Stadium shows do have their downfall – traffic.
Off the springy footbridge thingy and into The Caldron; the ghosts of Broncos past have long been blown away by various travelling anomalies and tonight was to be one of the bigger. On the way down those entertainingly springy stairs an already sweating and clearly drunk punter slurs something, amongst an abundance of expletives, about Liam Finn being awesome.

There’s still three-quarters of an hour of light in the sky when Ben Harper ’s presence awakens the boozing mass. It’s been a few years since Harper’s been at the forefront of Australia’s hearts and although his sets are always unfailingly passionate and moving, they continue to hold less and less water. Unfortunately for the band the very first song is delayed by Jason Mozersky ’s all-look firebird. After starting and restarting the song, Harper affirms – œthird times a charm’ and I Won’t Be Broken finally makes it past the percussive intro.

Perhaps sensing the need to get people onboard the Relentless7 train, Harper introduces an oldie but a damn goodie in The Will to Live’s Faded. It’s an epic tune complete with everything Ben does right. Gritty, wailing slide guitar, chest rumbling vocal lows matched with vein straining highs – and he’s got – œem. Riding the blissful wave of reminiscent gold we’re treated to a catchy, blues stomp through their current radio spinner Number With No Name.

Showcasing the new band’s technical ability, each song receives a thorough yet all too planned instrumental workout. With the majority of the mob eating out of his sweaty palm a guest is invited on stage and the fence sitters quickly jump down. Eddie Vedder slaps each member of the band a high-five before taking a pew beside Harper. One of the world’s most famous bass lines ruins the guessing games, the crowd erupts. Under Pressure, the Queen track that Harper quirkily covered on Triple J’s Like A Version segment sounds beefy and beautiful with Vedder’s contribution.

Taking the middle of the road and leaving the falsettos to Ben, the Pearl Jam frontman oozed appeal of all sorts and effortlessly sold 20,000 people on Ben Harper, Queen, collaborations and covers in one hit. Eddie exits and Ben tells a quick story about playing with a certain Australian band’s guitarist, and as the previously unnoticed guitars build to an embrace, he howls – œDon’t ask me…’ and the frothing begins again. Covering INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart is like a teacher telling a parent that his child is the best – it may be clichéd, it may not be believable but it is always going to go down well. And no parent teacher evening ever had Ben Harper smearing out the sax solo on his slide guitar.

Unfortunately the remainder of the set seems to pail in comparison. The last few songs are all lifted off the band’s latest album White Lies For Dark Times which is a little disappointing for an artist who now has 8 full-length albums from which to draw and who has spent at least a couple of years steadily descending popularity mountain. Although the sing-along finale of Diamonds On The Inside is nice, unfortunately it’s just not quite enough.

The calm before the storm is positively charged with anxious energy and murmured opening track predictions. With barely enough time to exchange a weeks wage for a plastic cup of booze that was never going to make it back to the meeting spot, stage lights go down and hysteria kicks in before the spotlight does.

The original grunge-rock rebels come into view and as the roar peaks again, Why Go sends out a frenzied rock-shock. Seemingly louder, harder and faster than on Ten, the Seattle five-piece don’t let applause drop below ridiculous before they let fly with Animal. Two songs down, sweat pouring and spit flying, Eddie Vedder beams out over the crowd, with sincere thanks and a request for all to look after each other before we get into the high octane numbers. With niceties out of the way, the first sing-along of the night is the ridiculously long titled but well loved Elderly Woman….

Popping the top on a clear-skin bottle of red and having an out of breath swig, Vedder rattles into Even Flow, complete with a Mike McCready two-minute, behind-the-head guitar solo. It has to be said at this point that although their collective hairlines may have taken a step back, the Pearl Jam live show certainly hasn’t; and at this early stage, no one yet knows the half of it. Vedder’s vocals are thunderous and smooth with the kind of live grit you expect but rarely get from your favourite on-record voices.

Taking the show back a gear and whacking on the cruise control, – œpart love, part surf song’ Amongst The Waves runs a cool breeze through the hair. Showing that years at the helm has taught him how to do more than just rock, Eddie keeps the chat topical, expressing his confusion at the “whole – œSchoolies’ thing”. It provides a seamless segue into the 15 year old timeless anthem Daughter, which even features a few versus from Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall. Relentlessly wild, Rats and Blood thrash out a climax to what is a mammothly impressive set.

Key songs have obviously been omitted and so the crowd aren’t overly worried about convincing the boys back out, instead the punters debate what will be next. Returning to the stage alone Vedder strums an acoustic guitar and warmly mans the mic for a few moments of artistic release. The second track Just Breath is gorgeous, moody and uplifting and set to be the second single from the bands latest release. Dripping with sweat but clearly recharged and ready to rock, Vedder calls Ben Harper onto the stage to lend a slide-guitar hand to the fantastic and dare I say improved Red Mosquito.

With Harper’s popularity reaching new heights, Vedder’s philanthropy continues and the unlikely duo chill spines with a uproariously magical version of Indifference. Getting the rock back on a roll the current radio high-jacker The Fixer translates fantastically to the live stage. If fans were boycotting new material it didn’t show, with choruses – and then some – bellowed from every corner of the stadium. Sending that new-school high on a reminiscent gallop, Vs.’ firecracker Rearviewmirror climaxes with bows, thankyous and lights out.

Chants for – œencore’, – œPearl Jam’ and – œbullshit’ are all getting equal support, yet the band appears again after 150 minutes of epic rock. Vedder’s humble words of appreciation are in turn appreciated ten fold. – œIf you’re not done with us, we aint done with you!’ he puffs before, keeping the group-hug theme Liam Finn takes the stage for a campfire sing-along, the Hunters & Collecters classic Throw Your Arms Around Me. With third stanza punctuation that would humble current world beaters half their age Vedder and co. cover every inch of the stage (including the airspace above every speaker and fold-back) during the rare as hens teeth Jeremy and the immense Alive.

The whole stadium is now lit like a midseason Friday night, but the crowd’s not moving and neither are the band. With what looks almost like their dying breaths and last ditch strength Pearl Jam wave goodbye to Australia with The Who’s masterpiece Baba O’riley. Finally allowed to sign off, the five warriors embrace and bow at the front of stage to an unwavering ovation.

As the human flood breaks the dam wall of QSAC stadium, words of all shapes and sizes contest to be heard and best describe the scene, but none seemed more suitable, poignant and bloody spot on, than the wide-eyed stranger who grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around with – œBoom! That just happened.’