Massey Hall is to Neil Young what Folsom Prison is to Johnny Cash

We had intended to post this earlier this week but it never quite made it up with all the Neil news happening.

Last night we saw Eddie Vedder solo at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC and had a tremendous time. After seeing Pearl Jam last month in a 20,0000 seat basketball arena, it was nice to see Eddie in a small venue. It reminded us how nice it was to see Neil in a small theater last fall.

The setlist was all over the map. Some unfamiliar material, a little PJ stuff, some Body of War, and a few from Into the Wild. (Setlist on Pearl Jam Message Pit.)

We'll try and have more to say later on the show and may try and make the 2nd show tonight. But suffice it to say that Eddie was quite chatty last night although he often had trouble with the audience yelling out requests, etc.

Someone threw a Bush mask onstage which brought about one of the few rants of the evening. Later Eddie said something to the effect that he expects art and politics to intersect and is disappointed in those who are of the "Shut up and sing" mentality.

Eddie wanted the audience to sing out "No more war" loud enough to be heard at the White House which was a block away. Not sure if the sound traveled that far, but folks gave it a good try blowing the roof off the theater.

Eddie played "Blackbird" and preceded it with a discussion about the progress of civil rights and how he looked forward to the possibility of Obama's election which was received enthusiastically.

The show had some special guests and was being filmed for future release. So that's pretty cool.

Anyways. Maybe more later. But this is what the original post covered regarding the Toronto show on Tuesday.

From TorontoSun.com on Eddie Vedder's Tuesday performance at Massey Hall:

"Throughout it all, one could sense Vedder feeling Young's spirit hovering around the hall. Prior to Man of The Hour, Vedder mentioned how Neil Young and Massey Hall was sort of like Johnny Cash and Folsom Prison. 'I'd much rather be here than at Folsom Prison, although a few of you look like convicts,' Vedder said.

He also covered the Young (and Stephen Stills) nugget Long May You Run, which Vedder said he only performed before at his mother's birthday.

And while it perhaps didn't carry the same historical clout as Young's groundbreaking 1971 performance at the venue, several times Vedder tapped into that special magic only an old, intimate venue is capable of containing."

We're off to see Eddie Saturday night at the Warner Theater in DC so we're pretty stoked about that. Had a super time at Pearl Jam's show back in June. Drop a note of you're planning on being at the show.


Eddie Vedder Solo East Coast Tour Program

More on Pearl Jam and Neil Young.