Wednesday, May 17, 2006

"You want it all...."

"...but you can't have it"

or maybe you can, at one point. I feel like a fucking 15yr old again....carefree, carfree, bill free, reseponsibility-less....(i make words up at my own whim). I saw Pearl Jam lastnight for the first time EVER. I'd been into them since just before "TEN" was released....how've I never seen them before?? I seriously fell in love with that band all over again after lastnight....and Mike McCready is one of the best fucking rock guitarists of today...
set list is as follows:

Release
World Wide Suicide
Life Wasted
Severed Hand
Comatose
Given To Fly
Low Light
Corduroy
I'm Open
I Got Id
Even Flow
Unemployable
Daughter/W.M.A.
Present Tense
Do The Evolution
Jeremy
Save You
Porch

-Encore Break 1-
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Better Man
Come Back
State of Love And Trust
Black
Alive

-Encore Break 2-
Go
Blood/Atomic Dog
Indifference
Baba O'Riley
Yellow Ledbetter


what a great set....2-1/2 hrs of rock n roll, and eddie vedder went through 2 bottles of wine. Granted the show didn't affect me until i got home, or woke up this morning...i had different feelings AT the show, and it took a bit for the emotion to set in...i felt that "Even Flow" was a bit lack-luster, until the last 1/3 of the solo--it felt as if they were just 'going through the motions', then eddie stepped back and let the band sort of just jam it out...the initial 2/3 of the solo were very noodley, and off, not McCready's greatest, but then all of a sudden, as if his in-ear monitors had been off, turned on, and the solo picked up and was just amazing. THAT is the Mike McCready guitar playing i know and have come to love more over the years...then the show sort of picked up...the crowd was sort of iffy, not really gettin into it until "Even Flow" b/c aside from the opener, "Release", the first 4 or 5 songs were from the latest album. But i suppose, w/ an arena crowd, that is to be expected. I got chills when they played "Given To Fly", "Low Light", and the hair stood on the back of my neck when they dug deep into one of my favourite albums, "No Code" and played "I'm Open"...I wouldn't say that this show was close to a religious experience, but i WOULD say that i feel a bit more complete for have finally seeing them...
...we snuck closer during the last encore break,and we were really close to Mike McCready. that's when the smile got huge on my face, and the chills kicked in full effect. to hear some great tracks off of "Vs." was amazing, and then to hear "Baba O'Riley" and last, "Yellow Ledbetter"-wow! During the end of "Yellow Ledbetter", Eddie sat down, smoked his cigarette/joint, nursed his 2nd bottle of wine and just watched in awe, as Mike soloed his ass off--just beautiful. Very soulful, and Hendrix/Page/SRV-infused style...just breathtaking.

Another funny thing about lastnight: it was only the 2nd show i've ever seen at United Center. The first show i saw there was The Who doing "Quadrophenia" on Oct. 31st, 1996--which was my first concert EVER. And if it weren't for The Who, there'd have been no Pearl Jam. And on a symbiotic note, if it weren't for Pearl Jam, i'd not have gotten into The Who--so it was a weird 'aligning of the planets' type thing that lastnight I saw one of my favourite bands for the first time, in the same venue as my first concert ever, which also happens to be another one of my favourite bands--10 years apart.

..and today i recieved Faith No More's "Double Feature" DVD set-which contains the following:
-"You Fat Bastards": Faith No More Live at the Brixton Academy, London
-"Who Cares A Lot": Greatest Videos

FNM was the band responsible for me getting into hardrock/metal, and i am forever changed and grateful to them for such a huge service....

"Consider me an object/put me in a vacuum/free of all that friction/and i'll be hangin upside down/and i, i will swing/for all eternity!"

love,
uncle j.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Red Hot Chili Peppers

holy crap-

this album is friggn amazing....i'm 2 songs into the 1st disc, and it seriously brought tears to my eyes.......not only am i exstatic that there's stil great music out there, but it hit me on a personal level, as well. When I was first really getting into music, on my own, i'd memorize the record labels and distribution, the producers, engineers, singers, songwriters, guitarists, etc....and now, i work in that facit--the behind the scenes area--i work for the label, and its friggn amazing.....

Pick it up, i highly suggest it.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting




Love,
Uncle J.