Set List: Hail Hail, Animal, Dissident, Even Flow, Jeremy, Last Exit, Given To Fly, Daughter (Hey Hey, My My) Corduroy, Wish List, Better Man, State of Love and Trust, Do The Evolution, Black

Nicole E. Fowles (nicole.fowles@pactel.com)
Ah, I remember now why I love Pearl Jam so much. The band was electrifying. Truly electrifying. I thought this show was fabulous: it was raw, intense and yet, had an air of innocent enthusiasm.

I think most of us thought they would come out at 8 pm. However, at seven thirty, the lights dimmed and there they were. They opened with a furious "Hail, Hail," sailing right into a rocking "Animal." "Hail, Hail" was the only song played from No Code. I thought "Black" (PJ never goes wrong with this one), "Better Man" and "Wish List" were beautiful. The only miss I found was in "Corduroy" -- either I was off or Eddie was off (yep, I sung to the whole thing. don't ya just pity the poor, nice fools that were around me!!! Though I did sing very, very softly!!!!)

The three new songs were great. I really cannot wait to hear "Given To Fly." Since I am slightly cynical, I usually think that when people say "Oh, the new songs were so great...can't wait for the album," they are really saying "I heard the new songs and you didn't." :). However, I was greatly impressed by them and cannot wait for the new album!!!

I would not want to see Pearl Jam do a stadium tour though. You lose something when you have an assigned seat and have to use a screen to see the band (to whomever decided to use the screen, thank you! I would not have been able to see anything...and I had a great seat!). Oh, the band looked great. Mike gained some weight and looked healthy! Everyone else looked pretty much the same, which I was glad to see.

I left Friday night saying that I would be back on Tuesday and Wednesday! Hopefully, I can still get tickets! (though I am not going to stay for the Stones the whole way through. They were great, but you expected them to be. They are showmen. I like the Stones...One of my parents' records which survived the constant moving around we did when I was younger was a Stones album with "This will be the Last Time" and "Satisfaction" (I took it with me when I moved out to the Bay Area!) However, I don't think I could take two more nights of strutting rock stars. I think I've been influenced too much by PJ and other modern rock stars like them. You can enjoy the strut, but it gets old after a while!

Drewedge@aol.com:
Dear Fellow PJ fans:

Well PJ were fuckin' awesome last night, the opener to a four night stint opening for the Rolling Stones at Oakland Coliseum in California; the ONLY four shows the band will be playing on the Stones tour!!! The band was very tight, the three new tunes they played went over very well with the crowd...can't wait for the new disc to finally be released. I'm going all four nights just because PJ is opening...if you're in the area don't miss this great opportunity to see the band, you know how infrequently they are touring these days so better catch them when you can. Time to get ready for night number 2..c'ya :)

DumbHonkie@aol.com:
Hello All. I am going to share my account of the days of November 14th. Since it is hard to really get a chance to see Pearl Jam (I last saw them in Toledo) I flew in with a friend all the way from Chicago to see the concerts. We arrived early to see if we could meet the band, but you know, at these arena rock type shows, it is a hard feat, though we did make it into soundcheck the first day.

We snuck into the venue about halfway through soundcheck, and got to see Daughter and Corduroy. They sounded so great in soundcheck, that it just made waiting for the show that much more difficult. While waiting for the doors to open, we got in line relatively early, and had to listen to maybe the worst Rolling Stones cover band ever, right outside the venue. When we got in, it just got that much harder to be still.

When the lights went down and Pearl Jam took the stage, an enormous amount of cheers cascaded down. Most people were just arriving, so the place was slightly empty. But it didn't take long to fill up. I am not going to run through the set list, since many people have already done that. There were some things that really surprised me. I was so happy they played State of Love and Trust, that I'll even excuse his greatness for botching the lyrics (but hey, they are HIS lyrics to botch, so he can do whatever he pleases!). Another pleasant suprise was Eddie's new "Mick Jagger" hairstyle. Last time I saw Eddie was at the Pete Townshend show, and he looked, well, just a little bit shaggy. But he cleaned up quite nicely for this show! Stone, of course, was looking as stylish as ever, along with Mike and his new found gut. Jack, well, I couldn't see him all too well, but looked basically like Jack. Jeff, of course, is HUGE, and he dwarfs everyone else on the stage. Well, I will not bore you longer. I could type out how my next day went, but it was basically uneventful. Soundcheck that day was Long Road and Daughter (all we saw, they may have had more) Have a great one!