Set List: Do The Evolution, Animal, Last Exit, Brain of J., Given To Fly, In Hiding, Corduroy, Wishlist, Lukin, Even Flow, Daughter/(Stuff & Nonsense), Dissident, MFC, Better Man, Red Mosquito, Black; 1st encore: Hail Hail, Mankind, I Got Shit, Rearviewmirror, Alive; 2nd encore: Yellow Ledbetter

Sound credit: Egidie Scherr (eascherr@cloudnet.com)

Mike Grzesiak (lastexit@aero.net)
The show started at 7:30 with Frank Black; he was alright. Then at around 9 Pearl Jam took the stage. They opened with Do The Evolution, then went right to Animal and then Last Exit but the end was cut short due to Eddie's mic going out. Ed quoted "Fuck that shit lets get two the next one." Brain of J, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Corduroy, Wishlist, Lukin', Even Flow (good ass solo), Daughter/I Don't Know (bout the future)?, Dissident, MFC, Better Man, Red Mosquito, Black---- 1st Encore Hail Hail, Mankind, I got shit, Rearview Mirror, Alive----- 2nd Encore Yellow Ledbetter. It was a really good show Ed quoted "there's no way tomorrow's show will beat tonight's" which showed that they we're actually having fun playing. The sound quality was excellent, and it was a great night. see you tommorow.

Rob (rholden@jvlnet.com)
Wow, I just got back from the concert. I am tired but pumped at the same time. This is only the second time I've seen them and the first was back in 1992 at Lollapalooza. It was definitely a treat hearing extended versions of many of the songs such as Black, Better Man, and Yellow Ledbetter (the final encore). Besides those songs, other high points included Corduroy and Hail, Hail. I was hoping to hear State of Love and Trust and a couple more of the 'oldies' from Ten, heck, I wish they just would have gone on playing for the rest of the night until they ran out of material.

I think the only low point was during Last Exit, at least I think it was that one, Eddie seemed to forget the words, so he stopped singing and the rest of the band went on for a couple more minutes until the drums came to what seemed to be an angered halt. Aside from that, Mike was just going postal on the guitar tonight, it was great, I don't think I've ever heard him play with that kind of gusto. Seeing Stone perform his song was a treat as well.

After 2 well played encores and a 3rd and final encore with Yellow Ledbetter, I was sad to see the house lights come on and Pearl Jam walk off for the night. I'm tempted to go back tomorrow, but as Eddie himself said, "there's no way we're going to top this tomorrow..." or something to that effect. Eddie, I never want to see the day when Pearl Jam can't top itself, if it ever does happen, I don't want to be around to see it. Thanks for all the great memories.

UncleHabat@aol.com:
Last night I had my best concert experience ever and one of my best life experiences ever. Pearl Jam at Alpine Valley! The show was head and shoulders above anything I've ever seen before and I've been to a lot of great concerts by great live bands. Pearl Jam blows all away.

I had the incredible luck of being in the 6th row to the right of the stage (the equivalent of winning the Lotto for me). I was right in front of a stack of speakers and turned to my fellow concert goers and made quite the Psychic Friends Network type of prediction ("Eddie will stand on these speakers right in front of us"). More on that bit of telepathy later.

So the "Five against one" come out to the screaming of thousands of devoted fans and without a word blast into "Do The Evolution." You could easily tell they were having the time of their lives up there. Eddie was like a kid bouncing up and down and smiling over at Stone who was quite giddy himself. They were just having a blast. They then kicked into another jam, "Animal", which led into yet another jam, "Last Exit", which they fucked up. Eddie was singing at a different time than the guitars were playing and then the drumming was off because of this, but no worries. "We fucked that up, let's just go to the next one" were the words from Mr. Vedder as the band laughed at the miscue. And go into the next one they did, with "Brain of J." Mike was in top form here. Quite a rocking opening set of songs. The whole crowd was jumping as they went into the rest of the set. During "Corduroy" Ed looked directly at me and smiled cuz I was jumping high above the idle first 5 rows. It was nice to be appreciated by "No Fuckin' Messiah" himself.

At one point in the set Ed noticed a bit of horseplay going on at front row center. People were fighting over something he threw into the crowd. And being the non rock star/completely humane person that he is, he stopped his singing and walked over right in front of them to tell them to stop fighting over it and "give it to the girl." And give it to the girl they did with a promise from Ed not to worry cuz he would make sure they were also taken care of. "I'll make sure I get you man" were his exact words I believe. And what do you know, he made sure they got something else by concert's end. I defy anyone to name another lead singer for an uberband that would even think about doing something like this. Great band and great people- how bout that!?

The atmosphere during "Wishlist" was great as Ed played the shit out of the solo. Stone did a good job singing on "Mankind" as Ed bashed a tambourine in the background. But now to the true highlight of this truly alive night... yep that's right, "Alive". They play the shit out of it and turn the lights on the crowd. It was quite a sight to turn around from my 6th row perch and see tens of thousands with their hands up all singing. During the solo my psychic prediction turned into reality when Ed saw us all jumping out of the corner of his eye and turned around to come over by us. And what do you know, he got up on the stack of speakers directly in front of us. There was also a giant screen there and he flipped it off with a giant smile on his face. I ran over and got behind a security guard and was right there below Mr. Vedder as he looked down smiling. UNBELIEVABLE!!! They then came out with "Ledbetter" with an amazing McCready performance and walked off, leaving the night forever etched on my brain and my ass firmly planted on Cloud 9. Just wanted to share my good time with everyone. Can't wait till United Center Monday night! Me and Ed's hometown!

P.S. Matt Cameron hit the skins quite well thank you.

The meaning behind Yellow Ledbetter - fan interview: [aif] [wav]