Echoes of...

Listen to the "eclipse" part of the Echo. (80 sec.) [au] [aiff]

[after Jeremy] - [night of the eclipse of the moon]
Eddie: Good seein' ya. I'm wearing a watch tonight. I don't know if you know but there's a moon out there... It could be bigger than anything I've seen before in my life. It's bigger than the sky. That moon is bigger than Dennis Rodman. [Dennis is sitting on the stage watching the show.] Maybe not. I think they're about the same. At 10:15, that's when the exact lunar eclipse happens... and if we were outdoors, we'd be able to see it and we would all know this. But we're indoors and I still think we're going to be able to feel it.

[during SOLAT] [pointing to the pit] I recognize you. You were in the front row just the other night. I recognize you. You were right over there. How ya been?

[during Black] Can you feel it? Can you feel it?

It's happening right now. I just want to rip the roof off this place. [cheers] Let's go. Loud now...Let's do it. Yay oh. [crowd mimics] Yay oh. All right. I'm just getting warmed up for the next song. [Habit]

Speaking as an individual who's trying to see the year 2000. [during Habit]

So we've never been here before. [?] Who the fuck are you people? I want all of you people...Mainelanders? Are you all from Maine. OK, who's from Maine. OK, who's from New York. Who's from D.C. Oh, we could talk about D.C. all night in this room, couldn't we? Who's from Nova Scotia? Looks like you're pretty much all from Maine. There's someone here that had to travel farther than you. He came all the way from the Mediterranean...'Mediterranean Homesick Blues'... He came all the way from France. He thought that was a difficult trip. I'd like to remind him that he came all the way from the streets of Detroit. So he should be pretty happy to be here either way. I'm glad he's here. This song's for him tonight. [Alive]

[Eddie loves to climb...]
[Dennis is sitting on the side of the stage and brings a glass of wine out to Eddie during Alive. They fool around and Eddie climbs up Dennis' back and ends up sitting on Dennis' shoulders singing...eventually Eddie flips over gently down his back to ground zero again. ]

[later] All right. We'll stick around. [Who You Are]

[after Blood] That Blood's for you. That's for ? too. You've got to say thanks to the Fastbacks for us...a big hand...all the way from Seattle...with their silver suits. And last night they met Santo the Wrestler in a Taco Bell and they kidnapped him and made him sing background vocals. [Santo was actually Eddie in a silver suit and silver wrestler's mask.] I think we got one more. You ready? Hey look, plaid...grunge. It's purple...we don't wear grunge.

[looks to side of stage] ...I wouldn't be upset to see a little background help up here myself. I see a lot of boys in front and that's good that they're all in front so they can hear closely the words to this next song. It's called Leaving Here. ...which is what we're all going to be doing soon.

[Leaving Here]
"Hey fellas have you heard the news?
The women of this town are being misused.
I seen it all in my dreams last night.
Jack Irons in the background and he's right..." [etc.]

[final encore. Eddie onstage alone] Everyone's back in the room right now talking about how good you guys were so thanks a lot. [cheers] [to someone in pit] Is that you? Ok, come to Connecticut up there. Your name will be on the list in Connecticut, ok? Ok, I'll see you there. Thanks. Ok so that takes care of one piece of... Someone else kind of... all right...if I'm going to talk you guys gotta listen. Oh, come on, we've heard that all night. [laughs] Nope, I was just going to play just some other song. I think we played it one other time. I think we played it one other time in our long careers. This young man wrote me today. I got this letter. He said he had this tape. It was a bootleg and his girlfriend, we broke up a year ago, stole the tape. [boos] Bitch. Oh...I shouldn't talk about things I don't know about completely but he hasn't heard the song for years so I'm going to play it for him so be nice and quiet and let's do this thing. [sings a very beautiful I am a Patriot] Thanks a lot. Good night.

To Fanview of Augusta

[after Jeremy] It all looks good up here. Keith, switch on the light or something back there. It looks fine to me. Someone's telling me that the fire marshall is a little panicked but you guys just keep it cool. It looks like it's going ok. Is it all right out there? All right, we just came to play and that's what we're going to keep doing.

[after Black] Look, I have cue cards, just like David Letterman. It says, this is the most intelligent crowd...oh no, I already said that... [card says] "Ed, the fire marshall specifically wants you to ask the audience," and this is probably a really good idea so consider it coming from me. "He wants the audience..." and I would like the audience myself to just take two steps back. Can we all do that? On the count of three...one, two... [crowd steps back and cheers.]

[introducing Habit] I wrote this song about a guy named... oh I'm not going to say his name...he's a sixty-something-year old who thinks like he's a thousand and sixty. But you know, it's good that someone's got me so hot and bothered because this song is not easy to sing if you're just in a good mood. It's called Habit.

[during Habit] "Speakin' as my own bad self..."

What a good day. It's a good day. I got a lot to say. There's a few people that have some things to say. But for now, I'm just going to say... [Porch]

[VOTING speech during Porch]
As I said before, we had a good day today...a really productive day here and the day ain't over yet. Nope. And it feels like maybe, ...feels like maybe it's maybe more than, we had planned this to be more than just a concert tonight. ...kind of like a workshop. It's like a workshop, right? ...like a construction site and we all got jobs. We're all workers...and we're all equal and what are we building? Well, it's like we're erecting something incredibly beautiful...like a, uh...can I keep talking? Are you with me on this? [cheers]

So, it's not just a building that we're putting up or that we could put up if we did this together. It's more like a place...like we're building a beautiful place and this is a place where everyone's invited. Everyone! ...and this is a place where you're free to express yourself. fuck, shit, damn, I love you - anything you want to say, you can say it, right? Ok, it's a place that no matter who you are in love with, or what color you are, you're invited. You're in. Come on, let's go. Let's have at it. Let's... Where is this place, right? Where is it? I know. By the way, you can also choose whatever you want in this place. You have the freedom to choose in this place, too. This is just a great place, right? ...and I'm gonna tell you where this place is, right? Cause I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna be there and you're gonna be there and I'm gonna remember all of you because you would have been the ones who helped build it, right? You. You. We're all gonna be there. Do I know where this place is? Do you know what it is? This place is the future. The future. I'm gonna be there. You're gonna be there and we don't have to wait. Let's go. The future is now. Let's go. Register to vote by the end of the night, all right? Do me a favor. Let's go there. All right. Thank you for listening. [they finish Porch]

[after Porch] You know, you could really show your appreciation by...this is a good friend of ours... You've got to know her to really know because she's done so much good for so many people. What more could be said? Her name's Gloria Steinem...please. She's going to say a few words and if you could give her your utmost attention, if you'd do that for us, we'll play for a whole bunch more so...

Gloria: I know we're here because Pearl Jam and Eddie, sing our lives. And tonight we're here because all of the great artists that you've seen tonight are singing to make our lives better. So while they're getting ready to come back. I want to tell you a story.

Once upon a time on this land, where we stand, there were great native nations, thousands of years ago. And some of them really understood how to make each person count and how to respect nature and how to respect each other. In fact, when the Europeans came here, they imitated the Iriquois confederacy when we made our constitution. But they left some things out. They only let white men with property vote. They forgot about everybody else. So it took a long time, but finally black men could vote. And it took 50 years longer but finally women of every race could vote...and it took a lot more years and finally 18 year olds could vote but you know, all of this time, there were folks that were sorry that this was happening. So they've been trying to discourage us from voting. And ever since the civil rights movement said, "voting is so important that we will risk our lives and safety to vote," they have been telling you that your vote doesn't matter, that the candidates are just alike and that politics are dirty. Those are the psychological ways that you are kept from voting. Well, you are smarter than that. And you know that right here tonight there are enough people to return democracy to the state of North Carolina.

So if you want to decide whether or not you want to work, whether or not you want to go to school, whether or not you want to have children. If you want freedom and you want respect, I want you to promise me tonight that you are going to vote if you can, if you are 18 and you are going to go out and get at least 5 other people to vote and you are going to vote for yourselves and change the face of the senate and change the face of the Congress so that it looks like the country. There are enough people here tonight to do it in this state.

The native Americans always said when someone was sick or someone was sad, that they had "lost their song". Tonight, because of all these songs here, you are going to get your song back. And part of your song is deciding what to do in this state and what to do in this country and from now on, you are going to make the decisions and the world will be a lot more like this great, friendly, peaceful, warm, respectful space we've got tonight. Thank you.

Eddie: Any questions?

Fuck no. You know what to do. Do it. Will ya? Thanks for letting us tell you all these things. We appreciate the opportunity to communicate a little bit...totally appreciate it...totally appreciate you coming down...totally appreciate all the trouble it took to get tickets...totally appreciate every person. I'm addressing you as an individual and as a crowd. Thank you very, very, very much.

[after I Got Id] Jeff: That was a really good friend of ours, Brendan O'Brien on bass. He helps to (?)make our records. Give him a big hand.

[after Leaving Here] All right. I think we're going to play one more for you and wish you all a good night's sleep. Thanks again for your patience and listening to the few words we wanted to share with you. Really, you guys, we think about you a lot and I know...this isn't where we live..this is where you live and just to remind you...you guys can definitely make a change. Just had to say it in front of you all. As a group, you can do it. I know.

To Fanview of Charlotte