Eddie Vedder - The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA - 4/12/08

Eddie Vedder’s very brief solo tour through California found him stopping at in Los Angeles at The Wiltern for a two-night stand. He very easily could have played it safe that first night, appearing as Eddie the Rock Star offering up a collection of Pearl Jam hits, the ones shouted out by the unimaginative nostalgia seekers in attendance thinking they were going to relive their youth from the ‘90s, but Eddie is no longer that twenty-something Gen X-er. Instead he chose to stretch as an artist and revealed another aspect of himself, which made the evening all the more compelling.

With no band to support him, he sat center stage all alone, alternating instruments between acoustic and electric guitar, ukulele, mandolin, and even banjo. The set was comprised of songs from soundtracks, covers, and Pearl Jam rarities (only one song from the band’s first three and most successful albums made the cut) in what he likely considered a musical experiment as his guitar tech wore a white lab coat. In fact, he seemed almost cautious to not get people’s hopes up, and in the middle of his first song, a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Walking the Cow,” he stopped the proceeding and asked people to sit down and relax since we were in a theater. That’s why he wore the sports coat, he explained.

The remainder of this review can be read at Blogcritics.