OOW 2012: Kings of Leon & Pearl Jam - Appreciation Event
- by Mike Dietrich
June 15, 1992 - that was actually the day when Pearl Jam played their first concert in Serenadenhof in my hometown, Nürnberg. Oups ... that's over 20 years ago ...
So I was so happy to get a ticket to this year's OOW 2012 appreciation event on Treasure Island. Every year it amazes me over and over again how the organizers manage it logistically to bring almost 40,000 people to and back from the island. Food was ... I would say fairly ok ... and beer (as always) is not - actually even though I'm not a beer drinker I wouldn't call it beer.
Kings of Leon did start. I like them a lot and owe their 2008 album Only By Night. That was a good start to warm up the crowd.
And then Pearl Jam took over - and ... wooooooow ... they are such a great live band. First of all as far as I understood they were donating the money they've got for that gig to an NGO. And Eddie Vedder's voice is simply striking ... I had shivers running down my spine. They played a good excerpt of their +20 years career closing down with Alive at the very end. It seemed to everybody that the band had real fun playing there - and it was sooooo good. Thanks a lot to the person who did organize me a ticket
Catching my bus back to my hotel area down at Fisherman's Wharf worked well - but I must have fallen asleep 5 minutes after we've left the parking lot. The next thing I did recognize was the bus driver pushing the breaks at Northpoint. What a wonderful night ...