Music Midtown 9/21-22/12

So it was finally time for Music Midtown. I would get to see my beloved Avett Brothers and my favorite Foo Fighter on Friday night and I would get to see the best band ever, Pearl Jam. If this is not a line-up of all line-ups, I do not know what is. I got there right in time for Avett. I can honestly say that they put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen and I have been to a lot of shows. They are just so damn cute. Their music can reach all audiences and there will not be one person standing still when they bust out their awesome banjo riffs and they always have a very big crowd response. They opened with The Fall and went straight into Will You Return. WYR is one of my all time favorite songs and it put a huge smile on my face and everyone around me was dancing along. After that they played:

February Seven

Paul Newman vs. The Demons (My Favorite on The Carpenter)

Laundry Room

Old Joe Clark 

January Wedding

At the Beach (they said "we are gonna go back to an album of ours called "Mignonette." The crowd cheered)

Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise (best crowd sing along of the night)

The Prettiest Thing ("We are going to play a song by a great man named David Childers)

Down with the Shine

Distraction #74

Paranoia in Bb Major

Live and Die

Go to Sleep

Winter in My Heart

Kick Drum Heart (Great crowd participation)

Encore:

Murder in the City

Talk on Indolence

After The Avett Brothers, everyone made their way to the other stage for Foo Fighters. I have listened to them "All My Life" (I'm sorry, I had to do it.) So needless to say, I was really excited about them. Dave Grohl graced the stage and screamed "WASSSSSSUUUUPPPPPP ATLANTA?!?!" and the band went straight into the song White Limo. They were loud and they were great. Then they played

All My Life

Rope

The Pretender

My Hero

Learn to Fly

Arlandria

These Days

Walk

Everybody Wants Some!! (Van Halen)

Cold Day in the Sun

Monkey Wrench

Hey, Johnny Park!

This is a Call

In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd)

Best of You

Times Like These

Dear Rosemary

Breakdown (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)

Bad Reputation (Joan Jett came out and played this song with them.) (I had a miniature freak-out)

And then they closed with Everlong. That song got the biggest crowd response of the night and it gave me chill bumps to hear every person singing because it was so beautiful. That ended the first night and it was back to the hotel for my family and me.

The second day of Music Midtown started a little bit later in the day for me. I did not walk over until the end of Neon Trees. I heard them play Animal and that was good enough for me. I walked in the venue right as Florence + The Machine started. I listened to Lungs and Ceremonials several times and thought it was pretty good but girl singers are just not my favorite. The crowd cheered in response. She played

Only If For A Night

What The Water Gave Me

Drumming Song

Cosmic Love

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

Spectrum

Heartlines

Lover To Lover

Shake It Out ("This is for all of your hangovers tomorrow!")

No Light, No Light

Dog Days Are Over

Closer to the end of her set, she said, "It was scary to start the show, but you made me feel so welcome!"

The crowd sang along for that last song and it was cool. Florence is a very graceful performer and, whether it is intentional or not, she dances very well. I love her accent too. After Florence was someone called Girl Talk. I had never heard of this person/group so I waited before I walked to the other stage. It was techno so I stayed on the side and waited for Pearl Jam, my favorite band. (After PJ20 last year, I had really high expectations.) I started out in the back and they came on stage and went straight into Why Go.

During this song, Molly (cousin/bff) and I could hear everyone around us singing and PJ was not loud at all. The night before, Foo was so loud I could hardly hear myself think. We looked at each other and decided we have to try our best to get in the front. So we ran as fast as we could and got into the crowd of people. The band went into Save You. We were singing our lungs out (very badly, of course). It seemed like we were the only ones that were even enjoying it. We finally made our way through the sea of people and found several die hards that were singing the not-so-popular songs. During the time of our adventure, they played

Animal

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town

Corduroy and

Got Some.

Got Some is not really a popular song and we found this group of guys that were singing it with every ounce of energy they had. When it was over, they looked at us and said “You guys are some true fans, aren’t you?” We looked at them and said yes! Then we walked through more people and we finally made it to a spot about two rows from the front that was great. They then played

Amongst The Waves

Wishlist

Better Man

Do The Evolution

Even Flow

Know Your Rights (The Clash) (Eddie gave a short speech on exercising your right to vote. In my opinion, it was very inspiring)

Nothingman (AHHHHHH!!!) (This was definitely the best surprise of the night.) (We were in hopes of the “Man” trilogy, alas they did not play Leatherman.)

Supersonic

Jeremy

Porch

(Encore)

Crazy Mary

Given To Fly (AHHHHHHHHHH!!! One of my top five favorite songs by PJ and I got to hear it!)

The Fixer

Rearviewmirror

(Second Encore)

Unthought Known

Black
Alive
Rockin’ In The Free World (Neil Young) (Right before this song started, someone on the side told Eddie he had two minutes left. He responded and said “Well I guess we have to play this song fast. I wanna get this song in. Fuck It! I’ll pay the fine”) I laughed. This ended the festival and ironically, the closest I have ever been for Pearl Jam, was probably the less fan enthusiastic show I have ever been to. I am sorry, but it is just not possible to condense a PJ show into two hours. They played for the masses, but I am not complaining because I still got to be there. I am also glad that they were selling Pearl Jam merch on Friday night because they had the poster and I did not have to get to the show early the next day to get it. and that is a wrap. See y’all later!

PEARL JAM 20!

I will post a blog of my own later. But for now read this. http://www.voorale.com/index.php/Music-Plus/pearl-jam-fest-features-guest-spots-by-chris-cornell-and-others.html and http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2016138580_pj20.html

Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard 7/1/11

Fast-forward a few years from 2009 to 2011. If someone had asked me if I thought I would have ever seen Eddie Vedder solo again, I would have said no. The day my mom told me, she said “Kinsey, we are going to see Eddie Vedder in St. Louis because he is not coming anywhere closer. Oh, and it is 4th of July weekend.” I was so excited because I remembered how much fun I had at the last Eddie shows I went to. The show was at The Fox Theatre. Once again, you were not allowed to have a camera and we had to sit down. But that was ok. When we got inside, we went to our seats. We were about 15 rows back from the stage on the floor, which is a really good seat. But in that venue, there is no bad seat. Glen Hansard, from the band The Swell Season, was the opening act. I do not know any of his songs and I cannot tell you which songs he played other than the one Pearl Jam song that he played a snippet of, which was Smile. Not going to lie, that was pretty freaking cool. Then it was time for Eddie. He walked out while Waving Palms was playing in the background and the crowd went crazy. He sat down in his chair and played Can’t Keep. I was not a big fan of this song on Riot Act but it was my favorite on his newest album. It really set the mood of how this show would turn out. Then he played Sleeping By Myself, Without You, Goodbye, You’re True, Light Today, Trouble, and Sometimes. Then he played I Am Mine. My cousin and I freaked out because that is our song. Following I Am Mine, he played Thumbing My Way. I was so excited because that is one of my favorite PJ songs. I feel sorry for the two guys sitting next to us because it is not every day one goes to an Eddie Vedder concert and sits next to a 15 and 16 year old freaking out over their favorite Pearl Jam songs. After TMY, he played Driftin’, and Betterman. Betterman definitely got the crowd going. Everyone around us was dancing and singing, including my cousin and myself. Then he continued with Far Behind, Long Nights (played with Glen Hansard) and Guaranteed. After this, he played Rise. Before he actually played the song, he started talking to the sign language interpreter. He kept telling her funny, but provocative things to sign and she would do it. It made everyone would laugh. He dedicated Rise to her. After that, he played Just Breathe and dedicated it to someone he knew that was expecting a baby. When he played Just Breathe, it made me cry. That is just an emotional song for me. Then he played Elderly Woman. That song always gets the best crowd response. Then he played one of Molly’s favorite songs, Unthought Known. She slapped me in the arm because she was so excited. Then he did ARC. I was so excited and I started crying again because it is just a beautiful live song. He came back and encored with Wishlist. Of all the songs he could have played during that big moment, he played Wishlist. That is my least favorite Pearl Jam song ever. But I am not complaining. After WL, he played Immortality. Of course, he messed up the words in the beginning like he always does. This song got a good crowd response as well. Then he played several more songs with Glen Hansard. These songs were Sleepless Nights, Society, and Falling Slowly. Before the show started, Molly and I were talking about songs we wanted Eddie to play. All she wanted to hear that entire night was Last Kiss. When we checked earlier set lists, that song was nowhere to be found so we eventually forgot about it. Well, as luck would have it, the next song he played was Last freaking Kiss. If you were in the crowd that night, you probably heard the squeal of an excited 16 year old followed by a wail of pain from a 15 year old that just got slapped on the arm from too much excitement. He then played So You Wanna Be A Rock N Roll Star, Lukin, and Porch. These three songs got the crowd on their feet and the whole place was rocking out. It was awesome. Then it was time for the second encore. He came out and did Hard Sun with Glen Hansard. He walked out and came back and closed the night with Dream A Little Dream. That is one of the sweetest songs ever. This show got me excited because at some point during the show, Eddie mentioned something about The Pearl Jam 20th anniversary show. Heck yes.