The year was 1991.
I lay on the couch in a stink hole two bedroom apartment that I was renting.
A person only known as Nasty Girl, flipping through channels to abate my hangover. I find MTV
(which still played mostly music videos back then), close my eyes and try to sleep.
Desperate Times.
Before I could sleep though, a new band called “Pearl Jam” was debuting their first music video, “Alive”….
“Son,” she said. “Have I got a little story for you
What you thought was your Daddy was nothin’ but a
While you were sittin’ home alone at age thirteen
Your real Daddy was dyin’, sorry you didn’t see him but I’m glad we talked…”
So began my decades long affair with this band, their politics, music, antics, and lead singer. Last night, I finally saw Eddie for the first time.
Phoenix’s Comerica Theater is a bright shining star in the dark desert night. Arm hair stands erect from the electricity of the evening. The evening begins with Glen Hansard, native of Ireland and former lead singer of The Frames. He is fantastic.
The stage for Eddie is simple as it is only him, no band. His storytelling is infectious, the acoustic songs played are old and new, his own and other artists that he admires. Glen joins him for a few duets, and even one of the actors from the movie ” Into the Wild” ( which Eddie wrote the soundtrack for), was at the show and comes on stage. Magical.
The second encore includes the entire audience standing and singing with Eddie. From “big heart sun” to Neil Young’s ” rockin’ in the free world”.
A rare spell of wonder in the air.
Smiles all around.
If a heaven does exist, it was in the Valley of the Sun last night.
Great version of Watchtower.