I loved Pearl Jam when they first came out. I saw them at a now defunct club in Hollywood, called the Cathouse and followed them to bigger venues in LA and Las Vegas.
Then things started to get political and preachy. Now they're just a bunch of pompous millionaires spouting alot of crap. Eddie Vedder is so full of himself, he had the gall to record a ukulele album and then charge top dollar to see his pretenious little performance in concert.
He obviously has contempt for his fans at this point in his career. He needs to start playing the Lilith Fair!!!
There are few artists in rock history, let alone on the current american music scene, let alone stars as high profile as eddie/pearl jam, who are more fan friendly and do more to make their art accessible to their fans.
I'm really into rock, 1960s through the grunge era, and a huge pearl jam fan. I have friends who love all sorts of bands from that era and spend countless hours hunting down obscure bootlegs. Pearl Jam has literally put every single concert they've done from the last decade on itunes, and released official "bootlegs" of many more. This is also a band that has been touring for well more than 20 years now, and still plays 3+ hour setlists at all their concerts. Being a massive pearl jam fan is the most privileged fandom imaginable, from the perspective of how the fans treated by the band. To say Pearl Jam or Eddie has contempt for their fans is the furthest thing from reality ever.
Ha! I was at that show. If it's in the film that would be really cool. Eddie Gets into it with the fans over the Iraq war.
Needless to say Pearl Scam hasn't returned to Nassau County since the incident.
Nassau ain't NYC EV
Yup **** him. When I go to a concert I dont want to hear some ******* who can sing talk about wars/politics. Just because your famous doesnt mean you have to jam your views down peoples throats. Used to love PJ too. I am there to be entertained. if I wanted to listen to someone about politics I would go to a debate or watch TV.
Also, re: the complaints about Pearl Jam's politics — this photo was of Eddie during the band's MTV unplugged set in 1992. It's fine if it's not your thing, and it's totally fine if you vehemently disagree and find it so distasteful that it turns you off their music entirely. But it's not like this hasn't been a core part of their identity since forever:
Pearl Jam, and to a lesser extent the 80s/early 90s Seattle music scene, was always heavily infused by an explicitly left-wing sense of social awareness/political activism. It's utterly bizzare to complain about Pearl Jam's politics as if it's in some way incidental to their music — it's been a subtle and often not-so-subtle part of both their stage/media presence and their literal song lyrics since the early days of Ten/Vs./Vitalogy. It's like complaining that Springsteen sings too many songs about alienated members of the working class, or that you went to a Skynyrd concert just to be entertained, not listen to a bunch of songs about the South, or that you really like Neil Young but wish he'd stop singing stuff that's so anti-Nixon. Would it really make sense to say, "I love David Bowie, but wish he'd ditch the pan-sexual brit act"? For better or worse, lefty causes are an absolutely core aspect of the band's identity, not some vanity side project being imposed on fans. If it's not something you want to deal with, then Pearl Jam probably isn't the band for you. Which is totally OK.
I remember a music critic I respect once wrote about Jimmy Buffet something along the lines of: "I don't deny he knows how to put on a good show, it just isn't my kind of show." If you respect Pearl Jam musically, but don't care for their politics, just accept that maybe Pearl Jam just isn't for you. They certainly don't owe it to anyone to alter their identity, and it's sort of nonsensical to request that they somehow could strip their act of politics and "stick to music" when it's infused their music and act from day one.