London

What a perfect location to experience my first Eddie Vedder solo show. And not just one show but THREE; two in London and one in Dublin. As if that wasn’t enough, it was also my first time in the U.K. I love when the band plays in cities I’ve never visited. Our hotel for the next few days was the bomb; situated right across the street from the Victoria and Albert museum AND there was a jacuzzi tub in the room. Can I get a Hell yes?! 

I know they say you shouldn’t but I took a nap as soon as we checked in. I didn’t want to waste any time being jet-lagged and those couple hours really saved me! With the Victoria and Albert Museum being right across the street, that was our first stop. I immediately recognized the colorful glass sculpture because I had just seen it several months ago at the Seattle Chihuly Glass Museum. The sculptor is Dale Chihuly and his work is so unique yet recognizable enough to know it’s his. I love that! The dome reminds me of the Texas Capitol which IMO is way cooler. No offense.

• 

• 

I fell in love with London. The cars, the double decker buses, the infrastructure, the WAFFLES, the phone booths- I can keep going! After the museum we went to The Albert Memorial, Royal Albert Music Hall and Kensington Palace. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We rode the subway to the Waterloo station to check out the London Eye and Big Ben. The Coca-Cola London Eye is the giant Ferris wheel right next to the Thames River which offers impeccable views of Big Ben. These two landmarks are in close proximity to many other popular destinations such as Westminster Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the London Aquarium.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

221B Baker St…. I was uber excited to check out the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I’m a big fan, especially of Benedict Cumberbatch. Apparently everyone else is too because the museum was packed with visitors. So happy I got to see this! At the gift shop I picked up a bookmark, the Sherlock Holmes stories and a Sherlock Holmes watch.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Across the street from 221B is a little boutique called Suit2suit. I ended up finding three beautiful dresses for only $10 each. One of them is covered in hot air balloons. Cant wait to wear it! We also went shopping at Thomas Farthing which is a tailored suit shop for men and women. I took home two lovely felt hats.  

After picking up our EV tickets we had dinner at Kiln, an exceptionally delicious Thai restaurant with small plates to share. It was really busy! I’m surprised we were able to be seated. They fit us in at the bar and with the open concept we were able to watch the servers work their magic. This was my first time having Thai. Now that I eat Thai food on the regular, I think I would respect this even more now. It really was a great dining experience.

The next morning we started at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. It was such a beautiful day! There were thousands of people which made it difficult to see. We walked down the mall towards St. James Park and the guard followed right behind us, giving us an opportunity to see them up close. I also loved the view of the London Eye from the St. James Park Bridge.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We tried checking out Westminster Abbey but unfortunately the line was insanely long!!! The exterior is stunning and I’d imagine the inside is the same. I hope to check it out one day. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The next two nights were back to back EV solo shows. My first ever and they were nothing short of perfect. On the first night, Ed opened up with “Walking the Cow.” I had been longing to hear this since living in Austin and discovering Daniel Johnston and the “Hey, How Are You?” mural.

I heard almost everything I wanted to hear. Trouble, Good Woman, Out of Sand, Parting Ways etc. The second night was the first time Ed discussed the passing of Chris Cornell. I think some fans were upset he hadn’t mentioned anything earlier but you could tell this was difficult for him and he needed time before he could express himself. Here is Ed’s speech that was so painful yet beautiful to listen to.

Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate these days. I was thinking about the history of this building and the Bowie history. So I started to think about that and my mind began to wander. It’s not a good…
So I haven’t really been talking about some things and I kind of… now it feels like it’s conspicuous because I lost a really close friend of mine, somebody who…(applause)
I’ll say this too, I grew up as 4 boys, 4 brothers and I lost my brother 2 years ago tragically like that in an accident and after that and losing a few other people, I’m not good at it, meaning I’m not… I have not been willing to accept the reality and that’s just how I’m dealing with it (applause starts) 
no, no, no, no
So I want to be there for the family, be there for the community, be there for my brothers in my band, certainly the brothers in his band. But these things will take time but my friend is going to be gone forever and I will just have to… 
These things take time and I just want to send this out to everyone who was affected by it and they all back home and here appreciate it so deeply the support and the good thoughts of a man who was a … you know he wasn’t just a friend he was someone I looked up to like my older brother.
About two days after the news, I think it was the second night we were sleeping in this little cabin near the water, a place he would’ve loved. And all these memories started coming in about 1:30am like woke me up. Like big memories, memories I would think about all the time. Like the memories were big muscles. And then I couldn’t stop the memories. And trying to sleep it was like if the neighbours had the music playing and you couldn’t stop it.
But then it was fine because then it got into little memories. It just kept going and going and going. And I realised how lucky I was to have hours worth of…you know if each of these memories was quick and I had hours of them. How fortunate was I?! And I didn’t want to be sad, wanted to be grateful not sad.
I’m still thinking about those memories and I will live with those memories in my heart and I will…love him forever (Applause and standing ovation)

-EV at London O2 Arena, 6/7/2017

He then played “I’m so tired” by Fugazi. Chris’ last words on the phone to his wife were “I’m so tired” and though Ed never explained the connection, he didn’t have to. Ed is a setlist mastermind. Everything has a purpose.