Review: Pearl Jam Dark Matter tour, People First Stadium, Gold Coast

From shoutouts to Gold Coast surfing legends, to Pink Floyd and waxing lyrical about epic festivals of yesterday, Pearl Jam came, saw and conquered Queensland, writes John O’Brien.

Pearl Jam's show at Carrara on the Gold Coast last night in what was their only Queensland gig. Picture: Simone Gorman-Clark

A Pearl Jam concert is like life - and a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get.

There are the obligatory megahits, of course: you can usually expect to hear Alive, Better Man and Even Flow (if not Jeremy).

But the rest of their back catalogue is so vast, and their mastery of it so complete, the set list varies wildly from night to night.

This was their Dark Matter tour, but with dark skies and severe storms forcing an hour-plus delay in proceedings it might well have been their Lightning Bolt tour of a decade ago.

In fact that’s how long it had been since they last visited our shores.

“A lot of people had to work hard to make sure everybody was safe,” charismatic lead singer Eddie Vedder said of the delay, which cost the first of their two support acts.

“Local crew, local administrators, everybody making sure that we could delay and do all the things to get you in here safe.

“We are very very grateful, but most of all, thanks to you for making each other safe and getting in here like peaceable human beings.”

Pearl Jam played a sold-out gig at People First Stadium at Carrara on the Gold Coast, supported by the Pixies. Picture: Andrew Potts

Despite pushing 60 Pearl Jam remain consummate musicians, including former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, whose presence prompted Vedder to wax nostalgic about the Aussie Big Day Out with the fellow grunge pioneers back in the day.

Meanwhile, guitarist Mike McCready cranked out many a powerful solo, even performing a rendition of Van Halen’s Eruption and modelling an Angels Night Attack T-shirt.

Pearl Jam's show at Carrara on the Gold Coast last night. Picture: Simone Gorman-Clark

And an integral part of the performance were the spectacular video screens that were as high-definition as they were monolithic.

A must for capacity stadium shows like these, they not only allow an up-close-and-personal view of the performers, but enable a dizzying array of visual effects, from monochrome to vivid colour, psychedelic, saturated and everything in between.

Playing at the Glitter Strip’s AFL central, Vedder said: “So is everybody good in the home of the Gold Coast Suns?

“We like the underdogs, we like the Gold Coast Suns. It has men and women, which is badass.

“So the ball’s coming to you, or let’s say an accident happens, or an election happens, or an election that feels like an accident, don’t react, respond,” he said, before the band launched into React, Respond from the new Dark Matter album.

The Carrara crowd lapping up Pearl Jam’s only Queensland show last night. Picture: Simone Gorman-Clark

It was as political as the usually outspoken frontman got, aside from a reference to women’s bodies when the band segued into Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall Part II during Daughter: “Hey politicians, leave those girls alone.”

There were other Gold Coast references too, such as a name check in Given to Fly along with stunning aerial footage of our own Glitter Strip.

And Vedder gave a shoutout to a local legend and his fellow chairman of the board.

“Talking about legends, there’re a couple in the crowd tonight, two surfing champions...

“My great great friends, they’re as good a people as they are surfers, which says a whole f---ing lot: Mr Mark Richards, Mr Mick Fanning!

Pearl Jam played a sold-out gig at People First Stadium at Carrara on the Gold Coast. Picture: Andrew Potts

“Mick is getting inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame on Monday in Melbourne. And Mark Richards is already in there.

“And I just wanna thank the Aussie surf gods for giving us no f---ing surf at all.

“We didn’t even have a choice, there was no way to get in the water, we’d have all been in the water, we’d all have been a little bit beat, but instead we saved all our energy for this moment right here!

“But if the gods can hear us and they wanna give us some waves tomorrow that would be... we won’t stay dry.

“So we dedicate this song (I Am Mine) to all the surfers in Surfers Paradise. I know that every surfer believes in equal rights - and equal lefts!”

There was even a shoutout to the Bell brothers from Boy Swallows Universe, the hit semi-autobiographical novel by Pearl Jam fan Trent Dalton, also in attendance on Wednesday night.

Pearl Jam were Neil Young’s uncredited backing band on his Mirror Ball album, and often end their shows with his 1991 hit Rockin’ in the Free World (as they did on Wednesday night).

And being Young’s birthday it was an even more special occasion, which the band marked with a rendition of I Got Id which they wrote for the “godfather of grunge”.

Setlist: Corduroy, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Given to Fly, Why Go, Quick Escape, React, Respond, Dark Matter, I Am Mine, Wreckage, Even Flow, I Got Id, Daughter, Got to Give, Severed Hand, Black, Porch. Encore: Man of the Hour, Do the Evolution, Breath, Better Man, Alive, Rockin’ in the Free World

* Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter world tour continues in Melbourne on Saturday and Monday, and Sydney next Thursday and Saturday

Originally published as Review: Pearl Jam Dark Matter tour, People First Stadium, Gold Coast