Set List: MFC,Corduroy, Brain of J., Hail Hail, Given To Fly, Dissident, Even Flow, Faithfull, Jeremy, Nothingman, Leatherman, Wishlist, Lukin, Daughter/(White Girl by X) /WMA, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Alive; Encore: Spin the Black Circle, Do The Evolution, Habit, Black, Last Exit

Nelson Bae (nelrock@webtv.net)
Wow. It doesn't get much hotter than Las Vegas in the middle of summer. With temperatures reaching 116 degrees during the day and a balmy 88 degrees at night, it made for a sweltering evening at the Thomas and Mack arena. The band uncharacteristically started with MFC - and as others have said before - this is a great live song that escaped my attention on the album. With the exceptions of Nothingman and Black, the band was rocking through a very uptempo set. They have become such a musically tight band, it's amazing. Matt Cameron has added quite a bit of muscle to their songs - performing their uptempo material really plays to his strengths. From the beginning, the sellout crowd was a moshing, enthusiastically vocal bunch, but by the end of the night, the heat just plain wore everyone down. Great moments included Eddie playing an invisible slot machine and the crowd singing along to live classics like Better Man and Alive. The band played a scorching Lukin and Nothingman showed how talented a vocalist Eddie has become - both in range and pitch. It's a shame that we didn't get to hear things like Present Tense or Yellow Ledbetter, but with Matt Cameron hammering out the beat and Mike McCready solidifying himself as guitar solo god, who needed the mellow stuff? A very low key WMA at the end of Daughter was terrific, but I would have liked to have seen Cameron go nuts on the drums during this song like it's played on the record. All in all, it was a great performance. To all the fans who get to see this band live, be grateful. There are only a handful of artists who can put on a live show like Pearl Jam. On to Los Angeles........