Eddie Vedder live at the Marquee , Cork 11/06/2017 Review

Eddie Vedder strolled out on to the stage tonight twenty one years since Pearl Jam last played Cork. He mentioned the last place he played in cork was an old horse barn (Millstreet Arena 1996) equipped with hay bales and always associated the crowd in Cork with the smell of Horseshit . He was delighted that we smelt great tonight and that he would never leave it that long again. 

He went on to play a mammoth thirty song set with Pearl Jam classics sprinkled with covers ranging from a tribute to Rodger Walters 'Comfortable numb' played on piano , U2 , REM , A rousing version of Bruce Spingsteen's 'Open all Night'. Also hilariously playing a full on rock version of The Clash's 'Should I Stay or Should I go' on Ukulele. Eddie was joined on stage a few times by a lovely string ensemble made up of three violists and a cellist. They really did add a lovely feel to the acoustic tracks.

Eddie mentioned that tonight we was missing his daughters thirtieth birthday, A birthday cake was brought out and he got us to sing her happy birthday. Amazingly he then got the cake and threw it straight into the crowd!!!! 

I felt like a bit of a fraud being surrounded by Pearl Jam fans singing every line of every song throughout the night and I must confess I wasn't a major fan of the band back in the day. I think it was before my time and it just passed me by. My major grá for Vedder's music was sparked from the sound track to the film 'Into the Wild' . At that time I did actually start to go back though the Pearl Jam catalogue with a new appreciation. With their last album 'Lighting Bolt' even finding its way onto my top ten albums of 2013. 

Another reason for heading along to the Marquee tonight was to see the support Glen Hansard. A man who gets a lot of flack from music aficionados around but I have to say I have always loved The Frames and they gave me some of the best gigs over the years. I can't even remember the last time I witnessed Glen live and he didn't disappoint tonight. He opened the night with a song written by the late Cork man Fergus O'Farrell of the band 'Interference'. The lyrics of 'American Townland' being very apt for the current times: 

"Won't you settle down, stop fighting for your gods... Oh, settle down, stop fighting for your gods. They can't hear you now, not with the noise of your guns." 

Glen went on to play a lovely acoustic set of seven tracks including a cover of Woodie Guitries classic 'Vigilante Man' he also dedicated the track 'McCormack's Wall' to the late poet Danny Sheehy who tragically died during the week in a boating accident in Spain. 

Later on that night Glen joined Eddie on stage to close out the night, they started with an amazing version of  Glen's Oscar winning song 'Falling Slowly' with the cork crowd in spectacular voice. The two lads seems like real good ole pals just enjoying the night and as if we were interrupting a jam session of theirs at the back of  a pub. 'The Auld Triangle' got the crowd going with Eddie and Glen making up verses at the end trying to out do each other. It was great to see a stage hand bring out two pints of Murphys mid song. They then left the stage only to return to play a rousing rendition of Neil Young's 'Rocking in a free world' accompanied by the full string ensemble, Eddie was also sporting a people republic of Cork T-shirt :) Last song of the night was an unbelievable version of 'Hard Sun' with the crowd blasting out the chorus over and over and the lads yet again trying to out do each other on guitars. The gig couldn't but put a smile on your face and it was a serious uplifting experience. If you haven't caught Eddie live put it on the list. Cheers for an amazing night!

Set list:
1.Better Man (Pearl Jam song) 
2.Throw Your Arms Around Me (Hunters & Collectors cover) 
3.Sometimes (Pearl Jam song) 
4.Don't Be Shy (Cat Stevens cover) 
5.I Am Mine (Pearl Jam song) 
6.Off He Goes (Pearl Jam song) 
7.Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town (Pearl Jam song) 
8.Bad (U2 cover) (partial) 
9.Wishlist (Pearl Jam song) 
10.Can't Keep (Pearl Jam song) 
11.Soon Forget (Pearl Jam song) 
12.Sleeping by Myself (with Red Limo String Quartet) 
13.It Happened Today (R.E.M. cover) (with Red Limo String Quartet) 
14.Far Behind 
15.Driftin'(Pearl Jam song) 
16.Guaranteed 
17.Rise 
18.Unthought Known(Pearl Jam song) 
19.Open All Night(Bruce Springsteen cover) 
20.Porch(Pearl Jam song) 
21.Comfortably Numb(Pink Floyd cover) 
22.Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash cover) 
23.Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran cover) 
24.Come Back(Pearl Jam song) (with Red Limo String Quartet) 
25.Black(Pearl Jam song) (with Red Limo String Quartet) 
26.Falling Slowly(The Swell Season cover) (with Glen Hansard) (also with Red Limo String Quartet) 27.Society(Jerry Hannan cover) (with Glen Hansard) 
28.The Auld Triangle(with Glen Hansard) (Dicky Shannon) 
29.Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover) (with Glen Hansard) 
30.Hard Sun (Indio cover) (with Glen Hansard) (also with Red Limo String Quartet)