Pearl Jamm @ Portland Arms gig review

Without a doubt one of the best gigs I’ve attended so far, due to pure enjoyment and passion. Pearl Jamm is a Pearl Jam tribute band and the number one Pearl Jam tribute band in the UK. Pearl Jam is a rock band from America formed in the 1990s. I’ve known Pearl Jam for a while through my dad and his mates love for them. They also had a song in the game Guitar Hero Legends of Rock, Even Flow which is up there in my top favourite songs of all time. So I attended a well-known pub in the Cambridgeshire area, the Portland Arms where I have seen many bands before and it has never failed to disappoint. Great food, great beer and an all-round nice venue to watch live music in. By the time Pearl Jamm entered the stage, it was about 9 pm and I was already heavily drunk as I had been drinking Punk IPAs since around 7 pm. Myself, my dad and our good friends Simon, Tim and Stephen were all pumped and ready for a night of great music. I will admit besides a few songs I wasn’t very familiar with most of Pearl Jam’s song but that did not hinder my enjoyment one bit.

The gig started very strong and continued along with the same vibe throughout the entire evening. A few songs throughout the evening I did know were Even Flow, Yellow Ledbetter, Alive and Black all incredible songs by the way. Even Flow was the song I was most looking forward to hearing as I’ve known the song for many years. The place was bouncing, with small pockets of moshing starting to develop me, my dad and our mates got stuck in big time. Bouncing off the walls and fellow gig-goers the place was at its peak; well that’s what I thought. It was truly incredible, we weren’t even seeing the proper band we were seeing a tribute band, it felt all night like the real thing. The lead singer Santi was electrifying all night, you could tell he was genuinely passionate about Pearl Jam’s songs and wanted to make this a night to remember, and he did.

The bands' rendition of Yellow Ledbetter was absolutely phenomenal and nearly had me in tears at the sheer beauty (I know maybe a tad bit deep but the song is class). The rest of the band was incredible from start to finish, all very talented musicians. Towards the end of the set everyone was pumped, slightly knackered but ready for an exhilarating last half an hour of the night. And what does the band go and do when the audience is at its peak, go even further and play their own version of Baba O'Reilly by The Who which as you can probably guess went down a storm. The moment I began to hear the opening I was jumping up and down and singing my heart out, as was everyone else. Everyone in the pub was singing together in perfect time, it was pretty damn cool. And finally, the band ended the evening with their own version of one of my favourite songs ever rocking in the free world by Neil Young. I’ve never been in a mosh pit like it when they started that song, drinks went flying as did I and my dad. The night was so enjoyable and I haven’t quite got it around my head that this was a tribute band and not the real thing; I mean if this is the tribute I can’t wait to see the real thing.

The entire night was class from start to finish and it’s always nice to spend the evening with a small group of close mates. The Portland Arms is a very nice venue for music which I thoroughly recommend to you all, again it has some lovely pints on tap. The band Pearl Jamm not to be mistaken with Pearl Jam were absolutely fantastic and a real enjoyment to watch, again thoroughly recommended if you are a fan of rock music.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog, I didn’t really want to go into depth on the songs because it’s not the bands' songs and this review was more about the experience itself. None the less I hope you enjoyed it, make sure to like, comment and subscribe and I’ll be back with a new blog very soon.