My review of Pearl Jam
by: Ray (PrlJam27@aol.com)
The date was 9/29/96, place New York City, Randall's Island, Downing Stadium. My brother, my friend, and my friend's brother got a late start heading out to the show. I was SOO siked up for this show. I couldn't wait. This was my first Pearl Jam show and I was afraid that we were gonna miss the start of the show. Well, we got there and we did miss the first opening act which was the Fastbacks. That kind of sucked because I heard they were good and was looking foward to seeing them. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
We got there half way through the second opening act which was Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals. I had never heard of them before. They were REALLY good. I was suprised as to how good they were. This guy had the crowd pumped up. He was really giving it his all. The last song they did (I'll Rise), was INCREDIBLE!! He had the whole crowd raising their arms in victory!! Let me tell you, if you ever get a chance to see Ben Harper live, go for it! It will be a great show.
OK, so Ben Harper leaves the stage. Pearl Jam didn't come out for about a half hour. They had to set up the stage and light the candles and stuff like that. So during this time we went to go get a drink. I bought a small coke for $3!!!! You believe that?!?! While this intermission was going on I began to wonder if they would start with Release. I know from my PJ bootlegs that they often start off with that one. I was hoping they would because it is one of my favorite PJ songs.
At about 7:30 pm, Pearl Jam takes the stage. OH MY GOD!!! I can't believe that I am really here, with Pearl Jam only about 20 yards in front of me. This is UNBELIEVEABLE!!! Eddie starts out by saying that they are gonna play their songs better than they have ever been played, and they are gonna play more songs then they have ever played. Man, what a roar the crowd gave him!!
So they started out with Sometimes. So much for Release, but thats OK. Sometimes was played GREAT! So far it seemed like Eddie was sticking to his word.
They continued on to Go and then Spin The Black Circle. Once they reached Animal all hell broke lose. Thats when the moshing really started. This really pissed off Eddie. He stopped right in the middle of Animal because some girl fell, couldn't get up, and started to cry. That lucky girl got to go up on the side of the stage!! After all this the band picked up in Animal right were they left off. All in unison too!!! Total amazement!
So PJ continued on. Eddie had to yell at the crowd a couple more times until they finally calmed down.
At one point in the show they started playing a song that I have never heard before. I asked my friend Rob if he knew what it was. He just told me to listen to the words. I did. It was Jeremy! A version of the song I have never heard before. I have since heard it on various different bootlegs I have. But it was great to hear something that I have never heard before at that show.
Porch was great! Eddie had an amazing monologue in the middle about being yourself. It was an incredible speech.
Now here comes the best part of the show: THE ENCORES!!!! And tons of them.
They kicked off the encore with In My Tree. The drums in that song sound great live.
Daughter was awesome! Tons of tags. I was very happy to see Stone do Mankind. That was really cool.
Their second encore was totally their best part of the show. Off He Goes, a masterpiece to say the least. I would have to say the same about Present Tense. These two songs really set the mood for PJ's final song of the night which was Yellow Ledbetter. That was the best version of the song Iever heard. Eddie's lyrics really go right to the heart.
Well, thats my night of Pearl Jam. I hope you enjoyed my review!
