Eddie Vedder at the Wiltern

Yesterday I met a friend of mine from work, Jeremy, out to see Eddie Vedder on his short West Coast only April Fool's Tour. I wasn't sure what to expect, I had peeked at a setlist from a previous night so I knew he would be playing material from the Into The Wild soundtrack and I knew a handful of songs he tends to play solo would be part of the set. But what I didn't expect was Eddie solo with an acoustic guitar (or ukulele, or little guitar, electric guitar etc...) for close to 2 1/2 hours.

I hate to say it but the rest of Pearl Jam wasn't missed. Eddie entertained, sounded fantastic vocally, told jokes and stories between songs, played a little improv, and even had to give a surprise acceptance speech to accept his Golden Globe Award for Into The Wild in person.

Our tickets were through the 10c fan club and once again the PJ fanclub didn't disappoint. We were dead center 6 rows off the floor. We were on the second level off the floor so our seats were elevated above the section in front of us so we had no trouble seeing. And Eddie even made the crowd sit and said since he was playing a theater setting he wanted everyone to sit back and enjoy.

A very entertaining show. And even the opening act Liam Finn was a pleasant surprise with his unique and entertaining set. Liam's set consisted of him with a female vocalist setting up loops on guitars and vocals and jumping between frenetic drums and guitar from song to song, all in the context of a singer songwriter motif with a little angst.

Eddie's performance of Arc at the end of the first encore was amazing. He built up layers of vocals performing one vocal at a time with layer upon layer before wailing a vocal solo on top of the foundation he built. After this I was convinced the show was over. Such a unique and perfect ending. The curtains dropped and Eddie graciously gave what appeared to be his final bow.

When he came back out he played a couple of songs solo and finished the show with a standing room only performance of the uplifting song Hard Sun.

Other highlights from the set included Man Of The Hour, this song grabs me in an emotional way every time, Soon Forget (w/ the uke), the anti-war song No More, and the crowd sing-a-longs with The Beatles' Dylan-esque You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, and Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down.

Eddie Vedder April Fool's Tour

April 12, 2008 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Support: Liam Finn (with Eliza Jane Barnes)

Main Set: Tuolumne (Intro Music), Walking The Cow, Around The Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man Walking, (God Is In Control*) (Limit Yourself**) / Masters Of War, I'm Open, Man Of The Hour, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, (with Golden Globe Acceptance and Speech), Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Soon Forget, Broken Heart, Driftin’, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Trouble, If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out, I Won't Back Down, Forever Young, Porch

Encore 1: Society (with Liam Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (with Liam Finn), No More, Arc

Encore 2: Growin' Up, Lukin, Hard Sun (with Liam Finn and Eliza Jane Barnes)

* from a TV commercial
** improv

Steve Vai at the Wiltern

Last Tuesday I went to the Steve Vai show at the Wiltern. The first opening act was Orianthi, a female singer/guitarist from Australia. She was a good looking girl in her early 20s that could shred on guitar but I was put off by her not acknowledging her band and her repeated references to this is "my" song, and this is the last song "I'm" going to play. I suspect the band were hired guns for the tour but regardless it turned me off. She was still developing her own identity but the crows liked her and she looks to have a bright future in the US.

Second act was Zack Wiesinger. Very entertaining. He played his set solo during the set change, so while crew was on stage removing the first acts gear he was going from mic, to guitar, to amp that was available at that time and playing. Covers included The Munsters theme, James Bond theme, and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). He also sat in on guitar during some of Steve's set.

Right as Steve's set was about to start I spotted John 5 in the balcony on the first row. Steve's set lasted right at 2 1/2 hours with virtually no breaks. With two violin players, and the arrival of a new bass player I wasn't sure what to expect. The start of the set was unfamiliar to me which was surprising considered I've followed his music very closely since the mid 80s. As he settled into the set things were familiar once again and he had good cross section of material including selections from two of my favorites Real Illusions: Reflections and Fire Garden Suite.

Highlights for me were Firewall, including a great reading of the intro lyric by Steve, The Crying Machine, Bryan was able to play some killer bass, the intro to Damn Good, and as always For The Love Of God.

Steve Vai
September 11, 2007
The Wiltern
Los Angeles, CA

Now We Run
Oooo
Building The Church
Tender Surrender
Band Introductions - with a James Brown Bit with Steve saying in a James Brown voice I gotta kiss myself.
Firewall
The Crying Machine
Dave's Solo
I'm Becoming
Die To Live
Freak Show Excess w/ bass solo
The "Vai-oi-lins" Solo w/ excerpt from Crossroads

Acoustic Set
At start of set Steve mentions 9/11
Damn Good intro ->
All About Eve
Steve and Jeremy (drummer) banter with Jeremy showing off "The Beast"
Angel Food
Drum Solo
Audience Is Listening
The Murder
Juice
Whispering a Prayer
Taurus Bulba

Encore
Liberty
Answers
For The Love of God

I received a meet and greet pass through a promotion on his website. So after the show I headed to the meet and greet line. The line was extremely long by the time I found where I needed to be so it took a little over an hour just to say hi to Steve. I also had his most recent cd signed and was able to get a picture with him.

While waiting I was able to talk to Bryan Beller his new bass player. Bryan remembered me from seeing and talking to him at many of the Keneally shows. He was telling me about now that he has both moved to Nashville and is on tour with Vai he is getting more gig offers in LA than he ever had previously. Feast or famine for the musicians. He seems to be having a great time and I also saw him catching up with many of his LA friends after we talked. He said he'll be back in LA for some gigs at the start of the year but will be booked on Vai's tour until then.

It was a long night but well worth it.

Rob Zombie

Darian and I just got back from the Rob Zombie concert at the Wiltern in LA. Lacuna Coil opened the show.

Rob's new lineup that included John 5 on guitar made for a great show. At one point John 5 was playing an EVH guitar circa 1984. Rob was high energy and had stage movements that was a cross between an aerobics instructor and Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. Yes its hard to visualize but if you see Rob, and you see Bruce you will know exactly what I mean.

This was the second of 2 sold out nights. Although the show was crowded they didn't over sell. I've been in GA shows that feel much more crowded than the show tonight.

The only real downer for the night was Rob kept getting frustruated with Wiltern's security. The security was extremely tight, no moshing, no crowd surfing, no shoving, no moving to the floor, or you get kicked out. Personally I appreciated the security but when the band was distracted by security the show lost a little of the momentum. After Rob got on the soap box and said he wasn't happy with the security situation. He finally told them to lay off and then the band went into Thunderkiss. Needless to say a mosh pit formed and surprisingly security layed off. Although the crowd looked entirely out of control it turned out that if you weren't in the path of the pit you were fine.


Good high energy show. However, a little too much ego with the 3 or 4 encores. Just play the songs.

After the show I saw Eric Singer from KISS walking towards the backstage area. I yelled over to him and he walked over close enough so we could shake hands. Yes! My first KISS sighting in LA.