June 29, 2014 – Telenor Arena, Oslo, NOR

Show Notes:

The fourth show in five days, and the rigor of the tour has taken a toll on Ed’s voice. Pendulum starts things off just fine, to enthusiastic crowd response, and Hard to Imagine is solid, but the vocal fatigue creeps…

Show Notes: 

The fourth show in five days, and the rigor of the tour has taken a toll on Ed’s voice. Pendulum starts things off just fine, to enthusiastic crowd response, and Hard to Imagine is solid, but the vocal fatigue creeps out during the outro. This is where the band begins to step in, with Mike overlapping Ed’s last vocals with a very nice closing solo. No early Black here, but Ed heads into the crowd for a good part of Last Kiss, mingling with the crowd and holding a fan’s hand throughout the last chorus. He quickly asks if things are good before opening up Mind Your Manners. Ed holds his own for the most part, but is short on breath. He starts to crack on Animal, and finally asks the crowd for help. After Last Exit, he greets the crowd with “Hello, Oslo” in Norwegian and briefly mentions the “wear and tear on the voice” before commending the fans who’ve followed them through four cities in five days, and introduces Interstellar Overdrive as “a quick instrumental to give the voice a rest for one second.” After Corduroy, he tries to get a father with a young daughter safer seats, and then better seats. He greets his new friend, Isabel, asks her for a joint, and explains he’s been told everyone would understand English “unless you’re seven or eight, or very drunk.” Mike really starts taking the weight of the show onto his shoulders at this point, and delivers one of his best solos of the night on Lightning Bolt. In Hiding begins with an invitation to help sing, and afterwards Ed quips “…quit drinking after last night, but thought I might have a few more” before asking the crowd to tell Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme “føkk deg” (fuck you) at the Øya festival in August. Boom has an expanded role on My Father’s Son. Sad is teased with a short “Norwegian Wood” a capella. With Ed’s voice now holding on cautiously, aided by strong crowd participation, and Mike leading the band in filling any gaps, this is where this concert lands in its groove for the rest of the night.

On the final chord of Light Years, Ed approaches Stone and points towards a fan in the front row. Immediately we hear someone re-tuning as a change is made to the setlist, which Ed announces as “for this person here, who…she’s got a complaint: 22 shows and we haven’t played a certain song.” After a Garden more reminiscent of the album version than recent live renditions (and with the lucky fan starring on the Jumbotron) Ed takes her empty cup, fills it with wine, gives it back, and tells her “Cheers… 22 shows, I think I can at least buy you a drink, you paid for this very nice wine.” Mike outshines himself once again on Even Flow, after which Ed explains that, as punishment for a mistake made the night before, he has to play Eruption on Mike’s guitar while Mike is holding it. He touches it, makes some noise, then tells the crowd, “this can be our special song that we only play when we come to Norway.” In an emotional preface to Love Boat Captain, Ed mentions the anniversary of the Roskilde tragedy and expresses the band’s appreciation of the victims’ families, present at the previous night’s show in Stockholm, for maintaining a relationship with them. An extra long jam-out on Porch nearly brings the song to 10 minutes.

After a long encore break, they’re greeted with applause after coming back on stage, Ed responds “we’ll take that as a sign of encouragement.” Sleeping by Myself gets botched near the end, Ed takes the blame and plays the final chorus to close it out. The first-ever live performance of Strangest Tribe follows, it is slow, steady, and perfectly dreamy, dedicated to the people who’ve been in the front row over four consecutive nights, whom Ed honors by nicknaming them after the song. Lukin is given its quasi-traditional introduction as a “quiet singalong.” The last set begins with thanks to the crowd and a nod to “getting to play all these different songs.” As Alive transitions straight into Rockin’ in the Free World, “Mr. Raymond Caper Cameron” (Ray Cameron, Matt’s son) is introduced as he comes onstage to play on a Les Paul. The original setlist included Setting Forth, Small Town, Black, Got Some, and Better Man, but were replaced with Garden, Strangest Tribe, and Footsteps.


July 9, 2012 – Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, NOR

Show Notes:

Mike joins X for “The New World” during their set again. Ed speaks in Norwegian to start off, leading into Long Road. Once Animal kicks in, it’s clear Ed is dealing with some throat issues, dropping some notes. By Corduroy…

Show Notes: 

Mike joins X for “The New World” during their set again. Ed speaks in Norwegian to start off, leading into Long Road. Once Animal kicks in, it’s clear Ed is dealing with some throat issues, dropping some notes. By Corduroy he’s warmed up a little, sounding better, but afterwards he addresses the issue:

“It’s been quite a while since we’ve been here and we appreciate you coming to the gig. I was thinking I wasn’t going to have to say anything, but we’ve had a great tour and we’ve had great crowds and we’ve been excited to get here and I got a bit of a throat problem that started yesterday…I dunno, I must have kissed a sick Swedish boy or something. I’ll take any help you can give me, I appreciate it. I think Mike McCready is going to be taking over with some guitar playing tonight.”

The crowd responds with chants of “let Stone sing!” and Ed reacts positively. During the Even Flow solo, Ed wanders side stage and has security pass a fan’s “Smile” sign up to him. Following Green Disease, Ed says “…this is a request from Moscow…you know who you are,” before kicking into a blistering Red Mosquito, an appropriate song choice for someone feeling under the weather. Immortality begins with the extended guitar intro and sounds extra affecting with Ed’s weathered voice tonight. Leatherman makes its only appearance on the tour and is a fun, tight version. Mike dazzles on the Black solo as Ed leaves the stage for a bit to catch a breather. After the break, Ed doesn’t address the crowd at all, taking an extra few minutes of rest, and Mike starts Inside Job, the long intro giving Ed as much vocal rest as possible. Afterwards, Ed admits:

“It was a hard night last night because I knew I wasn’t feeling well. And then I was frustrated because I know we hadn’t played here in 12 years, and I wanted to be fucking great. And then at about 4 in the morning, and I wasn’t sleeping anyways, I got a call from the States that a good friend of ours had suddenly passed away. It was something no one expected and it happened in an instant. The worst part about it was that it’s been too long since I last talked to him, and I won’t get that chance again. I’m just pointing it out so if there’s people in your life that you care about and you haven’t talked to them in a while, I don’t want you to feel the way I am right now. Make sure you reach out and tell them you love them. Don’t be shy.  Thanks for letting us express that.”

Just Breathe leads into Breath, Ed holding the mic out to the crowd during the Breath intro vocal.  As anticipated, Stone gets on the mic and says “I would like to thank Eddie Vedder for just being fucking fantastic to us all…he doesn’t get thanked that often…” As Mankind starts, Ed starts coughing, the perfect time for a singing break. Evolution is a bit of a chore for Ed, but he gives what he can in an admirable effort. The crowd gives him some help and sings the guitar riff.  Ed’s sipping tea at the start of encore 2, leading to one of his best vocals of the night as the band slams into Once. Smile nods to the sign from earlier, with Ed noting:

“…this next song is fulfilling a request for a young man and a young woman that look about 22 between the both of them. I’m glad you’re safe up front. That says good things about a crowd like this, that the young ones can be up front. And here’s to the parents for having good taste, in each other…”

Rockin’ in the Free World features John Doe, DJ Bonebrake, and Krissy Teegerstrom. Ed thanks the crowd, exclaiming “oh, I feel better now!”  before Mike finishes off Ledbetter with some Van Halen-style finger-tapping in the outro.