Last Night: Eddie Vedder at Berkeley's Zellerbach Theatre

Eddie Vedder at The Zellerbach Theatre
April 7, 2008
By Christopher Victorio

Better than: Waiting around SoCal to catch Vedder. (Editor's note: Crazy CV flew up just for the show. That's devotion.)
Download: Bit torrents of Eddie's work. Then donate a hour of time to community service.

The empty box of Corona sat in front of the man, who sat on a lone stool onstage with the spotlights trained on him. A small desk light kept sheet music illuminated on a stand and a tape recorder with its giant wheels lay motionless on a crate.

Eddie Vedder sat on that stool as a sold-out crowd roared and cheered at Berkeley's Zellerbach Theatre, and with that the Pearl Jam front man kicked off the third stop on his April Fools Solo West Coast Tour.

Vedder sang tunes from his work with movies, including Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," for which he wrote the soundtrack, which "should have won the Oscar nomination," according to one very loud fan. He talked about his work with Penn, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon and the work they are doing for the West Memphis Three (i.e. creating a defense fund for three men who were -allegedly- wrongfully convicted for the murders of three children in Memphis).

"Who are you voting for?" one fan asked, to which Which Vedder responded, "I keep my personal political beliefs to myself." As he said that, the crowd stood up and cheered (a few jerkwads jeered) as a giant "Obama 2008" banner was carried across the stage behind Vedder.

Critic's Notebook:
Personal Bias: What made my night? I somehow parked next to Sean Penn. He and his son were going to his very nice ride just as I was loading up my gear. I asked him for a photo, but he was in a hurry.

Random Detail: In other Vedder-related fare, look out for "Body of War," which will be released later in the month.

By the Way: If you were unable to catch him this past evening or last week in Santa Cruz, don't be disappointed. Vedder performs again in Berkeley Tuesday evening before heading down to SoCal. But don't expect him to sing a Pearl Jam song. Well, perhaps "Freebird," but not "Yellow Ledbetter."