30/5/00: Wembley Arena:
London, England
Sony/Epic

What ever happened to live albums?” is a question I often hear these days. Those who ask are probably thinking of a time in the '70s when it was weird not to release live albums. In the '90s, bands realized how good they could sound thanks to studio wizardry, and consequently were less inclined to expose their raw and perhaps sloppy live shtick. Some bands, however, haven't wimped out. A heap of live albums have been released in the past year. Amazingly enough, 25 of them came from one band: Pearl Jam. And the fact that these albums are double-disc sets, containing different set lists, is enough to reinspire anyone about the whole live-album thing.

All the shows were recorded in their entirety during Pearl Jam's recent European tour, which began on May 23, 2000, in Lisbon, Portugal. All were mixed by the band's live-sound engineer, Brett Eliason. And even though 25 albums from different tours might have been cooler, you've got to appreciate what Pearl Jam has done.

After sampling a bunch of these discs (which come in plain cardboard sleeves), I focused on the vibrant May 30 show at Wembley Arena in London, the second of two performances at this venue. Rather than stampede right out of the gate as they often do, Pearl Jam opens with the poignant and pretty “Sometimes” (from 1996's No Code). Then they kick into a full-throttle “Grievance” (from their recent Binaural), which features charismatic crooner Eddie Vedder at his raspiest, and guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard stirring up a storm of electrified emotion.

Bands like Green River and Nirvana pioneered grunge, but Pearl Jam beefed up the style with bold, appealing songwriting and no-nonsense musicianship, becoming a stellar arena band in the process. On May 30, gems like “Corduroy,” “Hail Hail,” “Evenflow,” “MFC,” “Black,” “Daughter,” and the set-closer “Alive” (alas, no “Jeremy”) must have left the Wembley Arena crowd in gooseflesh mode. So put on your favorite flannels and seek out this terrific live set, then grab other albums from the series, including the June 16 show in Katowice, Poland, or the June 29 gig in Oslo, Norway. You'll feel very alive.
Rating (out of 5): 4