| Toned
down, Harper can sound like Cat Stevens (as he did during
a soulful cover of "Sexual Healing"), or rip
it up to Lenny Kravitz and beyond. His last note on "The
Woman in You" peaked at about 30 continuous seconds,
leaving Harper red-faced and the crowd screaming.
Billy
Idol would be one of the last people someone might expect
to shine at an acoustic event. Guitarist and catalyst
Steve Stevens is so reliant on special effects and noise-making
that comes with
electricity, it was debatable whether he even owned
an acoustic.
He
does. The format just gave Stevens a chance to show
off his picking and some frantic double-time strumming.
Songs dependent on power chords, like "Eyes Without
a Face," and "White Wedding," came off
just as powerfully, if not a bit altered and fresh.
Idol of course, was Idol, jumping around in leather,
thrusting fists at the crowd, and charming the kids
on stage with his adolescent behavior.
The
set was a quick run through Idol's greatest hits, including
"Rock the Cradle," Got To Be a Lover,"
"Sweet 16," "Rebel Yell," and "Mony
Mony" (with the usual chant encouraging the crowd
to get, er, jiggy. It was hard to tell if the kids were
singing along to that part).
Chapman
was a big shift from the hyperactive Idol. The crowd
quieted down, as if to hear every syllable coming out
of her mouth as she opened solo with "If Not Now,"
from her 1988 self-titled debut. They couldn't help
themselves two songs later, during "Fast Car,"
-- one of the most gorgeous and compelling songs written
during the '80s. She slowed it down just a tad, delivering
every word with a precision not lost on the audience,
who sang all the way through.
Chapman
gave everyone plenty of space to keep singing along,
making the most of a format practically made for her.
She ended her set with a Delta Blues version of "Give
Me One Reason," bare bones and slower, again conforming
just a bit for the format.
R.E.M.
played a straightforward set; the lack of electricity
barely changed anything. Singer Michael Stipe sounded
good on set-standards "Man on the Moon," a
sedate "The One I Love," and "Losing
My Religion." R.E.M. displayed a comfortable sound,
not fantastic, not embarrassing -- mirroring some of
their recent records.
Dave
Matthews was in the same boat, though he was clearly
the crowd favorite of the night. Maybe it was his nervousness
going solo that won them over, looking worried and reminding
himself to breathe on stage. Like R.E.M., he was solid
-- not spectacular. But he got good reaction on "Space
Between" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along
the Watchtower."
Things
perked up for Pearl Jam, who ran through "Long
Road," "Of the Girl," "Daughter,"
"Better Man" and "Drifting" during
an outstanding 11-song set. The band is getting more
organic as it ages; there was barely anything on Saturday
recalling its importance to the grunge scene a decade
ago.
If
anything, unveiling new songs makes Pearl Jam sound
more like Young and other fluid songwriters like Bruce
Springsteen. The band is comfortable enough to just
show up and play and Young's request -- and excel. The
members manage song dynamics masterfully and builds
the set to get better as it progresses.
Young
and Crazy Horse wrapped it all up, opening with a typically
strong versions of "Long May You Run" and
"Love and Only Love." Young set a thoughtful
tone, playing Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind,"
then his own "Mideast Vacation" -- "When
they burned me in effigy, my vacation was complete,"
Young sang to scattered laughter. Before playing "Mother
Earth on the pump organ, Young admitted that "Every
word means something different than it did before."
They
then shelved the typical ending all-star jam for a sedate
version of "Imagine," with Young playing John
Lennon's vocal part on his guitar and allowing the other
artists and crowd to sing along. It wasn't the typical
raucous ending, but seemed right for the time and mood.
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Despite
Eddie Vedder's apologies for rusty musicianship (all musicians
should sound so rusty), Pearl Jam played a compelling
array of material highlighted by the always moving "Better
Man," "Drifting," the country- inflected
tune written on a drive back from Young's Bay Area home
and a duet with Harper on "Indifference."
A
solo Matthews bemoaned feeling nervous but offered a
smooth and seemingly nerve-free roundup of favorites
such as "All Along the Watchtower," "The
Space Between" and "Bartender," as well
as a new song and a cover of the dark country classic
"Long Black Veil."
Young's
set had some popular choices
-- "Long May You Run" and a cover of the Beatles'
"All You Need Is Love" -- and one showstopper:
a retooled version of 1987's "Mideast Vacation"
that contained the warning "You'll never be a hero/
Stop sniffin' that smokin' gun."
"It's
hard to know what song to play these days," Young
noted before performing "Mother Earth" on
a pump organ. "Every song sounds different. Every
word means something different."
Wise
words from a maverick who endures as a musical icon
precisely because he's an iconoclast, one who isn't
afraid to speak his mind or fight for his right to keep
on rocking in a free-speech world.
THE
BIG TICKET down
the Peninsula this weekend was the Bridge School concert,
a benefit organized by Neil Young that produces about
20 hours of music over Saturday and Sunday. My hard-working
assistant Jenny Pritchett along with The Examiner Period's
Jodi Paper and a few others trucked on down. ... Jenny
reports from the front, "Young opened the show
wearing an FDNY cap, singing 'Blowin' In the Wind.'
... Not a crowd pleaser was Jill Sobule, who sickened
with a tune about an anorectic. ... But then came Ben
Harper, who sang a duet with his mom. ... REM's Michael
Stipe officiously asked people to turn their cellphones
off. Some in the audience took the occasion to go for
beer. ... During the nine-hour show, the Bridge School
students sat on the stage. Enduring they are, and they
looked as if they were having a good time. ...
"Dave Matthews played wrapped in a long orange
scarf. All the performers looked like they were freezing,
actually. ... Dave brought gorgeous, shy Tracy Chapman
out to sing a duet of one of his songs. ... Neil came
out in a white cowboy hat for a duet with Dave of 'All
Along the Watchtower.' ... Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder,
with short hair now, started with a version of The Who's
'The Kids Are Alright,' ending the song by changing
the last line slightly to 'These kids are all right,'
and turned around to face the kids behind him. ...
"Billy Idol was amazing. He is so well-preserved,
and he kicked ass. I thought it was going to be strange
to see him, but he rocked. He pumped his fist in the
air to 'Rebel Yell,' sneered into the cameras, jumped
around on stage, ran through the aisles of kids, shook
their hands, even jumped offstage to prance up one aisle
smacking high-fives while singing and gesticulating.
Everyone around me was laughing and screaming for him
at the same time -- he was ridiculous and knew it and
loved it and just rocked. ... The big finale was the
singing of 'Imagine' by the audience and all the performers."
... For some, Jenny, that's as de rigeur as singing
"God Bless America." And for others, just
as cornball. ...
Hey, Strange de Jim knows where Osama gets his supplies:
Cave-Mart. But of course...
©The
Examiner, Monday Oct
22, 2001
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