PEARL JAM Marlay Park, Dublin ★★★★☆ Grunge was the soundtrack to 1990s angst, but 30 years later, the scene’s leading lights, Pearl Jam , have mellowed into dad rockers fuelled by humour, optimism and fashion-forward hats. It’s more than a decade since they last played Ireland – though frontman Eddie Vedder has performed several solo shows in the interim – and, by way of making up for the absence, their beefy 140-minute set at Marlay Park is loaded with favourites. They take it to 11 by dipping into debut album Ten for epic opener Release.
Powered by guitarist Mike McCready and bassist Jeff Ament – Ament’s headgear is epic, too – the song is a maximalist slab of vintage rock, topped off with charismatic vocals by teddy-bear-like singer, Vedder. Pearl Jam weren’t just the biggest brand in grunge after Nirvana. Rejecting the greed and hypocrisy of the boomer generation that had preceded them, they also tried to stand for something.
They famously boycotted Ticketmaster in 1994 – having had a premonition of the monster it would become – and, in the decades since, have been consistently vocal about social justice. That they remain outspoken is confirmed when, introducing Better Man, from 1994′s Vitalogy, Vedder talks about the epidemic of violence against women. He refers to a demonstration close to his St Stephen’s Green hotel against the suspended sentence handed down to Defence Forces member Cathal Crotty after the soldier pleaded guilty to pun.
