Set List: Long Road, Corduroy, Last Exit, Brain of J., Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Rearviewmirror, Immortality, Wishlist, Nothingman, Spin The Black Circle, Even Flow, Daughter/(Roam by the B52s), MFC, Alive, Hail Hail; 1st encore: Jeremy, Go, Lukin, Better Man, Leaving Here, Black, Rockin in The Free World; 2nd Encore: Yellow Ledbetter

enltenme@aol.com
Oh what a night it was! First of all, the last time I saw "our" Pearl Jam, 11-95, at the end of the show, Eddie said "San Diego, surf city, see you next year!" Well, Eddie lied, but sincerely, all is forgiven. So between '95 and now not only my wife, but both of my sons have become huge PJ fans. So, my predicament: 10 club members get two tickets, and I needed four. So when I sent off my $62 for my club tix, I promised my wife and sons I would sell them when they came, and would get four tickets together when they went on general sale. Like my mom taking my sister and I to the Beatles in 1965, I would sit with my family, so the boys would have the life long memory their first concert ever being Pearl Jam, the best band ever. And of course I had to see the looks on their faces when PJ came crashing on. So I got four seats together when they went on general sale. Not bad seats really. That didn't lesson the blow when I got my club tix and they were FRONT ROW DEAD CENTER! I was suicidal when I sold them, But I'd made a promise to the family. It made me feel better that I sold them to two true PJ fans and not some fucking scalper.

So, finally, the 10th rolled around. The night before I couldn't sleep worth shit, I kept waking up every half hour. I was so stoked. So off to the show we went. The venue, Cox Arena, is small and intimate, really not a bad seat in the house. Now, since my mom told me that if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, all I'll say about Spacehog is that after 45 minutes of people yelling at them "get off the stage" they did. Shit, it takes guts to open for Pearl Jam. As usual, Pearl Jam gets right down to business. The roadies were rushing around like hell to get PJ's gear set up, and as soon as they did, down went the lights, and Cox Arena became Heaven on Earth. The guys started out mellow with "Long Road" but when Eddie started to sing, the roar from the crowd was wild. It was this way from beginning to end, whenever there was a quiet part of a song, the crowd would roar. It seemed nobody in the band said a word between songs for the first hour, as they ripped through "Courderoy" "Last Exit" "Brain of J" "Do The Evolution" "Given To Fly" "In Hiding" and "Rear View Mirror." Around this time Eddie stepped towards Matt and said "Please welcome Matt Cameron" who got a loud ovation. It was clear the band was enjoying themselves that night. Stone was bouncing up and down from beginning to end. Mike was mixing in plenty of leaps with his excellent leads. Suprise: no hat on Jeff! Matt did a great job filling in for Jack. And Eddie was, well, Eddie. He seemed to be playing a lot more guitar then in '95. Needless to say, the band sounded fucking great. Next, they tore through "Immortality" "Wishlist" "Nothingman" (a highlight in a show full of highlights) "Spin The Black Circle" and "Daughter" which became some B'52s song, which one I don't know. Around this time Eddie said how happy he was to be back in San Diego. Then they finished off the set with "Mankind" "Alive" and "Hail Hail."

My sons were not familiar with the concept of encores, as I found out later when my oldest son (Tony, 10) told me he thought the show was over, and he got a lump in his throat because they had not played "Jeremy" so, of course "Jeremy" was the first encore. Eddie prefaced this by saying "we feel like were just getting started" I knew he meant we would be here for a while. Believe it or not, we got eight fucking encores! "Jeremy" was followed by "Go" then "Lukin" (so Andy, 7, got his favorite song as well) "Better Man" "Leavin here" "Black" (the wife's favorite) then they ended with "Rockin In The Free World" during which Eddie started going off saying: (I'm paraphrasing) "you know whats really bothering me? People burning flags! Cause you know if theres one thing that pisses me off, everyday of my life, its walking down the street seeing all the flags burning, everywhere I turn, every day, and I'm fucking sick of it! I can't go anywhere without seeing fucking flags burning! Flags burning here, flags burning there! It doesn't matter that the oceans going to complete shit, and you get sick every time you go surfing! Fuck!" The rest I couldn't make out at the show or on my tape because the crowd was screaming so loud! Then EV did another verse and Mike finished it off with a lead while Eddie was just leaning against an amp to the right of Matt smiling and laughing. After "Rockin" they ran off the stage. My wife said, "its over" and I said, no, one more. About a minute later they ran back on and finished it off with "Yellow Ledbetter" At the end, Eddie said "we love it here, we'll be back, I hope it isn't three years" I'll end this now, but the wonderful memory will last forever. Everyone dancing, high fiving, the chants of "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" and so much more. But most special, that twinkle in my sons eyes. We'll all never forget. Now, on to LA!