November 25, 1996, Cascais Pavilion, Lisbon, Portugal

Set List: Eddie did Leaving Here with the Fastbacks. PJ set: Who You Are, Animal, Hail Hail, Tremor Christ, Corduroy, Better Man, Not For You, Off He Goes, Mankind, Even Flow, Jeremy, Daughter/I've Seen Your Face/Androgynous Mind, Sometimes, RVM, Immortality, Footsteps, Hunger Strike, SOLAT, Alive, Encore: Once, Black, Smile, Porch, Yellow Ledbetter, Rockin' In The Free World

Ticket and Poster credit: Andrew McDougall, Australia
Photo credit: Joćo Agostinho (bfe2179@mail.telepac.pt)

Monday I went to my first ever concert of Pearl Jam. It was the best night of my life!

Sunday was the first show in Portugal, but I couldn't get tickets. But I know that the public was awesome! The first part (before the Fastbacks) were by The What, a masked guy and three other people. Their second song was The Kids Are Alright, and we found out that the masked guy was Vedder, because he sang it! In the PJ show, the public was singing "Portugal, Portugal", and Vedder made a song about it, with the refrain "Portugal." In the end of Pearl Jam show, Eddie said he lost his life insurance, because he was STAGE DIVING!!! He climbed the columns and he fell into the public! It must have been great! I wish I've been there. I only heard talking about it. :(

Well, Monday. My first ever concert of PJ. I was in the venue at 2 o'clock, but we only got inside at 6 o'clock (PM, of course). Meanwhile, I was meeting some Pearl Jam fans, and talking about the BEST BAND IN THE WORLD! We got in but the show only started at 9. Meanwhile, we listen to REM new album, " new adventures in hi-fi", and that wasn't bad. I stood near to a guitar and bass player of a Portuguese band with Pearl Jam influences, Blind Zero, and we talked a while. At 9 pm came the Fastbacks. The public was OK, and Fastbacks music were not bad, although I thought that the vocalist voice was a bit strange. But they're ok. About 10pm, PJ come in. Here's the setlist, with comments:

Who You Are - Not bad. I prefer the live version to the studio one. In the beginning he played (that circular thing that is like a very small drums, I don't know how to translate)[tambourine-syn], and then he threw it away, not to the public, but to the back. Maybe because what happened in USA...

Animal - with Eddie (and the public) open and close his hand many time, to say 5 against 1

Hail Hail - I think it's in this music. Maybe it's in another, but anyway, a boy climb into the stage and he tries to grab someone, I think it was Mike, but it could be Jeff. But the security men grab the boy before he can do that. The music was playing all the time. No interferences.

Tremor Christ - He ask if the public had slept last night and said that he didn't sleep. He said good things about the Portugese.

Corduroy -

Better Man - In this one, Vedder was waving his arms from one side to another, and the public was imitating him. He made a "false move", and waved his arms from left to left, but the public waves from left to right. Then he look to us and laughed, like he says: "hey, I fooled you!"

Not For You - In the end he said that the song lyrics was just words, and not feelings, An that "this is for you", talking about the concert or the song, I don't know.

Off He Goes - I think it was here when he said that they were tired when they came to Portugal, and just wanted to play the shows and go home, but when they saw the audience and started playing, they were having a lot of fun.

Mankind - Vedder goes out from the stage, to the back side and does backing vocals. I saw him stretching his neck, and he later said that his voice was tired and asked for us to help him by singing too.

Even Flow - In the solo, Eddie went to the back and made movements with the arms (like the Alive guy) and the public was trying to imitate him. In the end of the solo, Eddie comes running, he jumps over something (the place where the sound is adjusted? (I don't know how to translate)) and continues the singing.

Think it was here. Must have been. As I said, Sunday, when the public (was singing "portugal", Vedder made a song. Monday, the public was singing "portugal" too, trying to Eddie to sang it again, and Vedder sang something like: "Lisbon is a wonderful place", and 2 or 3 more verses that I couldn't decipher. But that was all.)

Jeremy - In the end, Mike threw the guitar into the air and caught it.

Daughter - With the hey hey song in the middle. He sang: "hey it's ok,... maybe not today,... maybe not tomorrow..., but someday it will be ok".

Sometimes - In the end, Vedder apologized and said that after all, "today is ok!"

Rearviewmirror -

Immortality -

Footsteps - He said that this was the last show and that they wanted to play some songs that they still had not played before in the tour. He started with Footsteps.

Hunger Strike - This one was most of all sung by the public. In the end, Vedder clapped his hands, thanking us.

State of Love and Trust -

Alive - Mike did the solo sitting on Eddie's shoulders! And the solo was perfect! In the end, with Mike already on his feet, Vedder throws the mic metal "thing" into the floor! Great ending!

(encore) Once -

Black - YES! My favourite song.

SMILE!! - This song was dedicated to the persons that had followed the tour. He said that he didn't know how they could do that, but he said thanks. In the middle of the song, he went to the security pit to grab the Portuguese flag. He put it on the mic and near the end of the song, he puts it in the face of Stone. He was playing and the music was fine to, although he couldn't see.

Porch - Eddie climbs the columns, and sits there, watching the public. The public was looking to him and wondering if he was gonna jump. He didn't. Then he climbed to the lights "thing". It was much taller, and I was thinking. "he's gonna jump. he's crazy!" But no. He grabbed a broom that was there and showed it. He went down with the broom, and at the end of the music he threw it away.

Yellow Ledbetter - YES! My second favourite song.

Rockin' In The Free World - Eddie goes again to the security pit and goes touching some fan's hands. I was in the front and he touched my hand. Good song to end the show. The title says it all. Now, I'm waiting for the next tour. In the middle of the show he said that they WILL BE BACK IN PORTUGAL.

(when the staff guys were cleaning up the stage, they threw to the public those things that are used to drum (once again, I don't know how to translate). I got one. Cool, isn't it?

P.S. - Sorry for the bad English, and if I don't exactly recall in where between songs something happened.

YES!

Lisbon Review
by: Joao Manuel da Camara Borges (Joao.C.Borges@mail.pt)

Rumors were roaming high for this one. It was the last concert on the tour, and the second in Lisbon; some people said it would be identical to the one the night before, others it would be completely different; one music-related newspaper had published a piece where they related the show and said Eddie had hurt himself badly when he had jumped (see the review for that concert), so some people wondered whether there was going to be a concert at all. One thing, however, on which all those who had come to the previous show (myself included) agreed on was this one couldn't possibly surpass last night's - after all, when it's perfect, it's perfect. Well, maybe this one was just above perfect. We felt overlooked by them for years (it was PJ's first time here) but, boy, do those guys know kow to make it up...

I got stalled in traffic, so when I got there, the Fastbacks were already beyond the first half of their performance (the guy at the door remarked, seeying that I bore ticket #289, that I was arriving very late for one who had bought the ticket so soon). I was somewhat reassured by learning that Vedder hadn't come on stage as he had the night before, nor any other member of Pearl Jam. This time I was situated not on the playing field (the place where both shows were held is a sports arena) but on the rows of seats above, on the right of, and slightly behind the front of the stage, so even if I was not as close to the band, I had a much better perspective and could monitor some of the backstage activity (not to mention I didn't need to endure pushing and shoving). Vedder eventually appeared for the last song with the Fastbacks, with a mask similar to the one he had worn the night before and a silver suit. This time, everybody had been warned by the newspapers and the radio, so everybody started screaming "Eddie." He performed "Leaving Here" and left.

Pearl Jam opened with "Who You Are", which has been a great success on country-wide radio airplay lists for months. But the first real highlight was "Better Man". I saw several people moved to tears with that one (and I'd see it again on other several songs) and again one could barely hear Vedder over the crowd singing (not that everybody didn't sing nearly ALL the songs). "Not For You" followed; nearing the end of that one, Vedder addressed us to explain that, while they usually abstained from explaining their lyrics and preferred to let each listener find his or her own meaning to their words, they had to make clear that particular song did NOT mean that what they did wasn't for us - on the contrary.

Just about every song was a special moment of its own right. The setlists of the two Portuguese shows were considerably different, yet almost everybody got to hear the songs they were most longing for (I myself only regretted strongly the absence of "Indifference" and "Red Mosquito") This one had more songs from "Vitalogy" and less from "Vs.", and some special bonuses. After "Immortality", Vedder told us they had been on tour for a long time, and that they had been uncertain about how these last 2 concerts would go, and had considered that they might just get them over with and go home, but that, upon their arrival, they were overwhelmed enough by the reception they got to utterly forget all their road fatigue. He also said that, since it was their last show, they would play some songs that didn't get played live too much these days. And they did: we got to hear "Footsteps" and "Hunger Strike" on a row, and I believe Pearl Jam were quite surprised by the fact we all knew those two as well (I'm sure people could hear "I'm growing hungry" for miles around the improvised theater).

During "State of Love and Trust", Vedder brought out a skateboard, and both him and Ament took turns in riding it (huge response from the "radical sports" faction). They left after "Alive" and came back for the encore, which started with "Once." Vedder picked up a Portuguese flag from the crowd and wore it at his waist before hanging it on the drumkit. Mike also got one, which he wore over his shoulders while riding on Vedder's shoulders and playing a fabulous guitar solo. "Black" followed; I was driven to tears and everybody sang hysterically "we belong together... together..." at the end, even if Vedder *didn't*. During "Porch", Eddie climbed down from the stage and delivered hand-shakes to everybody in the front row; he also ignored people's appeals for him to jump (no wonder, after the night before!) and instead climbed to the top of one of the lighting towers (about 20 feet high), from which he retrieved some kind of mop which he used to mop the stage.

After the song ended, he told us that usually that would be the end, but they had received a huge number of requests for them to end the show with "Yellow Ledbetter" ("Garden" had also been highly voted) and they were going to comply. Curiously, I believe it was the song to which the crowd listened to more attentively (I have seen several people bet on the lyrics of that song over the years). But it didn't end there, for Mike, while performing the end solo, started speeding up and kicked in "Rocking in the Free World", with, I believe, some surprise from the other guys. Pearl Jam eventually left, not before Vedder promised they would remember those two nights and make sure to come back.

I believe those are the words everybody remembers most to this day, so keep your promise guys, we'll be holding our breath until then.