Pearl Jam, Depp, others elevate Voices for JusticeBy Bobby Ampezzan
LITTLE ROCK — People, some from across the country, packed the Robinson Center in Little Rock on Saturday, their $25 ticket stubs in their purses and pockets, and for what?
“Vedder ,” said Marshall Hines of Conway. “We’ve been interested in this case for 17 years, but yeah, Vedder.”
Vedder is Eddie Vedder, icon of grunge rock in the 1990s and front man for Pearl Jam. The case is that of the trio of convicted murderers known as the West Memphis Three. The scene was the Voices for Justice concert put on by Arkansas Take Action, a group advocating for the overturning of those convictions.
“It would be interesting to know who is here for the cause, who is here for the show, and who is here for both,” noted Crystal Childers of Maumelle.
The second and third groups could not have left disappointed, and because of that, Childers predicted, neither could the first.
Vedder was joined by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, a scheduled act, as well as Johnny Depp, Patti Smith and Ben Harper. The last didn’t commit until Vedder prayed with him just days earlier.
As each new face appeared the crowd roared, perhaps none louder than the applause for Depp.
“I love you Johnny!” a woman yelled.
“Oh?” he said, surprised. “I love you too?”
With the exception of a few numbers - Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are AChangin’” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Open All Night” - the playlist was not comprised of hits. Maines, sporting a shaved head, used cue cards held aloft in the pit for one of her numbers. But as the night wore on, more and more stars collaborated, including Depp.
Depp wore a long waist sash and came out, at different times, wearing a stocking cap and smoking a cigarette. He played several songs with a beat up six-string slung low. His wobbly steps recalled his turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
All of the musicians came out for Patti Smith’s “Power to the People,” the grand finale. For Steve Fischer and his wife Sarah, who bought tickets that night and were seated in the very back row, the surprise ensemble “makes us appreciate Little Rock a little more.”
This article was published today at 6:31 a.m.
Arkansas, Pages 20 on 08/29/2010
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