Set List: Sometimes, Hail Hail, Animal, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Even Flow, Given To Fly, Better Man, Off He Goes, Corduroy, Start Me Up tease/Beast of Burden (stopped), Go, Black, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter w/part of Sympathy For The Devil during Mike's solo. Later during the Stones' set, Eddie sings Waiting on a Friend with Mick.

Jam421@aol.com:
I flew on Wednesday morning to Oakland from Chicago to see Pearl Jam open for the Rolling Stones. Of course I wanted to see the Stones again, but I was defintely there to see Pearl Jam for their last show of 1997. My seats were in the 20th row on the right side of the stage so they weren't that good. But with the video screens on, it made every seat a little bit better.

The first thing you heard when the lights went down was Eddie's voice,... "Good Evening."

And with no more to say, they went right into Sometimes. Like usual, it sounded great. Eddie's voice sounded very confident. The only bad thing was that I seemed to be the only person standing in my section and I had to listen to four people yelling and screaming at me to sit down, but there was no way I was even going to consider sitting for them.

As soon as the first song was over they went directly into Hail, Hail. An awesome rendition of the song. It sounded like I was listening to No Code until they went right into the next song...

Animal. It seemed like the microphone was a little quiet, but that really didn't affect the song at all. It still rocked.

The band was playing with a lot of power and energy, but that is nothing new. It was great to watch Stone dance because you could just tell that he was having fun playing. You could also tell that Eddie was happy and having a great time out there too. He was smiling a lot more than I have ever seen him do. It was great to see that. He was dancing a lot and had a lot of new dance moves, especially as the band continued on with their show by playing the new one... Do The Evolution. This defintely is great new song, I can't wait to hear it in February.

The next song was Dissident, and finally it seemed like the audience was getting into it. I wasn't the only one standing in my section anymore.

Then came Even Flow and it sounded excellent. Definitely a well known song with the crowd. Sounded great.

After that Eddie began to compare tonight's weather to last night's storms. When he finished talking about the weather, he introduced their new song, Given to Fly" Another great new song, but also the last new one we heard during the set.

After Given to Fly he grabbed his guitar and said, "I start this song here." and he began Better Man which sounded perfect.

Then Eddie slowed it down with Off He Goes. I had never heard this live before and I just loved hearing his voice on this one.

Then the band played a totally rocking version of Corduroy. Definitely one of the best live songs they perform.

Following that was the Rolling Stones Tribute! At first you heard the beginning of Start Me Up and that ended abruptly. They next went into, my favortie Stones' song, Beast of Burden. They did a fair amount on that song which was followed by Eddie saying, "We're gonna be in so much trouble for that one". By now the crowd was slowly getting to their feet.

That is when Pearl Jam just slammed into Go.

Then to please me and countless others , Pearl Jam played Black. The best song ever invented! It sounded as good as ever. The side screen did some fancy double imaging with Eddie's face and Mike's guitars on this song which added to the overall power and emotion of the song. I had the biggest smile on my face and a tear in my eye during this song. If I could only listen to one song the rest of my life it would be Black!

They followed up with Alive. The crowd just loved it, everyone was on their feet. Eddie even said that he screwed up the words but nobody cared. During the guitar solos, Eddie ran at full speed across the stage from one side to the other, falling over during his third dash across the stage. It was hilarious to watch and the band just sounded fabulous. Eddie thanked the Stones for, "...treating them like kids" and drank from his bottle of wine as he then sprayed the crowd with some of it.

Then he introduced, Yellow Ledbetter to close out the show. Mike's guitar solo was very upbeat and rockin'. He threw a little of the Stones' Sympathy for the Devil in there. Watching Eddie stand and stare at Mike while he played was just a breathtaking thing to watch and great way to end an awesome set!

14 Pj songs, 1 and 1/2 Rolling Stones covers...

But it wasn't over for the night. In what was the biggest surpise I have ever seen, Eddie came out during the Stones show to sing Waiting On a Friend with Mick Jagger. When it was over he hugged all of them and left. It was an amazing moment that will stand out in my mind forever. It was "the legend" and the "future legend" of rock music together on stage at one time. That may be the only time we ever see that happen. We were all lucky that night.

Other notes:
--- I taped the show and it came out pretty good
--- I talked to Dennis Rodman who was there to see Pearl Jam. I saw him as he was going to the backstage to see Eddie. He already has a copy of "Yield". Lucky.
--- I also saw Sean Penn and his wife taking in the show and looking for Eddie.

It was one of the greatest, most eventful concerts I have ever seen. The band seems happier than ever. They are playing very well together. Very confident and have a lot of energy.

I can't wait until next years' tour and neither can they. It will only get better.