The old Pearl Jam returns

Geoff Carter

Monday, Oct. 23, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

The last time I saw Pearl Jam play live was in November 1993. The band had just released its sophomore album "Vs.," a record so hotly anticipated that nothing less than a two-night stand at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts was required to support it.

The band was in remarkably high spirits. They playfully covered their amplifiers and equipment with tiny NBA figurines, invited an Elvis impersonator onstage to duet with frontman Eddie Vedder and were as visibly excited to play their hits as the audience was to hear them. The set had a palpable momentum -- it felt as if the band had lifted you over their heads and run around the block.

I felt as if I'd witnessed some history that night. The band would almost surely get bigger, I knew. As I saw it, Pearl Jam would barely be able to squeeze itself into stadiums within five years. After that, they'd have to rent out Rhode Island just to accommodate the fans east of the Mississippi.

Hindsight is easy, but even so, I'm amazed I didn't recognize the obvious: The band didn't want to get any bigger. Vedder, in particular, still disdains success. Since that early peak, Pearl Jam has done everything in its power to knock its fan base down to manageable proportions. It stopped making videos, dropped below the radar to wage a lengthy battle with Ticketmaster and recorded eccentric albums that only diehard fans picked up.

Naturally, it didn't work. The near-capacity crowd that greeted the band Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was just this side of rabid; it was as if "No Code" and "Yield" never happened. The band celebrated its 10th anniversary as a working outfit Sunday night, and as the ecstatic first notes of "Corduroy" made obvious, Pearl Jam was happy to have gotten that far.

"No matter how poorly we play tonight," said gloomy optimist Vedder, "we probably played more poorly 10 years ago on our first night." If Sunday night's performance was the standard, Pearl Jam's first night must have been exceptional. Put plainly, the band flew through its set and never scraped ground even once.

"Dissident" and "Last Exit" bellowed out like twin sirens. "Animal" took on a slightly funky edge as the band hit stride. "Evenflow" was nearly overwhelming -- and Vedder, ever the mischievous surf-punk, kicked right into "Jeremy" just as the last notes of "Evenflow" died down, to finish off what was left of the house.

"Am I looking at winners or losers? High rollers or gutter punks?" Vedder asked the crowd. "Well, you could put me down with the perpetual losers."

Yeah, right. This from a guy who finished "Corduroy" with a jump-kick worthy of Pete Townshend in his prime. A lot of things have changed in seven years, but one thing remains certain: If Pearl Jam keeps playing as strong as it did Sunday night, the band might have to put a down payment on Rhode Island after all. If you play big, gentlemen, big is what you'll get.