Flour Power

Last night I had the pleasure to be one of the lucky few in The O2, Dublin, watching an amazing concert by Pearl Jam, starting off their 2010 Europe Tour.

If I had to describe the concert in one word, I would choose energetic. A lot of the loudest and quickest Pearl Jam songs were part of the setlist, and once or twice I wished for a quieter song to be able to get a little rest from being in the edge of the moshpit. But the band was just full of energy, and barring songs like Nothingman, Just Breathe and Elderly Woman Behing the Counter in a Small Town, it was almost constant jumping through the whole thing.

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I’ll go for Better Man, for the awesome atmosphere caused by more than 10.000 people singing it in unison. I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that none of Black, Jeremy, Last Kiss, Red Mosquito or Wishlist didn’t make it to the set, but on the other hand they played a completely new song. A song “so new, it might not even be a song yet” – Of The Earth.

In summary, two and a half hours of pure energy. Here’s the complete setlist of 26 songs:

Long Road
Once
The Fixer
Why Go
Corduroy
Severed Hand
Amongst The Waves
Even Flow
Unthought Known
Nothingman
Lukin
Not For You
Down
Got Some
Comatose
Arms Aloft (Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros cover)
Do The Evolution

Encore 1
Just Breathe
Given To Fly
Of The Earth
Porch

Encore 2
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Better Man
Kick Out The Jams (MC5 cover)
Alive
Yellow Ledbetter

Last night Dave Matthews Band had their return to Ireland for a concert in The O2, 3 years after their last visit to Guinness-land. The show was opened by Alberta Cross who didn’t really manage to warm the crowd up, and got me afraid we would have a below average concert. But slowly the venue got almost full and then Dave and his band, with all their experience in live performances, turned it into an excellent show.

Dave was very energetic as usual, and goofed around and danced throughout the whole gig, stealing some cheers from the crowd. The talk about getting drunk the night before (in a pub with live music and singing even without knowing the lyrics) probably wasn’t just talk, and I bet he had a few in him when he stepped on the stage. The leprechaun hat and the pints of Guinness were nice details that made the Irish crowd quite happy.

My favourite song of the night was Ants Marching, with a brilliant violin solo by Boyd Tinsley. Being more of an old-school fan, I thought there were too many songs from the latest album, a total of 8: Funny The Way It Is, Squirm, Shake Me Like a Monkey, Lying In The Hands Of God, Seven, Why I Am, You & Me, Baby Blue. Even so, the band managed to get a few of the classics in, like Stay Or Leave, Gravedigger, The Stone, Crash Into Me and Crush. I was a bit disappointed that some of my own favourites, like #41, Say Goodbye, Jimi Thing or Typical Situation, didn’t make it, but it was a great setlist nonetheless. The other problem was the very short, and somewhat lukewarm, single encore. But that seems to be Dublin City Council’s fault, with their 11pm curfew… Oh well, I shouldn’t be complaining about a great almost-3-hour concert, should I?

I’ve already mentioned Dave’s hectic behaviour that helped ignite the crowd, and the amazing Boyd Tinsley violin solo. Add to that Jeff Coffin‘s fantastic performance on the saxophone (who seemed to never run out of breath); the less than brilliant but still very good Tim Reynolds on the electric guitar; fan-favourite Carter Beauford on the drums (who threw so many drumsticks to the crowd and I couldn’t get my hands on a single one, argh!); Stefan Lessard on the bass; and Rashawn Ross playing trumpet. The result was an awesome concert that started slow but had the crowd roaring for more by the end of the night.

Here’s the complete setlist:

Bartender
Stay Or Leave
Funny The Way It Is
Squirm
Shake Me Like A Monkey
Lying In The Hands Of God
Gravedigger
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Ants Marching
#27
Seven
The Stone
Crash Into Me
Crush
Where Are You Going
Why I Am
You & Me
You Might Die Trying
All Along The Watchtower

Encore
Baby Blue
Cornbread

Will be posting some of the videos and photos I was able to take during the show as soon as I have the time to sort through them all. Stay tuned!