(TV) Report from LA

[Mark Meader <markm@adnc.com>]

Guess I'm a little behind the curve here, but the story as I saw it from Los
Angeles:

Most unique warm-up act I've ever seen: Eddie Vedder sporting a mohawk and
accompanying himeself on a ukelele. If that's not alternative, I don't know
what is. He had a young viiolinist that he apparently met while surfing join
him for a couple of songs.. brought the whole house to their feet.

The venue: a surprise for me.  I expected a big ballroom type place with
everybody milling around on an open floor, but it turned out to be an
elegant old theater with hardwood aisles, at least 2000 seats and good
acoustics.  Equivilent to the Orpheum in Boston for you East-Coasters, but
in much nicer condition.

The Gig: I was thinking that the place would clear out between sets, but
everyone guarded their good seats in front so the best my wife and I could
do was about 3/4 of the way back in the orchestra, which was kind of
dissapointing.  Luckily, before TV came out, one of the festival people
announced that all the unlucky folks waiting outside might get in if the
rest of us would stand up and rush the stage!  Well, Hell yeah, we can do
that.. so took that as our cue to snake our way down to the right side of
the stage just in front of Richard's spot.
  The boys ambled out and Tom announced:  "it takes us about an hour to
strap on the guitars".  Sounded like a joke at the time, but turned out to
be prophetic. Tom's a smart and ironic guy, so I think he knew the
situation.. I guessed the set was doomed to be painfuly short when I saw the
schedule published on the web site last week.  Everybody was penciled in for
an hour, max..
  Anyway.. Tom ended up didling with his equipment for a least 5 minutes
while Richard and Billy improvised some cool, surging chord stuff. Actually,
given the time, I could easily listen to Billy just warm up on the drums for
an hour.  The guy is awesome.. he has the touch and the inventiveness of a
fine jazz drummer. At least he and Fred were tight.

  After Tom finally got set, he joined in for another few minutes until they
transitioned into "1880 or so".  Unfortunately, Tom's mike was adjusted way
down, so his vocals were completely lost until near the end of the song when
they got it right. Next came "Call Mr. Lee".. unlike Greg, I thought Richard
was alright, but the overall effect was still a bit ragged. To me, it was
Tom that just didn't seem comfortable for the first few songs.
  "Prove It" was better. They seemed to be more at ease with the older
material. Then came "Little Johnny Jewel", followed but something I have to
admit I've never heard.. so if it was old, new or a cover, I've no idea.
  After that, Richard looked at his watch, shrugged towards Tom and they
tuned their E stings down to D (I believe) for "Marquee Moon". Never thought
I'd be bummed to hear the start of "MM" played live, but that was obviously
going to be the end.   Of course I knew going in that we were not going to
be seeing a working band, in the middle of a real tour, playing at the top
of their game.. but it was pretty frustrating to have it all over just as
they were starting to get it together, especially after waiting 23 or so
years to see 'em! You New York guys should be luckier.. they'll be on home
turf for 2 nights and with no time constraints.  If I had time to make
reasonable arrangements, I swear I'd fly back there just to see it, and I
intend to if it happens again, which I think it probably will.  Tom and
Richard were smiling and talking between songs, seemed to be having a good
time and not taking it all too seriously, which was a good thing under the
circumstances.

 A few thoughts/speculations for what they are worth:

 * If they tuned up backstage before coming out, they probably could have
played 2 more songs, but I'm not complaining too much. I'd rather listen to
Tom and Richard tune than listen to a lot of other guys play. Still.. the
lack of preparation was painfully obvious.

* I think I was guilty of underestimating Richard's contribution to the
sound of the band.. he carries a lot of the weight and it was really
interesting to finally see who is doing what. Just wish I could have seen a
lot more of it.

* It was indeed a sloppy affair, but it was just an overall bad situation
for them with the time constraint and coming in cold. (When was their last
gig.. 8-9 months ago?)  You could sense the greatness there, but it was
below the surface most of the way. I could definitely understand if some
people were dissapointed.

* All in all, I hope they blew out the cob webs and do some kick-ass shows
in New York, and hopefuly some other U.S. shows later this year... I'll be
there if they do.

Mark M.
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