Set List: Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain of J., Last Exit, Tremor Christ, Given To Fly, Jeremy, Faithfull, Nothingman, Improv, MFC, Habit, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Once, All Those Yesterdays, Go, Immortality; Encore: Do The Evolution, Leatherman, Better Man, Wishlist, Alive, Smile

Mhendrickx@aol.com
The band were as "on" tonight as they were last night, and the acoustics were also better this evening. Mike could do his solos without having to suffer from the feedback he had to bear with last night, and that he did. They opened with a pretty cool jam of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" and then cranked into Corduroy with as much emotion and power as ever. The show definitely seemed to be aimed at the superfans who of course had to go to last night's show and tonight's show, myself included. They included several rarely played gems such as the beautiful Nothingman and All These Yesterdays, which was a nice surprise. They also played Leatherman, which I don't think most people in the crowd recognized, but it portrayed a very carefree tone and made me sure that the band are in high spirits.

I think the highlight of the show was Immortality, which closed the regular set. The song bled with emotion, and Mike McCready performed a most memorable solo at the end. This along with the pink, hazy stage lights, mesmerized me.

The only bummer of the show was caused by Alpine Valley itself. No signs were allowed in, so I had to throw my Baba O'Riley sign out at the gate. I think it is very commendable that PJ actually take song requests from the audience, and I think the guys actually enjoy doing this. They weren't even allowing blankets in for the lawn. I will smuggle my sign in somehow at the United Center on Monday.

Thanks again PJ for an awe-inspiring show.

Keith Kraemer (zoso@bytehead.com)

Night two of Pearl Jam in Wisconsin was promised by Eddie himself to be a better show than the last. Eddie didn't lie one bit. The show started with an instrumental that I didn't really recognize, but which served as an excellent lead in to Couduroy. The band began with energy that didn't even compare to the previous night. The guys were hopping and flying about like mad, which gave us that much more to watch. Eddie even played a solo on his back, at the edge of the stage with his back hanging out over the crowd.

Mike seemed to be getting somewhat frustrated, however, because he was having guitar troubles. I think his transmitter wasn't working. His sound kept cutting out, so several times he just stopped playing. That only made us cheer for him that much louder. The techs kept running out to fix his gear, and about three songs into the set he smashed a guitar. Before long, however, he was forced to trade in the transmitter for a plug into his amp, which only slowed him down a little. McCready was a madman all night, playing solos behind the head and from all over the stage and all across the fretboard. Thankfully I was on his side of the stage that night.

The first four songs were repeats from the night before, but the trend was broken with the intro to Tremor Christ which stirred a huge crowd response. An even larger cry was heared however, as Ament reached for the big bass and began Jeremy, a song which many had come to hear. He finished the song off standing alone in the spolight, with the bass riff that is so familiar to the fans.

A favorite moment of the night was Habit, the song where Eddie seems to improv the spoken line every night. Being in Wisconsin, he gave a long pause before slowly saying, "Speaking..as a man who has never worn... an orange, styrofoam piece of cheese on his head." The cheeseheads loved it!

Other great moments of the night were Off He Goes, Once, All Those Yesterdays, and Immortality, a song which Eddie explained as being about people who have wishes and try to make a difference, but wish they could just live forever. It served as a great closer for the main set.

The encore consisted of Do The Evolution, followed by Leatherman, which Eddie called a rare B-side some of us might know. Better Man was brilliantly finished of with Eddie slowly breaking into an extremely mellow verse of Rearviewmirror, which seemed very spur of the moment. Eddie also treated us to his own guitar solo in Wishlist, whih everyone had assumed would be played by Stone or Mike. During one of the songs (I apologize for not knowing which), Stone actually picked up the bass while Jeff fooled around on the guitar, which added a great touch to an already great set.

The night wound down with Alive. About halfway through the number an over-excited fan actually managed to hop up on stage, leap one of Mike's amps, and dance behind him for several seconds before five security guards dragged him off in a head-lock. The guy put up quite a fight, and one of the roadies seemed to actually want him to stay. From what I heard though, he got hit pretty hard by a couple of the guards on his way off. If that fan is out there, I hope he didn't get hurt, as I'm sure, does the band.

As a final number Eddie gave credit to "...a citizen of [our] own Metropolitan region here in Wisconsin", one of the members of Milwaukee's own The Frogs, who Eddie claimed wrote No Code's Smile (Although the CD says otherwise). He explained that the song was about how much the band loved us and how much they would miss us when they were gone. It was a sentimental way to end their two day stay in Wisconsin. The first harmonica Eddie tried didn't work, so he opened the song with "Don't this make you smile?" as he tossed it into the crowd. Although a second encore was highly anticipated, the show was thouroughly complete with Smile.

On a closing note I would like to thank the band for the brilliant idea of accepting requests for their shows via e-mail. It really puts the fans in touch with the band, and lets us feel like we've made a difference. I requested three of my favorites, and over two nights all three were played, which left me ecstatic, feeling as if I had actually made contact with the band. Thank you Pearl Jam..... Wisconsin Loves you!