“It’s always nice to come home, and we have a lot of memories in this particular building,” Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney declared as his band’s triumphant, 90-minute set wound down Thursday night at the Moore Theatre. “This is another one we won’t forget.”

Ditto, Sean. A in C is the first of the early ’90s “grunge” bands I fell in love with, and it was great seeing those guys back and firing on all cylinders – especially considering the tragic circumstances that ripped them apart. New songs “Check My Brain” and “Acid Bubble” sounded great, alongside classics like “We Die Young,” “Would” and “Rooster.” And this has been my favorite show in a week that’s been packed with the Monsters of Northwest rock. Even the band that kicked this here Northwest rock thing off, the Fabulous Wailers, is playing on Saturday (Sept. 26.) Sweet! Hit “more” for last night’s set list.
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Re: A request for confirmation I made here. Nice Supersonics/beer rant, Eddie Vedder. God bless you, YouTube. And big props to TRC reader “Kevindot1″ for pointing this one out.

So you remember that little kid Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder acknowledged Monday night at KeyArena? Well, that little squirt hails from right here in Grit City.

The kid’s dad, Jeff Evans, sent us an e-mail about what he calls “a life changing night.” It gave me the warm fuzzies and all, so I thought I’d share it with all of you, too. Here it is.

Today I took my seven (almost eight) year old son to his first concert, of any type. I debated on it, but I really believed that he was ready to have this experience, to have it and hold it, and appreciate it for the rest of his life. He was ready.
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Behold, the monsters of Northwest rock! First Seattle rock kings Pearl Jam took over KeyArena for two epic nights, Monday and Tuesday. Tonight, Alice in Chains will unleash material from comeback album “Black Gives Way to Blue” to a full house at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.

But last night it was all about Heart, the underrated queenpins of Seattle rock. (So why didn’t guitar goddess Nancy Wilson make Rolling Stone’s controversial greatest guitarists list again? That chica has served up some mighty tasty riffs over the years. But at least Guitar Hero is finally giving her props. But I digress.)
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Heart delivered 90 minutes of grandstand-rockin’ goodness at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center tonight. And Alice in Chains’ Mike Inez even showed up to lend a hand. You know, since he’s in town for Alice’s big gig at the Moore Thursday night. Hit the “more” button for the set list, and be sure to check back for a more detailed report.
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I missed Pearl Jam’s second show last night at KeyArena. But big props to reader Kevin Healy for the set list he forwarded from a fan forum:

Set List: Sometimes, Why Go, All Night, The Fixer, Dissident, Johnny Guitar, Faithfull, Lukin, Not For You/(“Modern Girl” by Sleater-Kinney), No Way, Unthought Known, Unemployable, Comatose, Insignificance, Present Tense, Got Some, Go

1st encore: Just Breathe w/the Octava String Quartet, The End w/the Octava String Quartet, Black, In My Tree, Spin The Black Circle

2nd encore: Supersonic (sung as “SuperSonics” with new lyrics about SuperSonics basketball team), Do The Evolution, The Real Me (by Townshend) w/the Syncopated Taint Horn Quartet, Porch, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star Spangled Banner)

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I didn’t get approved to shoot video of Pearl Jam last night. But bootleggers don’t need no steenking photo pass. So here’s a clip that reader and fellow blogger-type Bernie Zimmermann uploaded to the ol’ YouTube machine. The video includes “Indifference” and Eddie Vedder talking about Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic. Enjoy it while it lasts (assuming PJ cares about grainy clips of their sets showing up on the Internet.) And check Bernie’s take on last night’s show over here.

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Pearl Jam spent the better part of the last decade championing lefty causes and bashing neocon antics, notably on “Bushleager” and “Worldwide Suicide,” among other cuts (not to mention many a between-song rant and that controversial Denver “Dubya” Bush mask stomp a few years back.)

So even if band leader Eddie Vedder is more content to sing about the joys of surfing than anything you’ll see on CNN these days, you had to figure politics would come up at some point Monday night during Pearl Jam’s homecoming set at KeyArena, the first half of a two-night stand that continues today at 7:30 p.m.
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Half of Pearl Jam’s two-night stand at KeyArena is in the books, and as promised I’ve got the rest of the set list. (I started posting during the show until wi-fi slowed down to a distracting, glacial pace.)

Check back later and I’ll have more notes and photos. Meanwhile, hit the more button to see which of the new “Backspacer” cuts the band played and which Who cover they dusted off this time around.
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Back in October 2007, I reported that brothers Jeff Call and Steve Baker had bought the Stonegate building, located at 5421 South Tacoma Way, with plans to turn it into a rock club/pizza joint.

It’s been a long time coming, but last time I dropped in on that block I noticed that the Stonegate interior looked pretty much done. When I got home I saw that the venue’s web site was live, albeit without any scheduled bands. (Check it out here.)

And now Fabulous Wailers singer and keyboard player Kent Morrill has given us the skinny on the big grand opening party on Saturday (Sept. 26.)
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