Set List: Last Exit, Hail Hail, Animal, Spin The Black Circle, Red Mosquito, In My Tree, Lukin, Not For You, Better Man/Save It For Later, Corduroy, Jeremy, Dissident, State of Love and Trust, Black, Habit, Rearviewmirror, Alive, Blood/Fame/Noise of Carpet; 1st Encore: Who You Are, Even Flow with John Popper on harmonica, Daughter/(I Believe in Miracles by the Ramones)(Old Address of the Unknown by the Fastbacks)/(WMA), Whipping, Leaving Here, 2nd Encore: Indifference

Show review, Randall's Island, NYC 9/28/96
by: Mike

Well, the show rocked. Randall's Island is an all General Admission stadium and the crowd was nuts. I was about three people from the front and I took a beating but it was so worth it.

The thing I was most excited about was the attitude that the band had. They looked like they were really enjoying themselves. Eddie was jumping around having the time of his life. For Black, Eddie sat on the face speakers and just started rocking. He was really cool to the whole crowd. He thanked us many times for all the trouble we went through to get there. He also said how happy he was to be there. Eddie said that the fact that Pearl Jam has been a springboard for so many different people to find a common ground made him so happy and made it all worthwhile. During Indifference some asshole hit Eddie in the face with a shoe. The whole crowd started to boo! Eddie stopped, smiled and waved to the crowd to say, "thanks guys, i'm okay."

In the first encore, John Popper came out to play harmonica with the band. Eddie came to the edge of the stage to play the crowd. He was slapping hands with a bunch of people that surfed over the barricade. They ended with Leaving Here while the park service had to turn all the lights on to get the band off of the stage. They finished the song, all smiled and said, "thank you all so much." and left the stage. I left the stadium knowing that all the trouble was worth it.

The day of the show was finally here. Four years of patience paid off with two, humbly designed, $28 tickets which closely resembled an airline ticket including my name printed on top and my own "personal" barcode on the bottom. I pack some warm cans of iced tea (brisk), and two peanut butter sandwiches and head out to NYC with a friend for my first, long awaited PJ show.

The set-up of the show was casual. You could sit on the stands if you want, or you could be right in front of the stage if you're so inclined, (or suicidal). Just behind the stage was littered with many food/beer/t-shirt and DJ booths, plus the inevitable row of port-a-potties.

The show begins at 5pm with the "fastbacks" performing a fun set of songs to which I know no names. Following their energetic half-hour performance was "ben harper and the innocent criminals" who played enthusiastically for a full hour, every second of which was a happily unexpected surprise. They played politically motivated music plus altered versions of songs such as "voodoo child". Their performance definitely was in the right spirit for the rest of the show.

At 7:30 sharp, only a half-hour after "ben harper" leaves the stage, the lights go out and a recorded "drum circle" like serenade is played as the honored guests take the stage. At this point I am wondering to myself if they will play "release" or "oceans". As soon as the question enters my head, I hear the chords of "last exit". I smile with joy (it being one of my favorites), until I realize that everyone in excitement is pushing their way to the front, and being in the middle of the floor I get caught in the rush forward. Before I know it, they're in the middle of "hail, hail". To loosely quote Ferris Bueller, "if you don't stop to look around, you could miss something".

Yup, it's almost predictable that heavy crowd-riding would start within the first three songs. And just as predictable, I can see that the Universal Alliance of Drunken Asshole Jocks (UADAJ) is making a special appearance to the show as I watch one try vigorously to remove the shoe of a passing crowd-rider. Well, what kind of behavior do you expect when there are beer tents EVERYWHERE!

After playing a few more songs, Eddie mentions how all rock stars have a "direct line to god", (it's true too!). Although it was a distraction during most of the show, especially during ballads like "better man", "daughter" and "black" the crowd sings the words louder than the sound system. What ever happened to LISTENING to music? Oh, man, that same asshole jock (from the aforementioned paragraph) knows all the words to "not for you". Does that suck or WHAT! PJ's effort at "state of love & trust" was passable, even with my strong preference for the original drum part from the Dave "era". Although it was raining for most of the show, it did pour down appropriately harder for some songs more than others, most notably for "black" as I turned my face to the sky with my eyes closed for the duration of the song. Eddie moved out of the spotlight after all of the lyrics were finished, and he quietly stood to the side as the band played the remainder of the song.

O.K., the break before the encore, which is my cue to meet my friend by the soundboard. As I find him, we hear the tribal drumming of "who you are" which definitely felt good. After that, Mr. Ed thanks the security guards up front (non-sarcastically), and he offers one of them to join them on stage, but he declines. They break into "even flow" and as they get to the jamming part, we see none other than the big-boy himself, John Popper on harp! Where the F did that one come from? It was cool while it lasted. Sometime toward the end, Eduardo says to the crowd "everyone shower and meet back here tomorrow", and at 9:20pm the show ends with a quiet "indifference". It seemed like they would come out and play more, but they just didn't. The show seemed powerful, but somehow uninspiring comparing it to the sea of bootlegs committed to memory. We both hoped that Sunday's show would be better. We get in the car to leave at 9:40pm, and we get out of the parking lot at 12:30am. I love NY!

My review of Pearl Jam
September 28 ....Downing Stadium
by: MuddGuyy@aol.com

Here's how it was....

The greatest weekend of my life began like this: In late August, I received a letter from the Ten Club with all of the ticket info. I immediately got the check sent out for the Randall's Island show on the 28th. I couldn't wait. Then, I found that, even if you were in the fan club, you weren't assured a seat...they only reserved so many, and if you got them, you got them.

Later in August....I got the phone number for FT&T from a local radio station, Z100...they told me to call the number on the Saturday morning at 10:00. Well, I have two lines, so this gave me an edge. My father and I each dialed on our own lines for about 45 minutes...then, finally, I got through. I found out that I was definitely going! Pearl Jam...playing, with me watching...how cool was that!?!? I nearly wet myself.

Sept 13...I receive a pair of tickets in the mail. They were for the show that I ordered the tickets using the fan club system. Now I knew I was going to both shows. The greatest weekend of my life was just around the corner.

Sept 14...Now I get the 4 that I ordered through the FT&T phone lines. No surprise, but I was still relieved. 12 of my friends were going to be there with me on the second show...I could hardly wait.

Sept 28...Oh my God....today's the day!!! There was rain in the forecast, and it was an outdoor concert, but I really didn't care. I would have fun no matter what.

On my way there, the excitement was building, we arrived at Randall's Island around 1:45 or so. This would turn out to be WAY more time than we needed. There were a ton of people there in the cars, having tailgate parties, listening to PJ. I couldn't understand why they weren't lined up at the door. Well, we were led around to the other side of the stadium once we started walking. When we got to the point where the gate was...there were about 5,000 people just waiting, waiting to get in. Finally, they started scanning the tickets. There was a 200 yard stretch to walk to get to the other end of the stadium which was open. (The stadium was a soccer/football stadium, with a track around it. It was only 3/4 closed. One side of the stadium, was not there. This is where the stage was.) We got there and found seats about 20 rows back, dead center, right in front of the stage. Cool. We waited forever, talking Pearl Jam with fellow fans. We were all taking bets on what Ben Harper would be like. We all knew the Fastbacks and there were mixed feelings about them.

5:00...Now it's showtime!!! The Fastbacks came out. The lead singer was wearing something that looked like a metallic scuba suit. They played way too loud and were pretty good. If I didn't have earplugs, I'd be deaf. Their set was about 35- 40 minutes long.

6:15....Ben Harper, who the hell is he? Would he rock? Would he be a hippy singing about how his wife left him? Well, he comes out. He was black and there were some racial slurs...sick world. He was a guitarist/singer, they had a percussionist, bassist and a drummer. He began to play. He played his guitar in a very strange manner, an acoustic guitar, with distortion on, with a slide. He would slam the slide down on the neck of the guitar and beat the hell out of the strings. With the guitar down on his lap. He started off with some feedback a la Jimi Hendrix...then he began, he kicked ass. He played Hendrix's Voodoo Child and a bunch of other great tunes. Perhaps the best way to describe him, is as a combination of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, mmmm....maybe TuPac Shakur and perhaps George Clinton. He was amazing, I bought one of his albums a few days ago.

7:45...Pearl Jam set to begin in a few minutes, and the ground, where we were, was getting very crowded. We had thoughts of heading for the stadium seats, but decided to hang. And then comes Pearl Jam...

8:00...Last Exit, you could feel the energy and then as Eddie began to sing, things got rough in the pit. We had to leave. We found a place where we could be around nice people, and still have a good view. They began to play Hail, Hail...better than I've ever heard before. They played Animal next. Mike's solo was pretty damn amazing. Then came Red Mosquito, Mike's wailing guitar solos and Eddie's perfectly accompanied voice made this one great. They continued on to play so many great songs, like Rearviewmirror, State of Love & Trust, Jeremy and Alive. Alive was great! They played it just like on the album...I think Mike re-learned his old solo 'cause it was played exactly the same as the album. The screen on the back of the stage was bright yellow during the chorus and a more subtle yellow during the verses. During the chorus, the crowd threw their hands up and began to wave them around, back and forth. It was POURING at this point. The shape of the hands in front of the bright yellow stage made the arms and hands a beautiful silhouette. It was like a sky-line of arms.

Perhaps, the biggest surprise of the night was Even Flow...where John Popper from Blues Traveler makes a surprise appearance during the song. He played an harmonica solo to accompany the song...it sounded great. Between Mike's guitar and his wailing harmonica, this was very cool. They continued on with Not For You...a great version of it where Eddie talked to the crowd for about 5 minutes during the third verse. The rain continued on and Eddie asks the crowd "that rain feel good?" Well, damn straight it did, it felt like Woodstock. The rest of the concert was great, playing songs like Who You Are and an extremely intense version of In My Tree. The show ended with Indifference, a rarely heard song live. Eddie's voice was very strong on this one, showing the world that he hasn't lost a thing.

See Randall's Island, September 29, 1996 for Muddguy's second day fanview.