It sounded like another gratuitous comment thrown out by a rock star: "Maybe next time we tour, we'll just do three weeks in Minnesota." So said Eddie Vedder when Glen Hansard joined him for the first of about a half dozen collaborations Saturday night at the Orpheum. At least Eddie punctuated the line with a promise that he hasn't said that anywhere else.
Truth is, he didn't need to qualify it. People who go to a lot of concerts can clearly identify it when an audience is connecting with the performer on a higher level, and Saturday's show was definitely one of those cases. Things got downright mushy. It probably helped (and spurred Vedder on) that the fans also went pretty gaga for Hansard in his opening set, especially after his amazing rendition of "Astral Weeks." Vedder raised the bar by adding so many Pearl Jam tunes to the set, but plenty of his solo tunes and covers were almost as ecstatically received. Even a lot of the ukulele-plucked tunes, although that proved to be just a fraction of the set.
Click here to read the full review of the show and see a photo gallery. Here is Vedder's set list:
Can't Keep / Sleeping By Myself / Without You / More Than You Know (old 1929 standard) / Goodbye / You're True / Dead Man / Just Breathe / Off He Goes / Better Man / Love Boat Captain / Long Nights (w/ Glen Hansard) / Setting Forth / Far Behind / Guaranteed / Rise / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Beatles song) / Unthought Known / The End / Arc ENCORE 1: Long Road (dedicated to crew member who lost her grandma) / Wishlist / Sleepless Nights (Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris duet w/ Hansard) / Society (Jerry Hannan song w/ Hansard) / Falling Slowly (Hansard's Swell Season opus w/ Eddie dueting) / 4th Of July (X cover) / Porch ENCORE 2: Hard Sun (w/ Hansard) / Dream A Little Dream
Hansard's opening set: Pennies in the Fountain / Seven Day Mile / Leave / Low Rising / Become / Love Don't Keep Me Waiting / Astral Weeks (Van Morrison cover) / Song of Good Hope
