"Tonight is about friends," Eddie Vedder said early Saturday during Pearl Jam's second performance this week at Xcel Energy Center.
His friends like Joe Mauer, the former Twins great, who was in the audience. Friends like Bo, who had been to about 50 Pearl Jam shows but they'd finally just met. "Bo, where have you been all my life? So close," Vedder said.
Friends like Charlie, a Wisconsin youngster who recently died of epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Friends like Dr. Jakub Tolar, who leads a University of Minnesota EB research team funded in part by Vedder's family.
Instant new friends like the guy in front of the stage wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "Pearl Jam is my drug."
Old friends like Rich Best, the former First Avenue booker who hired Pearl Jam and its members' other bands like Mother Love Bone into 7th Street Entry and First Ave back in the day. Vedder invited Best, now an executive VP at Live Nation in Los Angeles, onstage for a handshake and a hug.
Not sure if any of the other 18,000 people at the X felt unfriended, but they sure experienced one unforgettably galvanizing night of timeless rock (no need to call it grunge anymore).
This veteran Seattle ensemble, one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, remains one of the best live rock bands touring today. These Rock Hall of Famers are so respected by their fans — many of whom wore Pearl Jam T-shirts from different tours and cities as well as new ones custom-made for St. Paul's two-night stand — that there were surprisingly few cellphones out during the performance.
Vedder, 58, was friendly, committed, passionate, compassionate, intense and physical, though not the light rigging-climbing frontman of old (he did jump off of two-foot high speakers on Saturday). The rhythm section of drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Jeff Ament (who wore a T-shirt honoring the Duluth band Low) was solid and driving, abetted by rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard. And the lead guitar work of Mike McCready was consistently heroic, elevating the tunes to new heights.
