Eddie Vedder solo tour review: Pearl Jam frontman delivers old-school alt-rock with newfound fervor and Earthlings

In the more than 30 years that Eddie Vedder has been a part of the rock music pantheon, he has played a full cast of characters on stage. There was the lopsided banshee that made Lollapalooza’s early appearances look like stunt double tries; the enthusiastic Cubs fan who got to live out his field of dreams headlining Wrigley Field; and the emotional joker who flipped the script on “MTV Unplugged.” Yet on Wednesday night at the Auditorium Theater — the first of two nights in a short series of solo shows — Vedder was simply a singer-songwriter in his element.

The rare appearance without the members of Pearl Jam, served as a sounding board for Vedder’s latest solo material, before his new album “Earthling” is released on Friday. Although tonight’s extensive performance was rounded out with an assortment of covers, Vedder devoted the meaty midsection to previewing nine of the 13 new tracks that show off his ever-growing lineup.

Standouts included the album’s opener “Invincible” with its cosmic lo-fi sheen, the twisty Americana ballad “Long Way” and the fast-paced surf rock number “Try” (with Stevie Wonder providing harmonica on the album version). Perhaps most evocative, however, was the alternative rock in memoriam, “Brother The Cloud,” which many speculated was written about his late Seattle bandmate Chris Cornell, though Vedder has yet to confirm.

For now, the brief getaway only includes six cities. The idea, Vedder said, was born out of studio work with his supergroup band The Earthlings, who debuted at his Ohana Festival last September and have been a huge asset to the new material. The cast consists of Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith as well as former RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, The Frames/Swell Season talent Glen Hansard on guitar and vocals, as well as new guitarist Andrew Watt who, until now, has been a well-known producer for the top 40 pop stars, but will soon earn a reputation as a bona fide grinder.

“Watching these guys create and play together in the studio, we had to take it out on the road,” Vedder said at one point. And that night’s show quickly took on that personality, much like watching the sextet walk out of their garage together. Being a fly on the wall in this setting was equally special, even if the two-and-a-half-hour set was a little slow to start, coming out of doors with four covers that were perhaps too long. jam session. But when the group got a foothold, they showed real chemistry.

Such was the case with “I’ll Be Waiting,” the song Vedder and Hansard contributed to the “Flag Day” soundtrack, which calls for the duo to do more duets. Even when the Earthlings took Pearl Jam numbers like “Not For You” and “Porch,” they delivered them with the same emphasis fans have come to expect from Vedder’s other brothers-in-arms. It’s no easy task, given the rabid fandom for the purity of ’90s mainstays. solo – the thing is, if you’re someone like Eddie Vedder, you don’t just help define a generation and go softly into the night. You keep evolving, creating, and hoping people come back for more.

And for him, they still do. Especially in Chicago where the Evanston-raised artist fits into our allegiance complex, where people still want to root for Vedder. Especially since he feasts on insider stories on the Skokie Swift CTA line and sees his first concert at the same Auditorium Theater (Bruce Springsteen in 1977), then calls Chris Chelios in the crowd and checks the name of Ernie Banks for a brief moment of soliloquy. .

Hansard opened the show, giving every fiber of his being as he delivered “Falling Slowly” and “When Your Mind’s Made Up,” from the hit movie and Broadway show, “Once.” Although he’s without his Swell Season partner Marketa Irglova, it was a great preview of their return next month to the Cadillac Palace Theater for a special event. Unsurprisingly, at the end of the five-song set, Hansard received a well-deserved standing ovation.

It was a response that would be repeated at the end of the evening as Vedder and the team kept their promise to try and “make history” for the young debutants spotted in the front row, in a show that was all except “boring”. .” If only Nikki Sixx had been there to see it.

Define list:

1. “Drive” (REM cover)

2. “Room at the Top” (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)

3. “Here Comes the Sun” (Beatles cover)

4. “I Am One” (The Who cover)

5. “I’ll Wait” (Vedder and Hansard song)

6. “The Darkness”

7. “Invincible”

8. “Long road”

9. “The Haves”

ten. “Brother Cloud”

11. “Fallout Today”

12. “Mrs. Mills”

13. “Not for You” (Pearl Jam)

14. “To try”

15. “Rose of Jericho”

16. “Precious” (The Suitors cover)

17. “Best Man” (Pearl Jam)

18. “Give Blood” (Pete Townshend cover)

19. “Hard Sun” (Indian cover)

20. “Dirty Frank” (Pearl Jam)

21. “Isn’t It a Pity” (George Harrison cover)

22. “Porch” (Pearl Jam)