Pearl Jam 20 Review

So, how was your Labor Day weekend? Mine was AMAZING.

I went to the Pearl Jam 20th Anniversary show in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. Could you figure that out from all the old Pearl Jam videos I posted? I would tell you all about it, but there are sooo many details, I'm afraid I can't tell it well enough.

Original Art from the Pearl Jam museum at the festival

The weekend was amazing, the concert festival was amazing... I can't use that word enough. But it went by so fast that it's all a blur, so if you really want to read the details, you should check out the Spin Magazine article, HERE. All I can tell you is my own particular experience. So feel free to skip this whole post if you aren't interested. It's a long story, about 20 years long. :)

Pretty much no one I know truly understands my Pearl Jam addiction. I'm about 10 to 15 years older than most Jammers. And it wasn't always like this. I haven't been a Jammer from the beginning, I must admit. Back when Pearl Jam came out 20 years ago, I had my first baby. I was really REALLY into country music, top 40 country and folk/roots/bluegrass country. When my husband brought home the first Pearl Jam album, I was less than interested. (And my baby was even LESS than less than interested.) Daddy listened to the album, he was on his own.

Years went by, and my sons got a bit older. Pearl Jam music became more interesting to them, because it was DADDY's music. And of course little boys wanna be just like their Daddy. But it was still not something I listened to. Daddy took the boys to one of their earliest concerts, when Pearl Jam PNC in 2003. My oldest was 13, and the younger was 11. They loved it. Later that summer, we all went hiking, and the ride home from that trip was my first real immersion into the music; I was captive in the car, with the men in my life singing their hearts out. But it was fun, and I was getting used to it.

As the years went on, they wore me down. I finally started to recognize songs and realize I liked them. Of course, the song "Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town" was the first song I honestly loved. But that wasn't even what clinched it.

The final straw, cementing my Pearl Jam addiction for all time, was when my son was sick. He was hospitalized for a long time and was in pain and stress you can't imagine. He would listen to his Pearl Jam albums all day long, to give himself strength and to take his mind off what was wrong. A friend told a friend who told a friend... and Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder reached out and contacted my son. There is NOTHING that a person can do that is more important than to help a child, and although what they did may seem insignificant to some, it meant the entire world to him, and to me. So that's my history.

And as for the concert... My son (who's feeling 100% better), my husband and myself flew out of Newark and into O'Hare Airport in Chicago on Friday. We rented a car, and drove to the beautiful resort community of Lake Geneva. I really want to get back there someday - it's a charming place!

Even in Lake Geneva we were part of a larger Pearl Jam community. We saw plenty of people with Pearl Jam gear, and everyone had a friendly word.
Saturday, we headed over to the venue, a place called Alpine Valley. Alpine Valley is a ski resort, but as a concert stage, it's similar to PNC; an outdoor amphitheater with lots of lawn seating. We had two days of seats on the lawn. The rain of that first day did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm. Nothing could stop us, we had RAIN PONCHOS. Pearl Jam fans are nothing if not faithful.
People were there from all around the world, traveling much farther than we did to be a part of the celebration. And to make it even better, we had front row seats. (Well... it was the front row of the lawn, at least!)

And this is where it all becomes a blur to me. Because I couldn't even begin to tell you all of the other acts - although Mud Honey, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Strokes all played the main stage. I couldn't tell you the set list or the singers who joined in - although Chris Cornell and the set he did was especially amazing. All I can tell you is that song after song, the band rocked. And the audience rocked along with them. One of the things I love best is the sing-along. It's a communal, tribal, kind of thing; something that is really missing in our society. Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder are masters of the sing along; and this was the perfect crowd for that, because these are the faithful, and they know all the words to all the songs, even the obscure ones. It was uplifting and exhausting.
And that was only the first day. The second day? We went back and did it all again. But on the second day, the weather was beautiful. So that's my review. Sorry I don't have more specifics; but wow... I guess you really had to be there.