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I am having difficulty collecting my thoughts. I am in such awe of the Birmingham show, I am nearly speechless. So many things I want to say and too many emotions right now to express myself clearly. To those who don't already know, this was my first ever Pearl Jam show. The songs I remember hearing (in no particular order) are:

Animal
Evolution
Given to Fly
Thumbing my Way
Love Boat Captain
Black
Spin the Black Circle
Last Kiss
Wish List
Daughter
Alive
Save You

And a bunch of others!

It drizzled rain all the way up there and all the way back, three and a half hours each way. No rain during the show, which was fortunate. Didn't have actual rain until I got nearly home, and now it's pouring!! Thank you, goddess for a safe trip.

There was a security cop named Ryan who talked to us in line for a few minutes and said he'd been touring with the band for the NA leg and was having a blast. There were NO CAMERAS ALLOWED at the venue I think he must have noticed me fiddling with my bra a lot and wanted to see what I was attempting to conceal. He noticed my PJ Tattoo and said he liked it and made a big deal out of trying to see my chest!! heh heh He kinda watched to see would I make it through "customs" pat down and I did. In spite of their fun nazis at the gate, I managed to get in with two joints and a camera!! Hopefully I got some decent shots.

I am changed. I will never be the same again. I have new dog tags and a new Riot Act Tour t-shirt to prove I was there as well as a Pearl Jam Perma-grin but it seems so surreal as if it were a dream. I am gonna be REALLY fucking dissapointed if I wake up from this and I never really went!!

I don't know where to start. Hmmm IT WAS FUCKING COLD!!!!! Even Ed made mention of it. He said (not word-for-word, you'll have to check the boot for accuracy) "This is the second coldest gig we've ever done!" He had just wiped his nose with a tissue and he says "I wonder if we could get a tissue all the way to the back before we finish the next song (Thumbing My Way)." Well, he reached down to his tissue box and snatches up about three and wads them up to pass to the back of the crowd. It came to the guy right next to me and he passed it back and then touched my hand!! I touched the hand that touched the hanky that Ed touched!! OMG!! LOL!! Life's simple pleasures....ahhhh!! lol

Any way MIKE was WAY On!! OMG! You could just TELL he was digging into it like it just FELT good! He looked so...comfortable. I've seen so many pics of him from days gone by where he just doesn't seem quite at ease. But tonight, HAVE MERCY he was smooth as silk and looked fabulous!!

Matt was being playful. He Goon-danced behind the drum kit for a moment at one point! He had come out with openers Sleater-Kinney (sp) and played tamborine with them for a song. That band was pretty good. The blonde on the right, her voice reminded me of Carole McKee of Lone Justice from decades ago.

I was blessed with a couple of Flying Jeff Leaps!!! He and Mike were having fun together the whole show. And of all the times we've seen pics of Jeff wearing a hat, on the coldest day of all, he had NO HAT!!! He did eventually score one from somewhere, but it seemed odd when he didn't have one on at first. It had downward kinda of lightcolored stripes that at first made him look like he was wearing a blonde wig! LOL!! But no, it was just a hat!! I had the honor of hearing him play his stand-up bass!!

I cannot get over how TIGHT they were, even with the damn cold. Like the pros that they are, they put all they had into it!! Only a few slow songs, Too Cold for that!! They all were hopping around and trying to stay warm. When Ed introduced Boom, everyone started hollering "BOOM! BOOM!" My Jessica wanted to know why everyone was booing!! lol

Stone was great, kinda stayed backish and out of the lights for the most part, except during the Rockin' Out parts and shit. Him wearing dark clothes made it difficult for me to see him from my vantage point.

WHich was -- row M (13 rows back) dead fucking center!!!! OMG !! I had a straight shot view of Ed!!! He looked INCREDIBLE!! Even though it was SO FUCKING COLD his voice sounded AWESOME!! After the first couple songs he was saying something and he was obviously winded from opening with two hard rockers, that honestly I cannot tell you what they are right now, but he got over that in a hurry and was soon bouncing around like I've only seen in moving pictures! lol

No political statements, no BUSH mask, No Daughter Tag
NO JACKASSES!! No unruly drunks. Everyone was rather pleasant. And did I mention it was COLD!!!

And Yes, OMG!! Ed's butt was there in blue jeans with a flannel shirt. Have Mercy!! Before it was all over, I think I came three times!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!

Thanks boys!! It was good for me!!

I need another cigarette and a bubble bath.

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Let me just first say that this was my first Pearl Jam show and I couldn't have imagined it being any better. The Oak Mountain Theater is a very small venue that was just so awesome. It is general admission except for us lucky ones with Ten Club tickets.

It was very cold especially with the wind blowing. The Ten Club ticket line moved very fast though. There was a carnival going on right next to the amphitheater and there is no doubt that it would have been a very enjoyable thing had the weather been better.

I got my Ten Club tickets and they were 12 rows back on Stone's side of the stage. I could see great and was really suprised at how good my seats were. After sitting down and seeing how close to the stage I was I kind of forgot about how cold it was.

Sleater Kinney came on stage and out walked a man with a brown coat and a hat on. I was thinking to myself who is this? As soon as he spoke into the microphone I knew it was Ed introducing Sleater Kinney. The place went crazy as soon as they heard his voice. I had never heard anything by Sleater Kinney and liked it alot. Matt came out and helped out on one song and it was a pretty rocking performance.

After Sleater Kinney left the stage I got to thinking about what possibly would be Pearl Jam's opening song. Being my first show I was hoping for Release, but I was expecting Can't Keep because if I am not mistaken they haven't opened a show with it in the U.S. yet. I was suprised when they ripped right into "Go". The place went nuts and "Go" is one of my favorites so I wasn't disappointed. What a performance with Ed jumping all over the place and Mike running around.

Next up was "Save You" which got a real good reaction from the crowd and was awesome as well. The audience was singing along so I know a lot of them had heard the new album. They then played "Spin the Black Circle" which was awesome as well. Ed then came to the mic and talked about it being so nice to be in the nice warm south. At some point in the concert he said that it was the second coldest show that they had ever played. ( I am guessing the coldest was that Wisconsin show from the 2000 tour.)

Immediately after Ed got through talking they launched into "EvenFlow" The crowd just went nuts for this one and it included a long solo by Mike that was awesome. They came out rocking with the first four songs so I guess they felt that they needed to start fast and warm everyone up.

They toned it down a bit with beautiful renditions of "Daughter", and "Better Man" (which was an awesome performance). Then jammed again to "Not For You" before settling back down on "Small Town".

"Love Boat Captain" was beautiful live which led to "Corduroy" which the crowd exploded again for. They then played "You Are" which sounded great live.

Before "Thumbing My Way" Ed asked everyone how there health was? He said he had klenex if anyone needed one (he was blowing his nose alot throughout the show). He then asked if he gave a klenex to someone in the front if they could pass it all the way to the back. He handed it down and people started passing it back while he played "Thumbing My way". After the song he had the lights turned back on but from where I was there was no sign of the klenex. Ed and Stone enjoyed a laugh and moved on with Ed saying I need a bigger klenex.

"Given to Fly" was a crowd favorite and "Wishlist" was beautiful with the disco ball back again. He changed the lyric to "I wish I was the full moon shining off your tractor's hood". The whole show had great lighting effects that really helped the music along. "Animal" was very powerful and kind of a suprise and they closed out the first set with another crowd favorite "Do the Evolution".

The first encore saw them come back with "Last Kiss" which I know a lot of people don't like or are tired of but it being my first show I was glad they played it. Then probably my highlight of the night was one of the best performances of "Black" I have ever heard. Then the place went nuts one more time as they closed the first encore with "Alive".

The second Encore started again with Ed saying something like if you have the Guts we have the action. ( I think this is what he said) talking about us bearing the cold. He totally flubbed the start of "Soldier of Love" and broke down laughing. They then started over with Ed saying Take Two. "Leaving Here" was next with crowd very into it and they closed it all off with a wonderful "Yellow Ledbetter" At the very end of Ledbetter Mike threw in the first chords to Sweet Home Alabama which got a big Cheer from everyone. After this they huddled up like they were going to play one more, they went to their places hit one note and Ed said "Good Bye" and they ran off the stage. They totally faked another song.

All in all I dont see how anyone can goto a show and come away disappointed. Sure I would have liked to have been lucky enough to hear "Breath" or some other song that they haven't played much, but I walked away from that show very satisfied. The people in the crowd were very into it and very nice. I didn't see anybody that wasn't enjoying themselves. One thing I noticed when you goto a Pearl Jam concert is the wide range of people you get. There were older people and Younger people there. There were the tired looking die hard fans that had come in from New Orleans the night before and followed the band to Birmingham. Then there was also the casual concert goer that is probably there just because there was a show going on.

I am at a loss for words when it comes to describing this show and I hope that I have done a good job here but I guarrantee you that anyone out there that is lucky enough to go see them will have the time of their life. I can't wait for Atlanta.