[You really don't want to miss seeing Jose's reaction when he saw
that "Smile" from the Barcelona show was on the Ten Club Xmas single.]

It was the second Pearl Jam visit to Spain ever. Yes, incredible but true. We have had only ONE show in Spain on February 28th, 1992 in a very small club during the Ten Tour in Madrid, so you can imagine the expectations everyone had in the Barcelona's Sports Palace.

After the Fastbacks show, (everyone was waiting for Pearl Jam and almost no one knew the Fastbacks) finished by "Set Me Free" from Sweet, some minutes ?, they came out on stage. E.V. was wearing a white shirt (later, he will take it off and he was wearing his great green army t-shirt). Stone Gossard was in a white t-shirt and jeans, Ament all in black with a hat, Mike McCready with a blue shirt and I couldn't see Jack Irons' clothes.

They opened with "Wash." People were almost hallucinating and they didn't move much. They were just watching them like living a moment they thought they would never live. Then came "Last Exit" and everyone started to jump, just beginning to be conscious of what was happening. Of course, everyone sang all the songs with Eddie Vedder. After two songs with a soft light, came "Hail, Hail" with all the lights on. That was when I decided to go to the first position in the crowd. "I'm gonna stay in the middle, a little far from the stage to enjoy it as much as I can." -->...NOT A GOOD DECISION. The great feelings were when I went to the first position and saw them nearer! Eddie Vedder said then, "Hola, ¿cómo están? Nosotros bien." ("Hi, how are you? We're fine.") The whole Sports Palace started to shout and then... ANIMAL. I cannot describe what I felt when they came on stage and everyone was shouting. UNBELIEVABLE. (Like a little worm moving all along your body.) E.V. came out with a grey notebook and a bottle of red wine. He said that he didn't know if it was Spanish wine or not, but he thought that it was.

In "Habit" he said, "Speaking as a child of the nineties" in Spanish. ("Hablo como un niño de los novena.") Then the couple, "Rearviewmirror", "Immortality"...one of the greatest moments in the night. How can these two songs be so "emotional" live? "Daughter" was also one of the best for the spectators..."Alive" of course, sung by everyone and "Porch," during which E.V. took the bottle cork and burnt it with a candle. He took it to the microphone and painted his eyes in black and finished with a great jump from a speaker.

Everyone was so excited after this hour and half, and then they came with more songs. "Mankind" with E.V. almost hidden making the 2nd vocals and laughing with Stone Gossard going wrong with the lyrics all the time. "Present Tense" with E.V. and Mike McCready alone on stage and the rest of the band coming one by one and taking their instruments when the song was getting faster and finishing with the whole Palace clapping with the music (God!); "Smile" (yes, the one on the Xmas Ten Club single!), opened by "This is a song to be happy. "¿Cómo se dice 'Smile?'" ("How do you say, 'Smile?'") and E.V. SMILING the whole song. In my opinion, it was the best song of the whole show and finishing with "Around The Bend," ...just E.V. and Stone Gossard with the Mellotron. UNFORGETTABLE.

E.V. even bullfought. When the whole Palace was calling him "Torero!", a typical Spanish thing in concerts that I cannot resist! (sigh!) He bullfought a roadie while Mike McCready was playing a "Pasodoble" with the guitar.

I think they enjoyed this show A LOT. E.V. told to the rest of the band to play more songs than what they had prepared in the couple of times and E.V. left the stage when the rest of the band had left already, the whole Sports Palace clapping and shouting "Thank You!" He was almost crying and said, "Thank you very much, I will never forget this." It had been a show in a big Palace but it looked like a small club.

After the show, Smiles, laughs, tears, hugs. I can ASSURE that those had been THE BEST TWO HOURS IN ALL SPECTATOR'S LIFE.

November 21 Barcelona show review
by: Alejandro Fernández Cornejo (stardog@arrakis.es)

It was a long time ago since Pearl Jam came to Spain in 1992. Things have changed a lot and now there were thousands of fans that wanted to see one of the most importants concerts of the 90´s.

Pearl Jam arrived to the Palacio de los Deportes at eight in the afternoon and by that time 8,000 people were standing on the arena while the Fastbacks were playing. Good vibes and a lot of excitement, even more when the crowd could see Vedder on the stage shouting on the back of the drums. First rows are getting hotter each minute, but Pearl Jam are just on time with "Wash."

Everybody was trying not to fall on the floor and we all wanted to see the band...total chaos.

"Buenas noches," said Eddie, and everyone in the hall answered at once. Things were getting better during the third song and we started enjoying the greatest band in the world.

Eddie played the bullfighter with Stone and the crowd shouted "ole! ole!"... They seemed to be enjoying, and that was one of the greatest things of the night. Later he painted his eyes black and started to jump like if he was crazy, but he wasn´t... He went down the stage and talked to someone that requested "Blood".

Stone played one for us ("Mankind") and Vedder danced behind him while he did background vocals.

Tinto wine and "¿Cómo se dice "Smile" en español?"...Jeff played guitar and Stone hung with the bass.

They played with the arena white light when everybody thought that they weren´t to appear again...

"Alive...WE'RE still Alive" was the orgasmic minutes for me and some tears fell from my eyes. Wild.

"Present Tense" was played by Mike and Eddie, alone on the stage just after some words like, "Silencio...I want you to listen this." It was the BIG lesson of the night.

Laughs and tears.
Unforgettable.