Heineken Jammin' Festival 2010 : Part Two

Written by Ilaria Rebecchi

Sunday, 25 July 2010 00:00

HEINEKEN JAMMIN’ FESTIVAL 2010

Day 4: Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, Skunk Anansie, Gossip, Gomez

Parco San Giuliano, Venezia Mestre - Italy

July 6th, 2010

Today they're less grunge than they were when leading the Seattle grunge scene in the early nineties, but boy do they still know how to put on a show. Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Matt Cameron and Jeff Ament, together forming the amazing Pearl Jam , closed the 2010 Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Venice. The band beat everyone's expectations, convincing and succeeding in delighting a public of over 45 000 people who had ignored the negative meteorological forecasts.

Although Green Day were forced to cut their set short thanks to a spectacular thunderstorm just two days previously, the drizzle was ignored on the Tuesday and the musicians ploughed ahead with their setlists. The performances were only delayed by ten minutes in the end, as performers and audience alike decided to ignore the downpours. What's really important, in the end, is the music.

And despite the rain, the final day of the festival was a grand success, with over 10 000 more revellers than organizers had expected.

In the early afternoon the show was opened by the young Italian alternative band Plastic Made Sofa . Also early on stage was Gomez , one of the best indie-rock groups on the scene, with superb vocals.

After Gomez, Beth Ditto and her band Gossip conquered the public: she is without doubt the best known member of Gossip, but deservedly so – with such a strong voice and a powerful stage presence. This time she arrived as a nu-punk-rocker, with a big skirt, dramatic make-up and a vintage hairstyle. She leapt from one side of the stage to another, falling off the stage, dancing with the audience and singing amongst the people. Absolutely fantastic, and not just thanks to her rendition of the hit single Heavy Cross.

Then Skunk Anansie showed up: ove an hour of alternative rock, with beautiful moments within Charlie Big Potato, and the heavy energy of songs like All I Want and Weak, the sweetness of Secretly and Squander, and the overall beauty Skin’s voice and the emotional banging of the drums by Mike Richardson. Skin is one of those truly magnificent performers - sensual, smiling and sour.

Ben Harper and his Relentless7 were next: Ben wore the t-shirt of the anti drug movement in Venice (“io non me ne frego”), playing soft blues guitar, and moving those who had long awaited the arrival of Eddie Vedder on stage with Ben Harper for a great cover of Under Pressure (Queen + David Bowie).

And then the moment arrived.

Two full hours of an emotional and creative live performance from Pearl Jam, infecting the audience with his passion and energy.

What did they play? Little Fast Car, dedicated to Eddie’s good Italian friends, State Of Love, Jeremy, the emotional Black, the divine Even Flow. On top of all this were classics such as Given To Fly, Small Town, The Fixer, Unthought Known , Corduroy, the soft Just Breathe, and even more songs from their twenty year career, led by the histrionic Vedder. He's been the center of the alternative and grunge music scene since the early nineties, his political ability along with his fascinating voice, both full of sweetness and melancholy allow him to be a natural born leader.

Everything was perfect - the guitar solos from Mike McCready, the arrival of Ben Harper on stage with Vedder, first for Red Mosquito, and again at the end of the show for the amazingly well done cover of Rockin’ In A Free World (Neil Young).

The best live band of the last twenty years? Difficult to say for certain, but Vedder and his bandmates spoke with their art.

Report by Ilaria Rebecchi

Photo courtesy of Alessandra Di Gregorio

Part One