Pearl Jam

The June 20, 2000, concert in Verona, Italy, along with the show two days later in Milan, may well be the best stretch of Pearl Jam's 2000 European tour. Lead singer Eddie Vedder promises the crowd in Verona an extra long set to make up for not being there for four years, and the band comes through with a 30-song overview of the band's ten-year history. The show begins with a great version of "Long Road" from the 1995 Merkin Ball EP and the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, and builds from there. There are some small missteps in songs like "Hail Hail," "Immortality," and Vedder's ukulele-only number "Soon Forget," but they don't take away from the overall momentum of the show. The set list is well-balanced, as none of the band's six studio albums gets more than five songs played or fewer than three. The band even manages to fit in some nice surprises, like "Pilate" from Yield. To start the encore, there's a short improv based on "In the Coliseum" by Tom Waits. Later, there's a rare and under-rehearsed cover of "I Got You," the Split Enz signature song. All these factors make this concert recording one to get in Pearl Jam's official bootleg series. ~ Steven Jacobetz, All Music Guide