Astoria and Verona. It gives me someone to head back in with... and we enjoy the rest of the show together. It was a good decision... cos the band start black, and I can sing along and enjoy the crowd's reaction from a comfortable space. I take my T-shirt off, it is absolutely saturdated in sweat. Having been in crowds in London, Arnhem, Antwerp, Barcelona, Verona and Milan so far this
year. I can officially report that the sweat in Milan is the smelliest so far.
The crowd roars out Black... an extra instrument that the song wouldn't be the same without. By the time the song ends... the crowd have taken over... clapping along their own beat and singing the backing vocals.... it's an amazing feeling....
It's such a warm cheer... as everyone's heart smile's to the fact that Crazy Mary is next. The crowd are in singing mode, and they belt out this as well... This song is one of the best. It provides a really emotional
sing-along, and then gives Boom a chance to shine, followed by a call and
answer solo session between Boom and Mike... Jesus these guys are good.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
A strange selection, this late in the show... Give to fly... which is the screen name of one of the girls I'm with. I boogy away and enjopy my space.. and notice that I reek of mixed concert sweat - eeeurgh.
The energy unfolds into Alive...which signals that the show is almost over... a roar eminates round the venue... as the riff envelops us to cue the sing-song. The crowd almost drowning out the band. The house lights are on and again you feel like you are at one with everyone aroudn you:
Then the solo kicks in and Ed goes crazy.... charging up the audience even more... Mike's on fire... widdling and twiddling upa nd down the frets...
The show's not as over as I thought it was... The band kick into Do the evolution.... maybe cos Stone wanted a solo after Mike's efforts on Alive.
The it's Big wave in case we forgot they have new material....Ed announces that the next song they are going to play is the song that they closed with in their first concert in Milan in 1992. It's leash... the song they never play... the second time I'm getting to hear it...
We rock out... the audience and the band are both on fire... and they keep it going by following leash with Rocking in the Freeworld.
It doesn't seem to last as long as the previous evening, but maybe that was more to do with the atmosphre of the Arena and having Mowgli on my arm.
From there, it can only go one way..... Yellow Ledbetter..... and my smile the width of my face.
We trickle out of the venue.... and try to kick off the party... we make our way ont he Metro system to the area that has been chosen for the after party meet up... we wander around aimlessly for what seems like an hour. By the time we finally get in a taxi and ask forthe bar... it's approaching 2am... and inevitably in this sleepy city that never seems to be open, the bar is shut.
We head back to our companion's hotel to find no room at the inn... luckily we get our heads down by 3am in the little 2 star... our body's aching from two days of euphoric Pearl Jam activity.
Between the water-logged gig in the Arena, Mowgli's swimming, Kilts that have seen a 4 Pearl jam concerts so far this year, and the sweat of several thousand Pearl jam fans, we smell of a mixture of wet face cloths and male changing rooms.
The train to Milan takes just over 2 hours. We make the 12:48 with minutes to spare... which means we still haven't eaten today.
We explore the train for a Buffet carriage - no luck... we begin to crave, water, espresso and pasta... the combination that has set us up for so many previous adventures.
When we arrive at Milan main station, we are both famished and astounded by the grandiose architecturse of the station:
We make the stupid decision of heading quickly to the Bostonians Hotel and then getting something more substantial than what's offered at the station.
This puts us outside the hotel, thats in the middle of nowhere for about 4pm.... we assume we can get a quick bite to eat somewhere around the hotel... but we couldn't be more wrong. After an hour of walking around the streets of Milan in the baking heat looking at closed restaurants, we find ourselves tired and grumpy back at the Station, grabbing anything edible in the supermarket within the station.
By now, we are running out of time, so we get a taxi straight to the venue. It's the Fila Forum:
A pretty nice venue.... until we get inside and realise that there is no cloakroom yet again.... what is it about these venues... do they think people arrive from outside in the same attire as they stand in a moshpit in.... We wnder aroudn frustrated for a while before a wodneruflly nice friend who isn;t going deep into the crowd offers to take the bags.... yet again.. we have avoided protecting abag full of stuff in a mosh pit.
The security in Italy are quite strange. They insist that we stay seated on the ground before the bands come on and police this fact like bulldogs... It's maybe just to keep them busy till the show starts, cos it seems to serve no purpose other than to make our legs stiff from knelling down or crossing them.
It's something I've never done at a concert before. When we are finally told to step forward, there is a massive crush as people run over people that are sat down to make for the barrier.
My morning Jacket come on. I get a much better chance to see them tonight.
They are a really interesting band... at times they rock like no other with this huge wall of sound. At other times they are experimental and delicate:
One'things sure they are not consistant. The audience are getting restless, as wonderful as they are. Wolfmother was a much better warm up act.
Once again, we are waiting.... watching the clock.....
Once we hear Master/Slave(The opening instrumental from the first album), we know by now that Pearl jam are going to take to the stage.
What a way to start a gig... last night was the subdued release.. Tonight is the exact opposite..,. Possibly the most in your face riff Pearl jam have... Pearl Jam are here to take the roof off the place, and it's clear from the first note. I'd love to knopw if they warm up before the show... cos this is hards.... and they get it not perefect from the the first note.... Mike From here, there isn't a pause before they rock into Last exit... From the opener of Album 2 to the opener of Album 3....
Instead of going to Sometimes(Opener from Album 4), which would have been the natural progression, they keep the energy up and give us Save you, then World wide sucide. I seem to hear new lyrics in this song every time I listen to it. I've never been much of one to listen to lyrics. I tend to pick them up when I'm listening and then forget them once the song is over allowing me to rediscover them next time I listen. Sometimes I even have to listen to myself singing along to work out what the words are. This time the lyric is:
"That the president took for granted, Writing checques the whole world pays.:
Corduroy - and the audience start clapping to the riff as soon as it starts. This has been a rocking start to the concert.... and the crowd are alive as a result.
I don't have many photos, cos the crowd is pretty rough:
The band go into Severed Hand, the drums play such a role in this song, they are almost like tuned percussion playing along with the riff, antil that electric theme starts... and the bass follows every note... jamming along. The crowd know every word and every note...
Ed says good evening in Italian for the first time of the night, and then launches into a full translated speech.
Unemployable is next. A track from the new album. It was the B-Side to the first single. So it was one of the first track's made available. It's not been played that much this tour, in fact I don't think I've heard it since the Astoria.
Evenflow. It doesn;t get boring to listen to but its hard to put into words againa nd again... even though it's so different every night. For tonight, I have Mike right in front of me again. He's already nodded a few hellos to me which make my night.
I'm sure the band get faster at the solo to see if Mike can handle it....
Matt's on fire too rattling all over the kit and reminding us of his SOundgarden days...
They still don't play Moby Dick :-(
The world is dangerous, but it's safe in here tonight....
It can only mean, I am Mine... The first slow number and the second time I've heard this song. The first being at the Astoria. It's a good rousing song... a waltz... so the crowd don't know how to dance to it. That coupled with the slower nature of the song, means I get a breather from being squashed.
They stay with the slow mood, and give us the wonderful, beautiful, emotional Man of the hour.
MFC - Written 8 years ago on a drive from Roma to Portecali... Which is one reaosn to eb happy to be Italian... It's one of my favourite Pearl jam songs, and I;m glad to hear it. It has a rhythm and flow to it like Given to fly and so many others... that arpegiatted wave like motion that Ed is so good at.
Then... the Cello comes back out fo Daughter... after the song, once it breaks down... the audience wait around to see where the experimental tag to the song will go. We start with a Hey Ho Let's go tag like we got in Arnhem... which then turns into Pink Floyd's another brick in the wall...
"President Bush... Leave this world alone"
The crowd have picked up Ed's experimentationa dn are going with it.... I think it's the best version of Daughter I've heard this summer.
After this, it's another live first for me...Faithfull a meandering song with a meandering bass... it's a really great song... so I don;t know why they don;t play it more often... until the outro... I relaise. Mike doesn;t seem to ge able to rememebr the chords.... Jeff has to whisper them in his ear... They are Human!!!!
Ed announces that comatose will be next... He's either getting more confident about his the ability of his voice following comotose, or they are going home early tonight. It appears to be the former, cause State of Love and Trust comes up next,
and it's hardly a walk in the park. My voice is struggling already. I have never had the time, or clean living to recover my voice between concerts, and no matter how much I try to take it easy at each concert, I belt out the tunes and destroy my throat even more. The song just rocks like no other... and so early in the concert. We've had about three slow songs in an hour and a half, and I've been at the front for the whole time. The Italian's are going pretty crazy, so when the band kick into Why Go...I head out for a breather before I get damaged... It turns out the crowd is rougher a few metres from the front, then it is from the frotn, with full on slam dancing, so it;s a bit of a fight, but I eventually resurface near the toilets.. and head in to rehydrate myself....
When I come out, why go is finishing and I'm glad I went for water. I feel much better, and Ed is dedicating a slow tom waits cover to his daughter and girlfriend. It's pretty beautiful and much nicer to listen to it from somewhere with oxygen....
As Ed continues the slow set with Parachutes(Another first), I find some English girls I know from the Astoria and Verona. It gives me someone to head back in with... and we enjoy the rest of the show together. It was a good decision... cos the band start black, and I can sing along and enjoy the crowd's reaction from a comfortable space. I take my T-shirt off, it is absolutely saturdated in sweat. Having been in crowds in London, Arnhem, Antwerp, Barcelona, Verona and Milan so far this
year. I can officially report that the sweat in Milan is the smelliest so far.
The crowd roars out Black... an extra instrument that the song wouldn't be the same without. By the time the song ends... the crowd have taken over... clapping along their own beat and singing the backing vocals.... it's an amazing feeling....
It's such a warm cheer... as everyone's heart smile's to the fact that Crazy Mary is next. The crowd are in singing mode, and they belt out this as well... This song is one of the best. It provides a really emotional
sing-along, and then gives Boom a chance to shine, followed by a call and
answer solo session between Boom and Mike... Jesus these guys are good.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
A strange selection, this late in the show... Give to fly... which is the screen name of one of the girls I'm with. I boogy away and enjopy my space.. and notice that I reek of mixed concert sweat - eeeurgh.
The energy unfolds into Alive...which signals that the show is almost over... a roar eminates round the venue... as the riff envelops us to cue the sing-song. The crowd almost drowning out the band. The house lights are on and again you feel like you are at one with everyone aroudn you:
Then the solo kicks in and Ed goes crazy.... charging up the audience even more... Mike's on fire... widdling and twiddling upa nd down the frets...
The show's not as over as I thought it was... The band kick into Do the evolution.... maybe cos Stone wanted a solo after Mike's efforts on Alive.
The it's Big wave in case we forgot they have new material....Ed announces that the next song they are going to play is the song that they closed with in their first concert in Milan in 1992. It's leash... the song they never play... the second time I'm getting to hear it...
We rock out... the audience and the band are both on fire... and they keep it going by following leash with Rocking in the Freeworld.
It doesn't seem to last as long as the previous evening, but maybe that was more to do with the atmosphre of the Arena and having Mowgli on my arm.
From there, it can only go one way..... Yellow Ledbetter..... and my smile the width of my face.
We trickle out of the venue.... and try to kick off the party... we make our way ont he Metro system to the area that has been chosen for the after party meet up... we wander around aimlessly for what seems like an hour. By the time we finally get in a taxi and ask forthe bar... it's approaching 2am... and inevitably in this sleepy city that never seems to be open, the bar is shut.
We head back to our companion's hotel to find no room at the inn... luckily we get our heads down by 3am in the little 2 star... our body's aching from two days of euphoric Pearl Jam activity.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Italian Job - Day 2 - Pearl Jam - Arena di Verona - 16.09.06
We wake up late in the morning. The hotel is a little out of town. I feel surprisingly fresh given that I drank so much beer and got about 4 hours sleep. A good shower sets me up for the day, and I find myself back kilted and grunged. This gets a few strange looks when we take in breakfast in a little local restaurant.
When we get back to Piazza Bra, it only takes a couple of inquiries to find the other long haired man in a tartan skirt. It turns out that he slept in the park in the centre of Piazza Bra. His phone was out of credit so he wasn't able to find me in the 4 star relative luxury.
Everyone is looking a little bleary eyed.... the thought of 1 litre glasses of beer is turning stomachs. After a few pizza's people start to brighten up, and we find people slowly collecting in the same bar as the previous evening as if they never left.
The people are gathering almost as fast as the rain clouds are and at about 5pm the inevitable happens..... The heavens open....
The Arena di verona is the third oldest roman amphitheatre in the world... built in 30 AD and holding 30,000... This is where they used to feed the christians to the lions, and as such, it didn't come with a roof, but at least we won't need air conditioning:
So as you can see... Torrential rain storms could cause some problems, not the least of which could be a cancellation of the show.
This brings the spirits down... so what else can we do but try to bring them up... we do this by bleaching one of the guys hair. It provides us with a few laughs. The whole sight is quite strange. we are the only people not wearing coloured ponchos, so the concert is going to look like Pearl jam meets the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll circus:
Once we hear the opening chords of My Morning Jacket... we head for our seats.
This is one of the only concerts I have ever been to that has been all seated. I think I saw Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in 1994 when it was seated, but that was one of my first concerts, so I wasn't used to standing...
When we head into the place, the sight is pretty amazing... It really is a wonderful venue:
We find our seats, and then I head for some beer and popcorn. The beer is 4 euros for a small bottle, so I don't think we'll have many. It's Dominator:
It's crap.... it also says produced in Austria at XXXX Breweries GMBH, Munchen.... Bizarre.
Weak beer.... seated concert.... pop corn... this must be what America feels like.
We arrive half way through My Morning Jacket. We know we're seeing them tomorrow night, so we didn't see the point in standing in the rain to see the whole set.
My first impressions are that they are really interesting. They are very psychedelic, but, they also have avery southern USA, bluesy Lynard Skynard feel to them. They get as abstract as Sigur Ros in places, but they also have simple choruses and verses, it all comes together to make for a good band, but they are not the "let's get the party started" band that Wolfmother were.
After MMJ, the crowds start to pour in. We are entertaining the troops around us with a little bit of singing to try and convince them that you can rock out in a cagoul.
Pearl Jam take to the stage........ It's still raining....
They open with release..... it's amazing. The first time I've seen it live, and as opener. The first ever concert recording I knew of Pearl jam was the Atlanta show from 1994. It seemed such a brave way of opening a show.... and it still is. So delicate even after all these years... The rain is pouring down..... we're in a 2000 year old Amphitheatre and we're listening to one of the most beautiful songs in my CD collection.... life doesn't get much better than this.
The predictable move would be to head into something really heavy to kick off the show proper, but instead we get given to fly... it seems perfect... accompanied by the waves of rain which are pouring down on us. We are still some of the only people not cowering under umbrellas. I can't help enjoying the rain... looking up and watching the sheets come down dancing in the concert lights.
From given to fly we hit another favourite(aren't they all!!!), Corduroy. By now we've woken up those around us and we can hear every word getting belted out... That's one disadvantage to a seated concert, you don't know those around you unless you bought the tickets at the same time as them.
Th energy is starting to flow as the boys kick into World Wide Suicide. I'm amazed at how well everyone around us knows the words, albeit with strong Italian accents. The songs from the new album stand up really well to the classics, and I've heard them together so many times this summer that they are at one with the rest of the catalogue now.
The boys stay heavy with Do the Evolution, and the crowd follow... boogying down and singing along. The song is great fun... the band enjoy it and since the rain has started to wain, the crowd are moving around a bit more and removing some of the plastic wrapping. It's Stone's turn for a solo, and while he's no Mike Mccready... he holds his own.
From here it's back to the new album with Severed hand... the song has such a groove. Jeff has a such a great part to play. Sometimes when playing the bass, the parts can get a little boring, but you don't mind if it's a good song, but the bass on this song is really driving. The rhythm parts on the whole new album are like this. Not even dreaming of calming down for a moment.
I get very excited as I hear the opening chords of Love Boat Captain. It;s one of my favourite songs on riot act. Europe never got a tour for Riot Act, so we're as unfamiliar with these songs live as we are with the ones from the new album. The songs another delicate teary one. It's a real strength on the album. It mentions the 9 fans that died at the Pearl Jam concert in Roskilde in 2000, and talks about struggling with love.....beautiful....
Woo Hooo... from emotional... it;s a straight kick into Evenflow. Now evenflow should be getting boring by now. It's inevitable that it will be played, but it remains anything but boring... it seems to get faster every night... Mike enjoys it mroe every night.... floating on bend after bend... then exploding in a fury of notes. He truly is amazing... and continues to amaze.....
Then Matt takes over..... and you just stare in disbelief as the man who provided the back bone of such great bands as Soundgarden and Temple of the dog take his turn to astound. I'm no expert in drum solo's but what Matt does is keeps it short and sweet, and keeps the rhythm constant, just altering how he takes up the four notes i each bar by adding more and more notes, and robustly rocketing round the kit...
I have a great idea of where to go from here... the band should just come back on stage and kick into Moby Dick by Led Zeppelin... alas my telepathy seems to be on a different wavelength, and they just finish the song instead. I say "just" finish the song. Mike and Matt are so fired up that they finish the song sounding like the greatest band who ever picked up instruments...
We get more Riot act after this when the band kick into 1/2 Full. Another one that I know well, but have never seen live:
"Don;t see some men as half empty..... see them half full of shit"
Never a truer word spoken. Mike seems to be still fired up from evenflow, as the solo twiddles and meanders all over the place.
This is the first time I've seen Gone since the Astoria. It is a traveling song, where your trying to escape something... just like MFC, Untitled or Thumbing my way.... it was one of the first songs that was debuted live from the new album. It's an ed solo number thats slowly grown into a full band number. It starts so delicately and apprehensively... possibly cos someone doesn;t know the chords, but pairing the whole thing down into just two notes until it starts seems to add something to the emotion of the song. The song finishes with the refrain:
"If nothing is everything, then I have it all"
Something I still haven't managed to get my head round yet.
From the new to an old classic. I heard Not For You in Arnhem a few weeks ago. It was the type of song on Vitalogy that announced a new attitude in the band. Ed had picked up the guitar and the songs were getting, simpler(The rhythm part slides one chord around the guitar), darker and less accessible. I've alway though this change in direction gave the band it's longevity.
"Small my table - fits just three"
It used to be two... he's made an extra place for his daughter.
The band play Grievance from Binaural. Binaural is another inaccessible album for a few reason, not the least of which is that it's mixed to be listened to on headphones. It reminds me of my days in Byres Road in Glasgow studying for Exams. It's Matt's first album, so I always found myself listening intently to the drums when I first grew to love the songs. It's another song where Ed wonders about what the big guy in the sky is going to do about what's happening on the Earth. These songs are great to hear with the band in such high spirits. Maybe they have always been this good.... but Matt seems to be on fire.. maybe cos he had a hand in writing the song.
Back to the new album, another one that is quickly becoming an old classic, Marker in the Sand. It;s on the new album, so it has the same groove that they have instilled in all the rockers on this album. The drums thump out a riff... simpler than Jesus Christ pose, but still driving the song. we ask the big guy again...
"God what do you say"
The warmth of the B3 hammond organ takes us the finish in the song...
Ed asks for our help singing... as the bass twangs us into Jeremy. It's such a classic, that it feels strange to here. Alive is a rocker so you can just rock out to it and ignore how popular it is, but Jeremy is a sing along. I don't get excited about it, but I really enjoy singing along. Once the song comes to a close I really start to get into it, with the oo's and yeah's.... giving it our all. A choir of 40,000 in a 2000 year old amphitheatre..... the sound is so warm....
It's the first time I've witnessed Wasted Reprise. It;s not really a song, more of a little prayer to a Life Wasted... not sure what that is. but it might be about being a Betterman which it immediately precedes. The sing song that goes along with this has come to be expected. From the Astoria to Arnhem to Italy.... but the time the chorus comes along, the warmth of 40,000 people singing their hearts out just emanates around you. The band kicks in and do their job perfectly... the advice of the woman of the song to find a betterman turns in to a boogy with everyone shaking their rumps and singing along... oo's and ah's again....
Next is a bit of a surprise...Blood from VS. I've never seen it live either. It's a real thrash of a song... it must kill Ed's voice, but he rattles it out and the crowd lap it up.. clapping along and screaming along with him. It takes me a few chords in before I realise it's blood, it's that unexpected. But by the break down... the whole stadium is chanting "hey hey hey hey hey" ed laughs and takes longer to come in.
The band open the first Encore with Inside Job, the grandiose classic that is very quickly growing to a favourite.... Penned by Mr McCready but not losing anything in the lyrics as a result.
"Life comes from within your heart and desire."
It's so composed... owing little to the punky roots shown off in much of their other stuff... you can tell Mike's written it, he has such a penchant for grandiose metal, that we get wonderful band lead ballads like this.... The 12 strign guitar that Mike uses gives the sound an interesting edge.... and when Ed's vocals come in, it gets so emotional and delicate. It's definitely one of my favourite new songs of this tour.
When the song kicks in, you realise how mature a writing unit Pearl jam is. They can groove and rock, and ballad and acoustic love song, and this... I don't even know how to describe it. The song has such a build... bringing togetehr so many elements of their sound, but still drenched with that pearl jam DNA that wrenches at the heart strings....
Next Ed introduces a song in Italian and tells us its dedicated to his good friend Johnny Ramone. It's Come Back. Another first time live moment for me from the new album. I listened to the song before, but I never "Heard" it until tonight. The song is like some classic ballad from the 50's. It doesn;t really fit with pearl Jams style, but it works. The lyrics are so heart felt. Ed wondering what he can do without Johnny and pleading with him to comeback....
"Sometimes in the morning I wake ad I could swear your right there next to me"
a tear rolls down my face... maybe it's inside job... maybe it;s happiness.... or maybe it's just the beauty of the music...
Without a word, the band go straight into I believe in Miracles by the Ramones, as if the song needed any more energy it is charged with the moment of thought we've just given to Johnny... It's an encore song if ever there was one, and the crowd stop holding anything back.... they know it's full on from, here on in.
I'm not wrong, Ed plays a slowed down acoustic opening to Porch, and you just know that the band are gonna kick in..... It rocks away like nothing else... The song that ed always went wild to in the early days has lost none of it's punch. ONce the instrumental starts(with some wailling notes from Mike) The band get into a little huddle and play all four of them together... enjoying the Music and the Jam.. it;s phenomenal to see them doing this, they genuinely seem to enjoy these songs as much as we do. The notes are exploding everywhere... it's a full on Pearl "jam" just like we grew up listening to on Reach Down and so many other songs... Jeff is twiddling around, while Mike wails, and Matt seems to play faster than humanly possible around the kit.. while the Rhythm guitars hold it all together and punctuate it with little stabs of sound.....
When the vocals kick back in the crowd and the band are charged with something that can;t be described. The band sound like they are hardly able to contain the explosion of energy......
One way of ensuring that new songs are tattooed onto our brains is to play them straight after Porch. Life wasted blends straight into the almost delirious feeling we have after Porch. The band have a similar energy to the crowd and the song is really rough and raw. The song wails in the outro, with Mike Tremolo picking his way to explosion.....
Encore number 2 starts, and a some bad Italian counting to 3 signals the start of Elderly woman in a Small Town. It gives us a good sing song. There's little that can be said about it... we clap along and belt out every word... At the end of the song, the band are up to something.... Jeff knocks out a couple of notes, that are corrected by Mike and played in the correct key..... could it be????? The band are actually covering My Sharona. They car on Instrumentally for a little while, then Ed mumbles rhythmically along t the music, then sings "My Verona".... the band can;t do anything for laughing... and neither can the crowd...
Who says this band have no humour?????
From here we get Once... making the set a pretty Ten oriented night.... we started with the last song on ten and we're getting the first pretty close to the end. It's rough and ready and angry....
Alive signals the beginning of the end... and the crowd goes wild. We sing along until mike wails along to the solo, and Ed starts going wild running around, and at one point even slipping on the wet stage...
The last chords of alive finish as the first chords of Rocking in the freeworld start. Boom's piano is hammering out the chords along with the guitars.
"The colours on the street - green, white and red..."
......instead of red white and blue. we seem to be ion Italy.
After alive, this has us up on the tops of our seats. We know the shows nearly over, so we give it our all. we're singing at the tops of our voices. The lights are up and the 40,000 or so people circulated around us are doing exactly the same. It's a wonderful feeling. Mowlgi and I have our arms roudn eahc other's shoulders and we dance precariously along to Rocking in the Freeworld. Like they can feel the crowd willing them on... the song goes on forever. It's extra long... but we don;t care as we soak up the energy of solo after solo.....
From here, only the inevitable will do... Yellow Ledbetter signals the time to look back on the evening and the set list and appreciate just what an amazing night it was... looking at how happy the multi-coloured waterproof clad crowd are.. and enjoy everyone singing to the wonderful tones of mike, who is sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the stage.
Amazing.... A truly amazing gig. When we get outside, it would appear that every T-shirt printer in Italy has been working for the past month on printing off some of the worst Pearl Jam T-Shirts I have ever seen. Random logo with Pearl Jam written in a random font beside it etc.
Bizarrely(considering we were in the middle of the crowd) we are the first to the bar. Okay it wasn't that bizarre, but I was a little surprised. The little waiter greets us... "table for 2?".... we reply with " No. 40-60 please". It's at this point that I realise that we've attended this concert with such an entourage.
The night is wonderful. We drink sensibly and talk of the memories of the evening. It feels like it was a truly great experience and a concert that will be talk about for years to come, not just because of the actual concert, but everything that surrounded it.... friends... drinks... parties etc.
We leave the bar. We have negotiated a floor to sleep on in an apartment rented by two guys from Boston.
On the way back to the apartment, we come across a bridal party. They ask if they can get photos of us with the bride in our kilts. We get the inevitable ass shot:
One of the bridal party mentions photos of the fountain. It takes Mowgli and I all of 2 minutes to be paddling in the fountain. I'm reasonably sensible, but Mowgli is diving in and out of the pool before long - in a kilt.....
He tries to get me in. Amazingly... the little man can't get the better of the big man. I point out to him, that ten metres of wool and a sporran are not waterproof. Mowgli comes to the realisation that the contents of hi sporran(Phone, Passport and wallet) are soaked... he realised why I didn;t want to go in.
We walk to our beds for the night with Mowgli dripping wet.
This weekend... one down one to go....
When we get back to Piazza Bra, it only takes a couple of inquiries to find the other long haired man in a tartan skirt. It turns out that he slept in the park in the centre of Piazza Bra. His phone was out of credit so he wasn't able to find me in the 4 star relative luxury.
Everyone is looking a little bleary eyed.... the thought of 1 litre glasses of beer is turning stomachs. After a few pizza's people start to brighten up, and we find people slowly collecting in the same bar as the previous evening as if they never left.
The people are gathering almost as fast as the rain clouds are and at about 5pm the inevitable happens..... The heavens open....
The Arena di verona is the third oldest roman amphitheatre in the world... built in 30 AD and holding 30,000... This is where they used to feed the christians to the lions, and as such, it didn't come with a roof, but at least we won't need air conditioning:
So as you can see... Torrential rain storms could cause some problems, not the least of which could be a cancellation of the show.
This brings the spirits down... so what else can we do but try to bring them up... we do this by bleaching one of the guys hair. It provides us with a few laughs. The whole sight is quite strange. we are the only people not wearing coloured ponchos, so the concert is going to look like Pearl jam meets the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll circus:
Once we hear the opening chords of My Morning Jacket... we head for our seats.
This is one of the only concerts I have ever been to that has been all seated. I think I saw Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in 1994 when it was seated, but that was one of my first concerts, so I wasn't used to standing...
When we head into the place, the sight is pretty amazing... It really is a wonderful venue:
We find our seats, and then I head for some beer and popcorn. The beer is 4 euros for a small bottle, so I don't think we'll have many. It's Dominator:
It's crap.... it also says produced in Austria at XXXX Breweries GMBH, Munchen.... Bizarre.
Weak beer.... seated concert.... pop corn... this must be what America feels like.
We arrive half way through My Morning Jacket. We know we're seeing them tomorrow night, so we didn't see the point in standing in the rain to see the whole set.
My first impressions are that they are really interesting. They are very psychedelic, but, they also have avery southern USA, bluesy Lynard Skynard feel to them. They get as abstract as Sigur Ros in places, but they also have simple choruses and verses, it all comes together to make for a good band, but they are not the "let's get the party started" band that Wolfmother were.
After MMJ, the crowds start to pour in. We are entertaining the troops around us with a little bit of singing to try and convince them that you can rock out in a cagoul.
Pearl Jam take to the stage........ It's still raining....
They open with release..... it's amazing. The first time I've seen it live, and as opener. The first ever concert recording I knew of Pearl jam was the Atlanta show from 1994. It seemed such a brave way of opening a show.... and it still is. So delicate even after all these years... The rain is pouring down..... we're in a 2000 year old Amphitheatre and we're listening to one of the most beautiful songs in my CD collection.... life doesn't get much better than this.
The predictable move would be to head into something really heavy to kick off the show proper, but instead we get given to fly... it seems perfect... accompanied by the waves of rain which are pouring down on us. We are still some of the only people not cowering under umbrellas. I can't help enjoying the rain... looking up and watching the sheets come down dancing in the concert lights.
From given to fly we hit another favourite(aren't they all!!!), Corduroy. By now we've woken up those around us and we can hear every word getting belted out... That's one disadvantage to a seated concert, you don't know those around you unless you bought the tickets at the same time as them.
Th energy is starting to flow as the boys kick into World Wide Suicide. I'm amazed at how well everyone around us knows the words, albeit with strong Italian accents. The songs from the new album stand up really well to the classics, and I've heard them together so many times this summer that they are at one with the rest of the catalogue now.
The boys stay heavy with Do the Evolution, and the crowd follow... boogying down and singing along. The song is great fun... the band enjoy it and since the rain has started to wain, the crowd are moving around a bit more and removing some of the plastic wrapping. It's Stone's turn for a solo, and while he's no Mike Mccready... he holds his own.
From here it's back to the new album with Severed hand... the song has such a groove. Jeff has a such a great part to play. Sometimes when playing the bass, the parts can get a little boring, but you don't mind if it's a good song, but the bass on this song is really driving. The rhythm parts on the whole new album are like this. Not even dreaming of calming down for a moment.
I get very excited as I hear the opening chords of Love Boat Captain. It;s one of my favourite songs on riot act. Europe never got a tour for Riot Act, so we're as unfamiliar with these songs live as we are with the ones from the new album. The songs another delicate teary one. It's a real strength on the album. It mentions the 9 fans that died at the Pearl Jam concert in Roskilde in 2000, and talks about struggling with love.....beautiful....
Woo Hooo... from emotional... it;s a straight kick into Evenflow. Now evenflow should be getting boring by now. It's inevitable that it will be played, but it remains anything but boring... it seems to get faster every night... Mike enjoys it mroe every night.... floating on bend after bend... then exploding in a fury of notes. He truly is amazing... and continues to amaze.....
Then Matt takes over..... and you just stare in disbelief as the man who provided the back bone of such great bands as Soundgarden and Temple of the dog take his turn to astound. I'm no expert in drum solo's but what Matt does is keeps it short and sweet, and keeps the rhythm constant, just altering how he takes up the four notes i each bar by adding more and more notes, and robustly rocketing round the kit...
I have a great idea of where to go from here... the band should just come back on stage and kick into Moby Dick by Led Zeppelin... alas my telepathy seems to be on a different wavelength, and they just finish the song instead. I say "just" finish the song. Mike and Matt are so fired up that they finish the song sounding like the greatest band who ever picked up instruments...
We get more Riot act after this when the band kick into 1/2 Full. Another one that I know well, but have never seen live:
"Don;t see some men as half empty..... see them half full of shit"
Never a truer word spoken. Mike seems to be still fired up from evenflow, as the solo twiddles and meanders all over the place.
This is the first time I've seen Gone since the Astoria. It is a traveling song, where your trying to escape something... just like MFC, Untitled or Thumbing my way.... it was one of the first songs that was debuted live from the new album. It's an ed solo number thats slowly grown into a full band number. It starts so delicately and apprehensively... possibly cos someone doesn;t know the chords, but pairing the whole thing down into just two notes until it starts seems to add something to the emotion of the song. The song finishes with the refrain:
"If nothing is everything, then I have it all"
Something I still haven't managed to get my head round yet.
From the new to an old classic. I heard Not For You in Arnhem a few weeks ago. It was the type of song on Vitalogy that announced a new attitude in the band. Ed had picked up the guitar and the songs were getting, simpler(The rhythm part slides one chord around the guitar), darker and less accessible. I've alway though this change in direction gave the band it's longevity.
"Small my table - fits just three"
It used to be two... he's made an extra place for his daughter.
The band play Grievance from Binaural. Binaural is another inaccessible album for a few reason, not the least of which is that it's mixed to be listened to on headphones. It reminds me of my days in Byres Road in Glasgow studying for Exams. It's Matt's first album, so I always found myself listening intently to the drums when I first grew to love the songs. It's another song where Ed wonders about what the big guy in the sky is going to do about what's happening on the Earth. These songs are great to hear with the band in such high spirits. Maybe they have always been this good.... but Matt seems to be on fire.. maybe cos he had a hand in writing the song.
Back to the new album, another one that is quickly becoming an old classic, Marker in the Sand. It;s on the new album, so it has the same groove that they have instilled in all the rockers on this album. The drums thump out a riff... simpler than Jesus Christ pose, but still driving the song. we ask the big guy again...
"God what do you say"
The warmth of the B3 hammond organ takes us the finish in the song...
Ed asks for our help singing... as the bass twangs us into Jeremy. It's such a classic, that it feels strange to here. Alive is a rocker so you can just rock out to it and ignore how popular it is, but Jeremy is a sing along. I don't get excited about it, but I really enjoy singing along. Once the song comes to a close I really start to get into it, with the oo's and yeah's.... giving it our all. A choir of 40,000 in a 2000 year old amphitheatre..... the sound is so warm....
It's the first time I've witnessed Wasted Reprise. It;s not really a song, more of a little prayer to a Life Wasted... not sure what that is. but it might be about being a Betterman which it immediately precedes. The sing song that goes along with this has come to be expected. From the Astoria to Arnhem to Italy.... but the time the chorus comes along, the warmth of 40,000 people singing their hearts out just emanates around you. The band kicks in and do their job perfectly... the advice of the woman of the song to find a betterman turns in to a boogy with everyone shaking their rumps and singing along... oo's and ah's again....
Next is a bit of a surprise...Blood from VS. I've never seen it live either. It's a real thrash of a song... it must kill Ed's voice, but he rattles it out and the crowd lap it up.. clapping along and screaming along with him. It takes me a few chords in before I realise it's blood, it's that unexpected. But by the break down... the whole stadium is chanting "hey hey hey hey hey" ed laughs and takes longer to come in.
The band open the first Encore with Inside Job, the grandiose classic that is very quickly growing to a favourite.... Penned by Mr McCready but not losing anything in the lyrics as a result.
"Life comes from within your heart and desire."
It's so composed... owing little to the punky roots shown off in much of their other stuff... you can tell Mike's written it, he has such a penchant for grandiose metal, that we get wonderful band lead ballads like this.... The 12 strign guitar that Mike uses gives the sound an interesting edge.... and when Ed's vocals come in, it gets so emotional and delicate. It's definitely one of my favourite new songs of this tour.
When the song kicks in, you realise how mature a writing unit Pearl jam is. They can groove and rock, and ballad and acoustic love song, and this... I don't even know how to describe it. The song has such a build... bringing togetehr so many elements of their sound, but still drenched with that pearl jam DNA that wrenches at the heart strings....
Next Ed introduces a song in Italian and tells us its dedicated to his good friend Johnny Ramone. It's Come Back. Another first time live moment for me from the new album. I listened to the song before, but I never "Heard" it until tonight. The song is like some classic ballad from the 50's. It doesn;t really fit with pearl Jams style, but it works. The lyrics are so heart felt. Ed wondering what he can do without Johnny and pleading with him to comeback....
"Sometimes in the morning I wake ad I could swear your right there next to me"
a tear rolls down my face... maybe it's inside job... maybe it;s happiness.... or maybe it's just the beauty of the music...
Without a word, the band go straight into I believe in Miracles by the Ramones, as if the song needed any more energy it is charged with the moment of thought we've just given to Johnny... It's an encore song if ever there was one, and the crowd stop holding anything back.... they know it's full on from, here on in.
I'm not wrong, Ed plays a slowed down acoustic opening to Porch, and you just know that the band are gonna kick in..... It rocks away like nothing else... The song that ed always went wild to in the early days has lost none of it's punch. ONce the instrumental starts(with some wailling notes from Mike) The band get into a little huddle and play all four of them together... enjoying the Music and the Jam.. it;s phenomenal to see them doing this, they genuinely seem to enjoy these songs as much as we do. The notes are exploding everywhere... it's a full on Pearl "jam" just like we grew up listening to on Reach Down and so many other songs... Jeff is twiddling around, while Mike wails, and Matt seems to play faster than humanly possible around the kit.. while the Rhythm guitars hold it all together and punctuate it with little stabs of sound.....
When the vocals kick back in the crowd and the band are charged with something that can;t be described. The band sound like they are hardly able to contain the explosion of energy......
One way of ensuring that new songs are tattooed onto our brains is to play them straight after Porch. Life wasted blends straight into the almost delirious feeling we have after Porch. The band have a similar energy to the crowd and the song is really rough and raw. The song wails in the outro, with Mike Tremolo picking his way to explosion.....
Encore number 2 starts, and a some bad Italian counting to 3 signals the start of Elderly woman in a Small Town. It gives us a good sing song. There's little that can be said about it... we clap along and belt out every word... At the end of the song, the band are up to something.... Jeff knocks out a couple of notes, that are corrected by Mike and played in the correct key..... could it be????? The band are actually covering My Sharona. They car on Instrumentally for a little while, then Ed mumbles rhythmically along t the music, then sings "My Verona".... the band can;t do anything for laughing... and neither can the crowd...
Who says this band have no humour?????
From here we get Once... making the set a pretty Ten oriented night.... we started with the last song on ten and we're getting the first pretty close to the end. It's rough and ready and angry....
Alive signals the beginning of the end... and the crowd goes wild. We sing along until mike wails along to the solo, and Ed starts going wild running around, and at one point even slipping on the wet stage...
The last chords of alive finish as the first chords of Rocking in the freeworld start. Boom's piano is hammering out the chords along with the guitars.
"The colours on the street - green, white and red..."
......instead of red white and blue. we seem to be ion Italy.
After alive, this has us up on the tops of our seats. We know the shows nearly over, so we give it our all. we're singing at the tops of our voices. The lights are up and the 40,000 or so people circulated around us are doing exactly the same. It's a wonderful feeling. Mowlgi and I have our arms roudn eahc other's shoulders and we dance precariously along to Rocking in the Freeworld. Like they can feel the crowd willing them on... the song goes on forever. It's extra long... but we don;t care as we soak up the energy of solo after solo.....
From here, only the inevitable will do... Yellow Ledbetter signals the time to look back on the evening and the set list and appreciate just what an amazing night it was... looking at how happy the multi-coloured waterproof clad crowd are.. and enjoy everyone singing to the wonderful tones of mike, who is sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the stage.
Amazing.... A truly amazing gig. When we get outside, it would appear that every T-shirt printer in Italy has been working for the past month on printing off some of the worst Pearl Jam T-Shirts I have ever seen. Random logo with Pearl Jam written in a random font beside it etc.
Bizarrely(considering we were in the middle of the crowd) we are the first to the bar. Okay it wasn't that bizarre, but I was a little surprised. The little waiter greets us... "table for 2?".... we reply with " No. 40-60 please". It's at this point that I realise that we've attended this concert with such an entourage.
The night is wonderful. We drink sensibly and talk of the memories of the evening. It feels like it was a truly great experience and a concert that will be talk about for years to come, not just because of the actual concert, but everything that surrounded it.... friends... drinks... parties etc.
We leave the bar. We have negotiated a floor to sleep on in an apartment rented by two guys from Boston.
On the way back to the apartment, we come across a bridal party. They ask if they can get photos of us with the bride in our kilts. We get the inevitable ass shot:
One of the bridal party mentions photos of the fountain. It takes Mowgli and I all of 2 minutes to be paddling in the fountain. I'm reasonably sensible, but Mowgli is diving in and out of the pool before long - in a kilt.....
He tries to get me in. Amazingly... the little man can't get the better of the big man. I point out to him, that ten metres of wool and a sporran are not waterproof. Mowgli comes to the realisation that the contents of hi sporran(Phone, Passport and wallet) are soaked... he realised why I didn;t want to go in.
We walk to our beds for the night with Mowgli dripping wet.
This weekend... one down one to go....
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