Eddie Vedder Day One Nashville 6/17/09

When my mother told me we were going to see Eddie Vedder, solo in Nashville, I was so excited. He was going to be there for two nights and we were originally only going for the second night. But, the night before the first show we decided to go. I love spur of the moment concerts like that. Not only was I excited about going to see Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, I was going to see Eddie Vedder in The Ryman Auditorium. The freaking Ryman Auditorium in Downtown Nashville. One of the most important buildings in all of Nashville and Eddie Vedder was playing there. It was such an exciting moment for me to actually be there to see Eddie and to be there with some of my favorite people, my mother, my aunt, and my cousin. While we were out in the line the security stressed to us that cameras would not be tolerated. If you were caught with a camera, it would be taken away and you would be escorted out and not allowed back in. When we walked in, we were briefly searched. The extent of the search went as far as security asking us if we had a camera. Anyone could have easily lied. After the security encounter, we ran directly for the merch table to get the poster. If you were a Pearl Jam fan, you would have an understanding of why getting to the show early to get a poster is important. After we got the posters, we went to our seats and waited for the show to start. The seats in The Ryman were really cramped. I feel bad for overly tall people that have to sit in those seats. Liam Finn was the opener for this show. This was the first time I had ever heard of him and I was really impressed. His wife, Eliza Jane, was also with him. She has awesome hair. I think it is awesome that Liam is multi-instrumental and he is so cute! I do not remember many of the songs he played, but I do remember Second Chance and Plane Crash. They were just splendid. During the set change, this guy that was sitting by us asked my cousin and me how old we were and how long we had liked Pearl Jam. We both answered 13 and since we were born. He laughed and asked us our favorite songs. My cousin [Molly] answered with Better Man and Elderly Woman. I answered with Brother and Gremmie Out Of Control. Needless to say, the guy was more impressed with my answers because those Pearl Jam songs are not as popular as the ones my wonderful cousin answered with. After that lovely conversation, it was getting really close to show time. Then, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared with excitement and then Eddie graced the stage and everyone sat down…. Sitting down? At a concert? I was really confused. There ended up being appropriate times to stand up, so it got better. Eddie opened with Walking The Cow. Pearl Jam covered it a while back but they had never played it live. To this day, as a band, I still do not think they have played it. So this crowd got lucky that they got to hear it live because it would be one of the only times they would ever get to hear it (of course if you followed the tour, then you would probably hear it a few more times). After that amazing opener, he played Sometimes with a Brain Damage by Pink Floyd tag. If the crowd was not stoked yet, that definitely put them over the top. The crowd cheered. The next few songs were Trouble, Thumbing My Way, Gone, Far Behind, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Rise, Poor Girl, You’re True, Driftin’, and Hide Your Love Away (Beatles Cover). Then it was time for Better Man. Eddie told us that he was originally not going to play this song but he decided to play it Nashville Style. And he did just that. It was extremely different than any version of this song I have ever heard. As a crowd, we tried our best to follow along with him, but we failed miserably. After that he did a stellar cover of Let My Love Open The Door (Pete Townshend). Then he played Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town. During this song, I experienced one of my numerous favorite concert moments. Like I said earlier, we were sitting down at the show. During the middle of the song, this guy decided to get up and stand at the balcony rail. He had his arms in the air and was singing his heart out. The security lady kept getting in his face to try to get him to sit down, but he just kept on singing and flapping his arms in the air. (The part of the song he put his arms in the air for was “ I just wanna scream HELLO! My God it’s been too long. Never dreamed you’d return but now here you are and here I am!”). When it was time for the HELLO lyric, it sounded like we were in a church choir. We were all in unison and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my life. After Elderly Woman, Porch was played. For the first time that night, the crowd stood up and rocked out. Eddie made an acoustic song sound like an electric one. The crowd’s harmonies were so beautiful. When the song was over, we all clapped louder than we had the entire night. Then it was time for the first encore. He came back out and played Society with the guy that wrote it, Jerry Hannan. It was great, of course. Then he continued with a few more cover songs. He played Throw Your Arms Around Me with Liam Finn. My aunt had her moment because that is one of her favorite Pearl Jam covers. The Golden State by John Doe and Believe You Me by Bad Radio were both played as well. Then he played Wishlist and Arc. That was the first time I had ever heard ARC live and oh my gosh. It was beautiful. You have not heard the beauty in Eddie Vedder’s voice until you have heard him play ARC. After ARC was over, it was time for a second encore. Because one encore is not enough. For his second encore, he played Hard Sun with Liam Finn. That was just cool. He and Liam perform so well together. There was one day where he pulled up a little girl on stage to sing with him. I think her name was Lily. She was so excited. Hey, if that were me, I would have been excited too! I know her parents were proud, also! This night was definitely magical and it was an extremely life changing moment for me. As the kids from the movie School Of Rock say, “One great rock show can change the world.” And that is exactly what happened.