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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