Rock festivalgoers got one last taste of summer as Louisville’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival returned September 15th-18th with four big days of music on many stages in the heart of the city, just next to The Kentucky Expo Center. Originally launched in 2019, the festival was unable to go on in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID, but it not only returned this year, it also expanded from three to four days. Some areas of grass and others of gravel stones or converted concrete parking lot gave way to rows of food, drink, and craft vendors and a variety of performers playing in different areas of the grounds simultaneously. While nowhere near the size or attendance of Manchester, TN’s annual Bonnaroo festival, Bourbon & Beyond brought a bit of that festival’s flavor to a different audience. With the two mainstages positioned next to each other, allowing for minimal downtime between performances, B&B also featured a nod to the Warped Tour’s standard set-up as well as many European festivals. After the first two days of strong sets and well-reviewed headliners like Jack White, Alanis Morissette, Kings of Leon, and Brandi Carlile, the third day of the festival brought a capacity crowd that ended up being the largest single day attendance in its history of 41,000 people, primarily due to the drawing power of Pearl Jam who delivered an electrifying set after a hot, humid day of many other excellent performances.
Early sets by Robert Randolph, Drive-By Truckers, Cold War Kids, and a rebooted version of Leaders of the New School, started the day off well. A strong and mostly acoustic performance from Neil & Liam Finn on the mainstage entertained middle-aged fans but disinterested some of the younger attendees who were mainly there to see Greta Van Fleet a few hours later. Originally billed as a set by Crowded House, the father and son duo worked up a set of songs by both Crowded House and Neil Finn’s first band, Split Enz, including “Something So Strong,” “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” and “I Got You,” which also featured surprise appearances from Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Josh Klinghoffer on the last two songs. Art rocker, St. Vincent, moved swiftly and flawlessly through songs from her recent psychedelic soul-funk detour, Daddy’s Home, and updated arrangements of previous songs, impressing with both her vocal delivery and guitar work throughout. Notable highlights included the recent singles, “Pay Your Way in Pain,” “The Melting of the Sun,” and “Down.”
Taking the stage second-to-last were the much-hyped, homage-paying Michigan rockers, Greta Van Fleet, whose reactions to being too often compared to Led Zeppelin saw them leaning much harder in the direction of Queen with sprinkles of Bowie here and there in both sound and performance. Opening with their most-recent single, “Built by Nations,” and closing with their first and most famous, “Highway Tune,” Greta put on an engaging, throwback rock show that even featured costumes, styling, and lighting with a distinctly ‘70s style, especially notable following St. Vincent’s set which had many comparable elements. While doing so worked well for both acts, it is notably interesting to see Gen-X and Millennial artists expressing themselves with references to Boomer music and culture.
Finally, grunge rock legends, Pearl Jam, the evening’s headliners, took the stage to a packed-in and very enthusiastic crowd and delivered a set that included some of their biggest hits, deep cuts, and a few songs from Gigaton, their latest LP from 2020. With all five primary band members present (following much-publicized bouts of COVID for drummer, Matt Cameron, and bassist, Jeff Ament, as well as recent vocal issues for singer/guitarist, Eddie Vedder), the band kept the mood light and friendly and kept breaks between songs to a minimum in order to squeeze in as many as they could in their allotted time. For most of this century, the average Pearl Jam concert runs for at two and a half to three hours, so cutting it down to two hours flat can be a bit of a challenge. Opening with a short collection of acoustic-based songs, such as “Daughter” and “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” the band switched over to loud, electric songs for the rest of the night. The main set included fan favorites like “Do the Evolution,” “Corduroy,” and “Given to Fly” along with other song from their enduringly popular debut LP, Ten, such as “Why Go,” “Even Flow,” “Garden,” and “Porch.” In spite of having to delay the Gigaton tour for two full years because of COVID, it was surprising the band only included three songs from that newer record, only one of which, “Quick Escape,” was an official single, though all sounded great and fit in well between the older songs. Amazing guitar work from Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Vedder, and recently added, former Red Hot Chili Pepper, Josh Klinghoffer, carried the sounds and vibes of each song out across the audience and up into the night sky. The show was briefly stopped on two separate occasions so onsite medical crews could attend to audience members who were seemingly dehydrated, but otherwise, Pearl Jam’s tight sent went off without incident. Concluding with a strong, three-song encore of “Jeremy” and “Alive,” also from their 1991 debut, the band followed those with a spirited cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” featuring prominent guitar and vocals from Klinghoffer. While a few long-time fans groaned that they would have preferred traditional closers like “Yellow Ledbetter” or Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” the recent addition of Klinghoffer on guitar and of the Prince song at or near the end of the show makes the 2022 Pearl Jam concerts unique compared to those from previous decades, and it was very well performed in addition.
While dehydration, sunburns, and long drives awaited those who stepped away after Pearl Jam’s final notes or those who headed home after the fourth and final day of the festival on Sunday, it was clear Bourbon and Beyond not only had a successful return but ended up having the most successful single day in the fest’s history thanks to bringing in such an elusive band to catch on tour, drawing scores of their fans from many states and time zones away, and providing the band with a boost of support to help see them through their final few following shows that concluded the tour. For first timers and veteran fans alike, Pearl Jam thoroughly rocked every member of the audience in Louisville.
*Select set lists from Bourbon & Beyond 2022 (Day 3):
Neil & Liam Finn (and friends)
Distant Sun (Crowded House)
It’s Only Natural (Crowded House)
Fall at Your Feet (Crowded House)
Better to Be (Liam Finn)
Something So Strong (Crowded House)
To the Island (Crowded House)
Message to My Girl (Split Enz)
Second Chance (Liam Finn)
Don’t Dream It’s Over (Crowded House)
Weather with You (Crowded House)
World Where You Live (Crowded House) (w/Eddie Vedder
& Josh Klinghoffer)
I Got You (Split Enz) (w/Eddie Vedder & Josh
Klinghoffer)
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St. Vincent
Digital Witness
Down
Birth in Reverse
The Laughing Man
New York
…At the Holiday Party
Los Angeles
Fast Slow Disco
Pay Your Way in Pain
Cheerleader
Year of the Tiger
Fear the Future
Your Lips Are Red
The Melting of the Sun
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Greta Van Fleet
Built by Nations
Safari Song
(drum solo) (jam)
Black Smoke Rising
Caravel
Lover, Leaver
Heat Above
Light My Love
The Weight of Dreams
Highway Tune
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Pearl Jam
Daughter/Chaise Lounge (Wet Leg) (tag)
Low Light
Off He Goes
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
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Why Go
Do the Evolution
Quick Escape
In Hiding
Lukin
Corduroy
Seven O’Clock
Even Flow
Who Ever Said/Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones) (tag)
Garden
Not for You/Modern Girl (Sleater-Kinney) (tag)
Given to Fly
Porch
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Jeremy
Alive
Purple Rain (Prince)
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