http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=204524
First off, there WAS a preset-
Ed played Soon Forget then announced Sonic Youth.
Secondly, this was my 11th time seeing this band. Of the 30 or so songs played tonight (including the preset), SIX were songs I had never heard live. SIX! And only one of those was from the new album. Four of the rest were songs I'd heard only once. To put this in perspective, seeing the Petty/PJ shows in St. Paul, in two nights of hearing Petty, I only heard three songs on the second night that I didn't hear on the first night. Yet another reason why this band is fan-fucking-tastic.
And I- just right now- realized they played 10 songs from the new record. It certainly didn't feel like they played 10 songs from Avocado- everything meshed incredibly well.
Oceans was great to hear for the first time. I had hoped that being at this show would yield me some interesting set choices, and hearing this right off the bat got me stoked instantly. I had said from the moment I bought my tickets that this show was going to be something special- I just felt it. And hearing Oceans as the opener gave me hope...
Severed Hand is in a tght battle with Inside Job as my favorite track on Pearl Jam, so I was more than excited to hear this next. There was no pre-recorded intro, either.
I hadn't seen
Brain of J since my very first show back in 1998 and I was dying to hear it again. Thank you PJ for making that happen tonight.
LBC featured the 'Let the show begin' lyric, and Boom got a deservedly nice ovation.
If there was a "low" point to this show for me, it was the Gone/EFlow/Unemployable trilogy. The drum solo in EFlow was longer than I'd yet heard and Matt was going crazy. Good stuff, there.
Wasted Reprise into
Betterman was a nice segue. The crowd singalong here was the first sign for me that this crowd was something unique. Save It For Later was great.
Satan's Bed! I had been telling my neighbor that in the next three shows I needed to hear this and Rats. He turned to me and gave me a high five at the start. It's always great at shows to share these kind of moments with complete strangers, bonded by appreciation for this band.
After that we were right into an awesome
Not For You. The Modern Girl tag was really appreciated by my companion, who is a big S-K fan.
I had figured we were going to get
You Are after hearing the guitar tech test the pedals during the break between SY and PJ. And I loved it- one of my favorite songs on Riot Act.
I wouldn't put the improv after
Life Wasted- it was more an intro to RVM than a conclusion to LW, Ed repeating "I'll never go back again" over the first notes of
RVM before going into the riff. Ed also sang during the first part of the mid-section jam, but I couldn't make out anything he was sayng from where I was. Speaking of, that jam was sick. Just plain sick.
Now, I cannot possibly put into words how moving the introduction to
Long Road was. By the time they were starting the song I was choked up. When they came back out for the first encore, they all sat down and Ed said that he'd like to tell us a story. He asked for a show of hands of how many people have had a teacher who has had a large influence on their life. He then said that he too had one and that this was the story he wanted to share. The band and Neil were working on Mirrorball when Ed got the call that this teacher had passed away. He said that even though the band and Neil were in the room, he had to go in another room and sort out his thoughts. He said he needed to have a conversation though, and he was having it through his guitar. He started strumming the first note, stating that hey, it sunds like a school bell. He just kept doing that over and over... At this point Matt quietly started the drum part to the song. Ed continued and said that after a while, eventually the band and Neil came in to check on him, and without any of them saying a word, they all sat down, picked up their instruments, and in that moment....
"We all walk the long road..."
Absolutely. Fucking. Amazing. This was a moment. It wasn't manufactured. It was real. Real emotion. Real love. Simply beautiful.
Come Back was a fitting follow up, and I think they're finding the right groove with it.
Crazy Mary was, well, crazy. Boom got more time to solo and the band stayed around him for the majority of his spotlight moment. Mike's solo wasn't the greatest I've heard from him on this song, but the band built the song up to a magnificent crescendo during it.
Crown of Thorns! What can you say... you know it's a special show when you hear this song. I've been lucky enough to hear it twice now this year- in Chicago and tonight.
Speaking of Chicago- those of you who think the
Alive from Chicago II was fantastic- you NEED to hear this one. That's all I'll say. Stage antics saw Ed atop one speaker stack stage left, with Stone soloing right below him, and Mike opposite stage atop his own speaker stack. Visually incredible.
Last Kiss featured Ed climbing a rope ladder at the back of the stage, getting a good 15-10 feet above the ground while singing to the club in the back. Jeff, ever the mother hen, sent a stagehand over to hold the ladder to keep it sturdy.
It was great to hear
Leash after all the hype. Ed finished the song on his nees, arms outstretched, flipping everyone off with a big smile on his face.
Speaking of, all of the folks I went to the show with agreed that this is the most fun any of us have ever seen Ed have at a show. He was smiling all night, jumping all around, genuinely seeming to enjoy himself. Even Stone and Jeff were more animated tonight that I've ever seen them.
Up next was the moment I'd been waiting for- you knew it had to happen, and Ed specifically said they were saving it for the west coast-
Big Wave! And it was glorious.
After all this,
RITFW and
YL were almost an afterthought. I say almost because the jamming in RITFW was intense (even with Kelly Slater, whom I think Ed oversold to the crowd), and Mike's Star Spangled Banner tag was inspired, but you knew this was the end. Ed noted what everyone else in the arena had to be thnking by altering the "I don't want to stay" line in YL to "I don't want to leave..."
This WAS a special show. I'll be at the next LA shows, and if they even come anywhere near to this show, those will be considered great shows. This show was twenty kinds of awesomeness, plain and simple. I really think this might be the best Pearl Jam show I've ever seen. When the aftershow hype dies down, I'll reassess, but in the very least, it's top 3, no doubt.
Amazing. A simply amazing evening with an amazing band with amazing fans.
God I love this band.