On Saturday night, in the cozy confines of the Toledo Sports Arena (which is located in the swing state of Ohio), Death Cab For Cutie and Pearl Jam continued their portion of the ‘Get Out The Vote’ Tour. Eddie Vedder took the stage before Gop Roberts (featuring Tim Robbins, who has been joining PJ for ‘The New World’ every night) and Death Cab to start the evening with solo versions of Jackson Browne’s ‘I Am A Patriot’ and The Beatles’, ‘You’ve Got To HIde Your Love Away.’
Pearl Jam’s setlist underscored the spirit of this tour, as they sprinkled covers like Steve Forbert’s ‘The American In Me,’ and The Dead Kennedy’s, ‘Bleed For Me’ among their own career-spanding original song choices. Their first encore was an acoustic set (also as it has been this tour) and after a gripping rendition of ‘Black’ from their debut album, Ten, Vedder told the audience he was bringing up a friend, ‘who came a long way, I thought to see us, but really I think he came out to see you,’ and as his band left the stage, Neil and Pegi Young entered it to perform ‘Harvest Moon’ in a trio format with Vedder (Neil on guitar, Eddie and Pegi on vocals) to end the first encore.
The full band returned with Neil fronting them on electric guitar (Eddie and Pegi stood to the side as backing vocalists), and the band tore through ‘All Along The Watchtower,’ ‘Act Of Love,’ ‘Cortez The Killer,’ and ‘Rockin’ In The Free World,’ with Peter Frampton joining for ‘Act Of Love.’
Pearl Jam continued the tour at The Delta Plex in Walker, Michigan where they debuted cover versions of James Taylor’s, ‘Millworker,’ and Michigan-based MC5’s, ‘Kick Out The Jams.’
Pearl Jam will perform three more dates with Death Cab For Cutie, as the tour continues tomorrow night at The Fox Theater in St. Louis, and travels to Asheville, NC (Wednesday) and Kissimmee, FL (Friday), before Pearl Jam concludes their tour at the MCI Center in Washington DC a week from tonight, perform that night on a bill with James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews Band, John Fogerty, R.E.M. and others. Report by Rob Turner