The sold out crowd at GM place Friday night was treated to a solid 2 1/2 hour show by Pearl Jam. They played 30 songs, including 5 rare B-sides and the Who classic “Baba O’Riley”. It was fitting that they played that Who song, in the 3rd encore with the house lights on, it was a very Who-inspired show. Straight ahead rock songs and the crowd sang along to every word. With a total of 11 songs from their first two albums, it was a blast from the past as I’m sure many people re-lived their high school memories. For me, it was singing along to “Black” that reminded me of those basement parties, sitting around the circle and trying to imitate Eddie Vedder’s deep baritone voice.

Wow, Pearl Jam has emassed a lot of great songs in 14 years. 14 years…. 1991. The Who rose to popularity in the US in 1967 and 14 years later they were on their farewell tour with the Clash opening for them. In 1981 the Who were considered a oldies band. Pearl Jam are far from that. For the record, the Who are still an amazing live band 40 years since their debut… as I’m sure Pearl Jam will be 25 years from now. With no new album to promote, the Vancouver show was the kick-off to a 18-city cross-Canada tour that will see the band end the tour with 2 sold out Shows in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

All the shows are available for download here http://bootlegs.pearljam.com/, and you can check out the full Vancouver setlist here http://www.laner.ca/PJ_shows.html. This was my fourth PJ show and it was incredible. Surprisingly, no date at Kelowna’s Ticketmaster-less venue, Prospera Place. Considering our stadium is not a Ticketmaster venue and the band is playing a dozen smaller Canadian cities, I’m really surprised the band didn’t play here. Maybe in 2006 when their new album comes out. Maybe we’ll see them opening for the Who when they tour in 2006 behind their first studio album in 24 years!