Pearl Jam starts its tour early
By Peter Howell - Toronto Star Pop Critic
Pearl Jam have jumped the gun on their own tour.
The Seattle superstars staged a surprise show Saturday night at the Showbox club in their hometown, rocking fans and family members two days in advance of what was supposed to have been the first gig of their new tour. Their first out-of-town stop is Toronto this Saturday, at a sold-out Maple Leaf Gardens.
For the surprise show, the band sold tickets for $21 apiece at a single location, Rudy's Barber Shop (``Ten bucks for a buzz cut''), a Seattle clip joint and tattoo parlor popular with local scenesters.
News spread mainly by word of mouth, the Internet and America Online (AOL). By early Friday, hundreds of people were waiting in line for Rudy's to open.
Just 400 tickets were put on sale, and each person was allowed to buy a maximum of two, so scalpers immediately drove prices up. One desperate fan on AOL offered $1,500 to anyone who would sell him a single ticket - a request that brought him much scorn and anger from fans, who know how much Pearl Jam hates ticket scalping.
As you might expect, the two-hour show was described as ``awesome'' by those in attendance, heavy on music from the new No Code album and the previous Vitalogy, with key selections from the earlier Vs. and Ten discs.
The set list (see below) also included ``I Got S--t'' from last year's Merkinball single, ``Leaving Here,'' the Motown/Who cover from the Home Alive charity compilation, and ``Wash,'' an early B-side.
The first nine songs were all from No Code, the first four in exactly the same order as on the record. The middle portion of the set was what the band called its ``Human Jukebox'' section, loaded with hits like ``Even Flow'' and ``Animal.'' The last part of the set had something from every album except Vitalogy.
Right up front was AOL member and staunch Pearl Jam fan Denise, 38 (she didn't want to give her last name), who also has tickets for tonight's concert at Seattle's 14,000-capacity Key Arena.
Being at the club show left her so excited, ``I was shaking,'' she said. She's such a hardcore fan, she's taught her pet cockatiel to sing the background sounds of the song ``Black.''
Although 400 tickets were sold, about twice that many were at the Showbox, because hundreds more tickets were given to Pearl Jam's friends and family.
``They were really having fun,'' Denise said of the performance. ``They were all smiling at each other, and obviously enjoying it a lot.