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

Josh (stickman@dwave.net)

Alpine Squared

I was really pumped about hearing Lukin live as well as Red Mosquito. What more could I ask after waiting this long to see them. I was totally blown away by their crispness and power. I wasn't expecting such force, I don't know why, though. Then Eddie handed the controls to Stone for Mankind and littered the crowd with a couple of tambourines...some people got a nice shower of wine towards the end as well. All I know is that I couldn't wait until Saturday night...especially after Yellow Ledbetter...wow...

Saturday night and all was well...had a nice little jam/intro right into Corduroy, then Hail, Hail drove right into B.O.J....then take two on Last Exit and without a hitch...crowd was wild, feeding the band...Tremor Christ was not far away, as well as a furious Jeremy... then they played Faithful and you could just feel the emotion there...it was nice...

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for...Immortality...with a nice intro by Eddie...as I told the group I was with, at this point I could die a happy man...Immortality had fallen on my virgin ears... all in all, with the quite appropriate ending to the weekend of Smile, i want to thank the fan club for the excellent tickets for friday night...and of course the band for making my 7 year wait more than worth the while...can't wait 'til next time...thanks.

Beth and Nina (Hnychrch@aol.com)
This was our second time seeing PJ, but because the first one was a blur of emotion and awe at seeing one of our favorite bands, we specifically wanted to capture some moments for this one! So here is our Fanview! Throughout the night, Eddie seemed to be in a really good mood. Because Alpine Valley is halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, it's really pretty much a hometown show for him. Mike sported a M.A.S.H. shirt and had a great time all night, wailing on song after song, seemingly in his own world at times but definitely in sync with the band. Matt Cameron was phenomenal, an absolute powerhouse on the drums. WOW! Stone was all smiles and guitar faces and his hair was quite shaggy! Jeff didn't smile much this evening for some reason, but he was on all night and sounded great. (It would have been nice to hear at least one of his songs. Perhaps that's why he didn't smile!) The sound was really great, especially for an outdoor venue. We know PJ has said they would rather us listen to the music instead of watching TV, referring to the use of video screens, but they made use of them here, and it was really nice to be able to see their smiles and facial expressions on certain songs, so we're glad they decided to take advantage of their availability.

Instead of coming on with a slow build, they came out with guns blazing as they ripped through Evolution and Animal. We were excited to hear Last Exit next, but it seemed that Jeff's bass was cutting out. At one point he was just standing there bumping and grinding to the music, his hands off his instrument, then he playfully skipped to the side of the stage to grab a new bass. By the time he was back into the song, however, things had gotten kind of jumbled up on this one. Everyone was out of sync and Eddie looked back at Stone and Jeff with a questioning look and then he waved his arms and shook his head to say no and it came to a grinding halt, with Eddie laughing and saying, "Fuck this song. Let's get to the next one." They all had a good giggle about it. It was good that they could laugh that off. We are in a band ourselves, and know all too well how awful it feels when a song gets all messed up! (Of course, we don't know how good it feels to fuck up a song in front of thousands!!!)

They jumped right into Brain of J from there, with Mike flinging his guitar in the air at the end. Next came an inspired Given to Fly, which sent the crowd soaring. After that was In Hiding and then Eddie grabbed his guitar for the first time of the night for Corduroy. Wishlist came next, complete with the swirling mirrorball, which was a nice effect. Lukin was a surprise next, followed by a blistering version of Even Flow with a fabulous solo by Mike. Eddie said he had a brother in the crowd that night, but he hadn't seen him yet (Why not, Eddie?) and that the next song was for him. It was a wonderful version of Daughter. Unfortunately, we could not make out what the improv was at the end, something like "I don't know about the future."

Dissident was next, followed by MFC, which is not one of our faves off the new record, but came across nicely live, especially Stone's groovy backward sounding guitar work. Better Man came next, which the crowd loved. It was cool that everyone was respectfully quiet during the softer opening verses, and then the whole crowd sang along during the choruses, nearly drowning out the band. After the song ended, Eddie remarked that, "You sit in your bedroom and write a song, and you never expect that to happen." (Thousands singing along to your song.) He said it was really appreciated.

Then he went on to explain, searching for the right words, that something was "significant" to the band that night, that they all, but especially Mike, had grown up listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan. A twinge of sadness filled us, because we knew that Stevie had died at this venue after a concert here when his helicopter crashed as they left after the show. Eddie mentioned this fact to the crowd and said the next song would be for him. It was a burning version of Red Mosquito, showcasing all of Mike's Stevie inspired blues licks.

To end the main set was one of our favorites, Black. It was wonderful to hear this song live, and thankfully they did not cut it short, jamming on it for a while with Eddie including the "we belong together" bits and Stone and Jeff never letting up on their backing vocals. It was awesome.

They only took a short break, and then came back with five more, all rockers. Hail, Hail was excellent to hear live. Stone had fun with Mankind, joking that it was a rip-off of Frank Black, and Eddie was a sport by adding backing vocals and tambourine. I Got Shit followed, and Eddie remarked that the song came out of their experience working with Neil Young, that in the time they worked together, Neil came up with twelve songs, enough for an album, and they only came up with two, just a single. "But we learned a lot from Neil," he said, smiling, as they went into the song.

The next two went over the top with their energy level. Rearviewmirror was an extended jam during the instrumental bridge section, and then they ripped into the end of the song, which included a big rock ending. Then Stone stepped to the front of the stage to showcase the riff that started it all: Alive. It was a powerful version, a tremendous live experience, and once again, the crowd singing along nearly drowned them out.

One more short break, and they came back for the show closer. Once again, Eddie spoke of Stevie Ray Vaughan and said the next one was for him, and we had a feeling it was going to be "Yellow Ledbetter", which it was. It really seemed to be Mike's night this evening, probably because of the significance of the place, and it was nice to see him getting his time in the spotlight. You could really feel his emotion pour into this song especially, as the song eventually broke down to just Mike on guitar, invoking the spirit of Stevie as he wailed on numerous Stevie-type riffs with the rest of the guys silently watching him. Eddie knelt on one knee centerstage, Stone stood to the side of the stage, and Jeff was perched behind his amps, all of them just listening. It was eerie and beautiful. Mike stood at the edge of the stage, eyes closed, feeling his tribute. It was a poignant moment and we wished for Mike that Stevie was listening. We think he was… Beth and Nina of Honeychurch