Pearl Jam

THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMANCES I'VE WITNESSED among dozens and dozens of concerts, so I felt obliged to describe in detail. Later, I heard that die-hard fans deemed it one of the band's best-ever. It was my first.  Instead of canceling a second show, Pearl Jam went on Wednesday with a stand-in drummer (Josh Klinghoffer - erstwhile Chili Peppers guitarist, longtime Pearl Jam collaborator and much more), as Matt Cameron recovered from COVID. Eddie Vedder's humor and voice, perhaps slightly deeper, were in fine form despite his being under the weather. A couple of songs in, he explained the deal, and the energy level soared as the crowd encouraged the new guy and expressed its gratitude to the band for carrying on. The enthusiasm intensified over 2.5 hours. Lead guitarist Mike McCready leapt all over the stage and showboated, playing a lonnng "Evenflow" solo behind his back and later throwing in "Eruption," providing Vedder a little relief. ("Another Brick in the Wall 2" and "Baba O'Riley" crept into the set, also.) How didn't I know how complicated the leads are? Vedder bantered all evening - he's quite charming. He sought out his Dallas sister in the audience, made a dedication ("Given to Fly") to a NASA astrophysicist also in attendance, and at one point, threw on a sequined jacket and a mirror-ball helmet, on the advice of his daughter, he said - their Swifty attire. He unexpectedly received a disembodied hand adorned with wedding band.  I'm told the '90s-heavy, 27-song setlist was sublimely assembled. Every member, smiles wide, was just digging the whole scene. Communal voices elevated a crescendoing "Black," my favorite. Notably missing to the uninitiated were "Jeremy" - oh well - as well as, alas, "Yellow Ledbetter" and "Better Man." By the time "Alive" (25th) came around, the roof about blew off Dickey's Arena.  Coda: We sat behind the stage, a little apprehensive about it during the opener, Deep Sea Diver, a pretty-good, female-fronted rock band way into distortion. But for anyone wondering, the acoustics were excellent, and the big screens work on both sides, the images reversed on the back. Credit to the videographers' fine work, captured in these pictures. So, we didn't feel like we missed too much, although there was an unfortunate pole smack between us and Eddie. We understood lyrics we never could on the albums. Maybe bc he was sick? Maybe bc of our seats? Maybe bc we were more attuned? Who knows. Who cares. It rocked.