I saw Pearl Jam last night...

I saw PJ's second show in Camden last night. No ex-prisoners in sight and barely a bathroom break for the band during a long & great show. Up there with Radiohead & NIN as one of a handfull of extraordinary arena-scale performances I've seen in the last few years.

My Morning Jacket from Kentucky was also good-- to my ear a synthesis of Allman Bros. Band in its prime, with some perhaps too obvious debts to Mercury Rev.

My Pet Peeve: What is it with the dweeby frat-boy fans who need to get out their cell phones during the best moments of a rock concert and bring their friends on-line with the experience?

Dave

I'm amused to hear the hand-wringing explainations of how "brave" these entertainers are to "take a risk" on an issue. Freeing innocent prisoners is not a "leftist cause," but many (usually ignorant--in the true sense of the word) entertainers tend espouse liberal "causes." Anyway, nearly everyone in prison claims to be innocent. There's no country on Earth that an accused has more opportunities to prove their innocence that in the United States. Maybe Eddie Vedder should take his cause on the road to great places like Iran, Sudan, China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. where there are "innocents" in prison for only expressing an opinion about something! SHEESH!

Okay- The censors will pull this thread if it gets any hotter :)

BTW, PJ closed the Camden concert with a strong cover of The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again-- reappropriating this anthem for my generation from #1 standing with the American Idol fans at National Review.

Dave

For anyone interested, here is the list of this week's beneficiaries of Pearl Jam's activism on this tour. The Innocence Project was on stage that particular night because they are located in the host city. Other nights might highlight the efforts of a local group that feeds the homeless, etc., with $1 per paid ticket going to each respective non-profit organization.

From the perspective of this self-serving, lazy, complainin' mofo, I'd have to applaud their contribution. And if I was an innocent in prison, I'd thank my lucky stars that someone on the outside gave a damn.