Set List: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain of J., Spin the Black Circle, Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Even Flow, In Hiding, Jeremy, Daughter/Monkey Gone to Heaven , MFC, In My Tree, Wishlist, Small Town, Present Tense, Rearviewmirror, Alive; 1st encore: Do The Evolution(w/a cartoon playing on the video screen), Black, Leatherman, Better Man, Leaving Here, Go; 2nd encore: Fuckin Up

Thomas Hutley (thutley@e-z.net)
There's not a whole lot anything can be said that hasn't already been said a thousand times before about how good Pearl Jam is and the type of show they put on every time they play. Kind of like trying to give a review for 'Dark Side of the Moon' or 'Sargent Peppers...' or something. There's just only so many words in the English language.

It didn't take too long after Frank Black left before Pearl Jam took the stage and pretty much lived up to everything I'd ever heard about them. It seemed almost odd to me as far as the amount of 'hits' the band played. I was expecting a few more b-side and rare concert tunes, but they never got around to it. Of course, seeing as how they haven't been to Portland since they toured with Neil Young all those years ago, it wasn't too difficult to please the crowd.

From the moment they strummed the first few notes of Cordurouy until the lights went back up in the arena, I saw maybe ten people TOTAL sitting down at some point during the show. Eddie talked very little to the audience. At one point, he tried to make mention of the Willimette area before they played Elderly Woman, but he pronounced it wrong and gave everybody a bit of a laugh. Obviously the band doesn't make their way down here too often during their time off.

For the life of me, I can't remember the song they made reference to at the end of Daughter. Pretty much any song on the planet can be tacked on to the end of Daughter and sound good though. The songs they played from No Code and the amount of songs they played off the new album (five and six songs, respectively) was a bit of a surprise. Same thing with all the songs that came off of Ten. Again, I expected a few more non-album tracks. Still, it was nice to hear Red Mosquito and Present Tense, and MFC and In Hiding are two of my Yield favorites so it's not like I was offended by it or anything.

Before the encore started, Eddie said they were going to try something out for us while the lights went down on them for the next song. When Do the Evolution started playing, a cartoon of sorts started rolling on the backdrop. It was kind of interesting, and aside from the mirrorball during Wishlist and the epileptic lighting done throughout the concert, that was basically the entire run of props used. Eddie played a lot of guitar tonight as well. I wasn't aware that he did that much guitar work on stage, but since he didn't play bad I didn't mind all that much. I definitely didn't expect to hear Black played, but I was glad they did. I was also glad to finally hear some non-album cuts like Leatherman and Leaving Here. To my amazement, I seemed to be one of the only people who actually knew the words to Leatherman. I figured everybody would know the song by now. Apparently we're all a bit slow here in Portland.

I was hoping for TWO songs during their second encore, and I can think of better closing tunes to play too. Say like, Porch or Yellow Ledbetter or Hard to Imagine for instance. A Neil Young cover was just fine though and if nothing else, it got the crowd involved for one last time before they called it quits.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing them again if they ever make their way back here. I just hope they don't wait for another six years before they do.

VivaLaJam@aol.com
My ears are ringing and the thoughts are fresh but words cannot describe tonight's show. You really had to be there !! I have been to 4 shows so far this tour and this one was completely ON ! The boys broke out! The sound was excellent and dialed in to perfection. With the guys jumping around and smiles all around this is a new PJ. They brought out Present Tense, In My Tree, and Red Mosquito. They used different lighting schemes and played a video on the backdrop during Evolution in the first encore. Wow what a show. Before the show even started you could feel the electricity in the air. It really was a special night. The crowd had a good wave going starting about ten minutes to show time until the arena went dark. Then it was Pearl Jam's two hour plus show that included Corduroy, MFC, Even Flow, Jeremy, Alive, Daughter, Hail Hail, Brain of J., Spin the Black..., Given to Fly, In Hiding, and Wishlist. The encore included Leatherman, Better Man, Leaving Here, and Go with a second encore of Fu*kin Up. I would have to say this show was light on the Ten album leaned more towards No Code and included lots of our newest favorites from the almighty Yield.
P.S. there were actually tour posters left after the show let out. Thank You Pearl Jam for a great show and wonderful memories may there be many more.