Pearl Jam Honor Fans, Pete Townshend at Madison Square Garden

Posted on May 21st 2010 12:30PM by Mike Ayers

"It's nice not to be just in New York City, but to be in what they call the 'World's Most Famous Arena,'" Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder told Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, the first of two shows at the New York institution. Vedder, as always, was a man of the people -- case in point, as this leg of the 'Backspacer' tour winds down, he took time out to dedicate songs to a host of people, some famous, some not.

In a moving tribute to a fan who wrote Vedder a letter about his ailing father, the frontman pointed the two out behind the stage, telling the crowd that he was "going through some s---, but you look great." The band then launched into 'Low Light' from 1998's 'Yield,' but it didn't stop there.

'Army Reserve' was dedicated to Lt. Colonel John McDonough, Afghanistan alumnus and father of four; the Who's 'Reign O'er Me' was shouted out to Pete Townshend, with Vedder rousing the crowd up for a "Happy Birthday to Pete" (the guitarist turned 65 this week); and the Ramones' 'I Believe In Miracles' was appropriately dedicated to the late Joey Ramone. Aside from being a nice guy, clearly Vedder knows his New York crowds.

Along with Vedder's niceties, the show was a 19,000-strong chorus around Pearl Jam super hits 'Animal,' 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,' 'Alive' and 'Jeremy.' Super fans were treated to a rare appearance of 'Leash' from 1993's 'Vs'. and the Stone Gossard-led 'Mankind' from 1996's 'No Code.' It's not to say recent material had people sitting down: 'Do the Evolution,' 'The Fixer' and the more pop-leaning 'Unthought Known' from 2009's 'Backspacer' were greeted with simultaneous, full-on, non-ironic head-thrashing and fist pumping from the first chords. Honestly, it's quite a sight to see -- virtually no major modern rock band is having this effect these days, night after night.

Pearl Jam winds down their latest supporting effort for 'Backspacer' Friday at the Garden and will head out to Europe on June 22 for two and a half weeks.