Set List: Release, Do The Evolution, Spin The Black Circle, Brain of J., Dissident, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Wishlist, Jeremy, Even Flow, Faithfull, Small Town, Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror; 1st Encore: Hail Hail, I Got Shit, Alive, Black, Soldier of Love by Arthur Alexander (1962)

Sound clips: Timothy Schaffer

Timothy Schaffer (psycho1@chicagonet.net):
What can I say??? Pearl Jam was awesome!!! I've waited a LONG time to see them. I'm a native of Toledo, Ohio and I tried to see them a few years ago when they played there, but we all know what happened with that. The concert opened with the best rendition of Release I have ever heard and then went straight into Do The Evolution. Next PJ belted out Spin The Black Circle and Dissident. After that they want into Given To Fly which was awesome!!! I love this song so much!!!

After that Eddie talked about how this felt like they were playing "a frat party, no a keg party, no a pot party!!! and if you want to smoke it you'll have to leave the state, and to do that you'll need an mfc." They then played MFC, followed by Wishlist and Jeremy which the entire crowd at the Breslin Center sang along to. It was amazing to hear all those voices as one!!!

Next they played Even Flow followed by Faithfull and Elderly Woman (Small Town). During the second verse of Elderly Woman where it goes "i swear i recognize your breath... " Eddie accidentally sang the first verse "i swear i recognize your face..." and then corrected himself by yelling "breath." It was very humorous. Next they played Off He Goes and Rearviewmirror (One of my absolute faves) after which they left the stage. The lights stayed off so everyone knew that Pearl Jam would be back and the crowd just screamed. There were Chants of "pearl jam! pearl jam! pearl jam!..." and "eddie! eddie! eddie!..." and then they came back to the stage and Ed walked up to the microphone and sang "we've only just begun!" and rocked into Hail Hail, I Got Shit, Alive, and Black.

After Black Ed introduced the rest of the band and asked everyone to pay special attention to the drummer Matt Cameron. Then Ed started talking about love and he said "i fell in love with this young man right here" and pointed to some guy and said to him "i want you to come up on stage and help me." Security lifted the guy on stage and Ed talked to the guy and then said "this is jay. i just realized he's got the wrong shirt on!" The guy was wearing a University Of Michigan (Wolverines) shirt (After all we were at Michigan State University, the Spartans) and Ed said "sorry jay i couldn't see your colors in the light. it was nice to meet you but you'll have to go back." and Ed sent him back into the crowd. Then Ed said "this is a song that was written in 1962 and we just heard it the other night." and then he pointed to a girl in the crowd and said "come here sweetie and just be my..." He didn't complete the sentence but the girl came up on stage and as Ed was saying "it was written by a guy named arthur alexander and it's this really good song.." the girl handed him something. "it's a tape recorder!" he said and he turned away from the mic and said something into it. [Amanda's fanview].Then he said "so uh anyway we learned this song today and i don't know the words so amanda's going to hold them for me. it's called soldier of love." He then sat the girl down on stage next to him and she held his song book open. Then they proceeded to do a kick ass rendition of Soldier of Love. [aif] [wav] (639K/30 sec.) After the song was over Eddie said "i think we're done! thanks alot! you traded for the beasties tonight; we appreciate your being here!" (For those that didn't know the Beastie Boys were playing at the same time about an hour away. A hard choice but PJ will always prevail.)

Then Eddie thanked Iggy and said "we're really proud to play in his home state. you know they tried to censor concerts here. you have to watch that! you gotta make sure to vote! you gotta keep that shit from happening here. you don't want your parents to go to concerts with ya, just in case some guy pulls out his penis or something but it's rock and roll! you should, i should be able to show my penis! [aif] [wav] (121K) It's rock and roll!! So keep alive! We love you, thanks alot!!!!" and then pj left the stage for good.

The lights stayed off for a while after that. I think they had actually planned to come back out again but It seemed like Eddie's throat was bothering him so maybe they decided not to. Either way I want to thank PJ for such an awesome show, and for letting me record it. I will never forget it. BTW if anyone was able to record the entire show please let me know as I couldn't record the first half because of problems with my recorder.