Set List: Interstellar Overdrive (part), Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Brain of J., Last Exit, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Off He Goes, M.F.C., Improv Intro into Habit, Wishlist, Faithfull, Hail Hail, Mankind, Leatherman, Leaving Here, Last Kiss (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers)

LeAnn Mercer (mslily911@aol.com):
Timing is everything, and never so much as when it involves Pearl Jam. Early on the evening of May 7th, a friend and I debated going to AROspace to see "Shawn Smith & Friends," and I decided against it. After reading a post from DigitalKat and OfTheSea about exactly who those "Friends" were, I called my friend back and bolted out of the house, hoping we'd make it to the club in time! We each arrived a little before 8 pm, and were joyously only about 60 people deep in line...shades of an allnighter at Rudy's for the Showbox gig many moons ago. Hooked up with some great old online friends = ) and after about an hour and a half, they LET US IN. $10, no service charges, hahaha.

PJ was scheduled to hit the stage at midnight, so...we had some more waiting to do. The opening acts (two female artists whose names escape me at the moment) were genuinely appealing, but come on...nobody wants to sit through International Folk Night when there are 5 guys lurking in the backstage hallway, hahaha, waiting to play THEIR set. Shawn Smith's set was tragically marred by what seemed to be a couple of slightly unruly audience members. It's too bad that he let it ruin his performance -- for him and for us -- but hopefully the next time Shawn plays it will be "his" crowd.

12:05...we just happened to be standing next to the door that is the 'backstage' door (a door we'd seen Stone slip through earlier) -- we were standing there because it was the only open space in the room; REALLY -- when the door opens and sandwiched between some beefy security people come the band...Stone, then Jeff--with no hat, all night-- then Matt, then Ed, and then with that shock of dayglo blonde hair, Mike. Two seconds after the band started 2 MORE guys come out and stood next to us for the first 5 songs. Who were they? Some guy we didn't know, and some guy we did. KIM THAYIL. That's right, we stood elbow to elbow with Kim watching Pearl Jam in a club. If life gets better than that, I want someone to tell me how.

Musical details...they were TIGHT, right from the start, I felt, easing into the set with an instrumental jam as the perfect prelude to Corduroy. I used to think Long Road was the definitive show starter, but... after waiting for 4 hours, "the waiting drove me mad" was THE way to start the show. They were LOOSE, they were excited, they looked as if they were having a great time...they didn't seem a bit nervous...Matt seems to really fit in this band, musically, and there wasn't one missed cue or rhythmic struggle or glitch, which I found quite impressive. There were actually a couple of places that traditionally have great fills and I remember anticipating them and was NOT disappointed. Matt just cracks those drum heads. If you must find fault, I noticed that a couple of fills in "Habit" were different, and, um, I like the old ones, hahaha. But I remember seeing Jack in '95 and he hadn't quite settled in to some of the material; by '96 those songs were his. I have confidence Matt will nail them all this summer. They did some really slight arrangement changes on a couple of songs and they came off nice and crisp. Mike did the solo for Corduroy and it was fluid and intense...caught Mike with his eyes closed during Given To Fly and closed my own eyes, realizing that the music is so much more dynamic when you aren't distracted with the visual. Caught Mike with his eyes shut again during Off He Goes and caught Stone gently rubbing his head--his own head, not Mike's head, LOL (like he does with Brad, at the beginning of Screen) during the same song, and somehow that gesture seems so soothing. People started pogo-ing during MFC but fortunately, the crowd was pretty well behaved for the duration of the show. They should play clubs all the time. ;) The biggest Mosh occurred during...MANKIND. It was AWESOME. Stone made a comment about, "this is what you've all been waiting for...why don't they let 'that guy' sing..." and, hey, I *am* always thinking that, hahaha. Leatherman was fun -- a little zippier than the recorded version, and Leaving Here was as good a live version as I've heard in several shows. Not as raw as some performances, but very upbeat.

I thought it was cool that the songs were from the last three albums...apparently they're teaching Matt their catalog in reverse. Seriously, it made me really happy that they don't feel they have to turn on the human jukebox all the time...songs from Ten and Vs would have sounded just as great, I'm sure, but there was something really fresh about hearing stuff that was more recent. Also, during the show, Ed started talking about seeing a tiny red light out in the audience and realizing it was a cel phone that someone was holding up...LMFAO...he said it was nice to see technology in action and that "not everyone had to give me and Matt blow jobs to get in tonight..." hahaha. Oh suuuure, Ed...

Favorite moments for me were MFC, Faithfull, Corduroy, Given to Fly, Off He Goes, and Last Exit. All for different and equally important reasons...MFC for just being a great song and of late, one of my Yield favorites...Faithfull for the beautiful lyrics...Corduroy as a reminder of past shows and those to come...Given To Fly as Mike's triumph in songwriting...Off He Goes because IMO, it shows how truly talented they all are when the amps aren't on 11, and Last Exit because it seemed so ALIVE...it was the best Last Exit I've ever heard.

The cover tune, Last Kiss, was such a sweet ending...just Matt and Jeff and Ed. Ed talked about recently discovering his dad might have been bisexual and that he couldn't have been prouder of him or loved him more if he was...then with the stage awash in bright pink lights, they played Last Kiss. It was touching! If you don't remember it by title, the chorus goes "oh where oh where can my baby be...the lord took her/him away from me...(s)he's gone to heaven so I've got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world..." It's one of those old Top 40 radio songs you've heard a hundred times and might have considered kind of schmaltzy, but this version was so simple and sweet; Eddie made the lyrics quite precious.

Last Kiss sample - [aif] [wav]

I just wanna say THANKS to Kat and Sea for posting that info online in time for us to get there. You guys rock my world. I'd start singing "wind beneath my wings" or something, but nobody wants that... ;) THANKS GRRLS! ! ! !

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'Spreadin' the Jam' LeAnn, we'd like to say thank you for your wonderful Fanview and for taping the show to share with everyone! We're able to put up 30-second samples only...everyone, please enjoy the teaser and then trade for the tape with someone...it's a great memory. - Kat and Sea