Set List: Corduroy, Brain of J, Hail Hail, Animal, Dissident, Given To Fly, MFC, Habit, Wishlist, Even Flow, Daughter/(Surrender by Cheap Trick), In Hiding, Jeremy, State of Love and Trust, Nothingman, Better Man, Leatherman, Alive; 1st Encore: Immortality, Rearviewmirror, Last Exit, I Got Shit/(Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young), Black, Do The Evolution; 2nd Encore: Yellow Ledbetter

Ivan Stoiljkovic(istoi@golden.net):
Molson Park - Barrie - 70 Km north of Toronto - 40 000 fans - beautiful weather - open space. The crowd was blessed with a great show tonight. If Mike stole the show in Montreal, tonight was definitely Eddie's day. Everyone had a good day but Eddie was just on fire tonight.

After the opening set comprising of intense and dead on versions of Corduroy, Brain of J., Hail, Hail and Animal, Eddie addressed the crowd: "we've been here before. let's make it better this time. i feel good." 1996 concert in Toronto was not as good and Eddie acknowledged that. Today's show certainly compensated for that. The band has improved 100%. The guys were exerting confidence and mastery of their art in every second of the 2hours+ set. I cannot imagine what else they could have done to make it even better. The crowd was also on fire. Many were singing along even the less known tunes. PJ really has a loyal bunch of fans here in Ontario.

As the night was setting PJ went through a beautiful version of Dissident, ecstatic Given to Fly, booming MFC and raging Habit in the middle of which Eddie substituted "speaking as an individual who will live to see the year 2000" for "speaking as a beer drinking, propaganda believing, missile shooting american". Crowd was pleased with this and I honestly think most understood the meaning and significance of this statement. Than, a beautiful crystal light ball accompanied a touching version of Wishlist with Eddie on guitar. Than the guys went through the set of their Ten and Vs. hits: Even Flow, Daughter and Jeremy with In Hiding thrown in before Jeremy and State of Love and Trust to top this section of the concert. Daughter was crowned with an amazing display of Eddie's vocal abilities accompanied by Matt on drums and a sublime guitar shades along with the crowd clapping - Surrender. Nothingman and Better Man were divine and nothing but. Eddie suggested that he might need help with Nothingman, but he did not. Opening section of Better Man showed that even though Eddie, or for that matter anybody, cannot match Mike's guitar technique and style sometimes heart and musicality can provide for as good of an experience. In the middle of Leatherman Eddie mentioned seeing "a guy [with] a fucken watermelon on his hat as a hat. i'd give him an award - 'canadian man of the year' - right there." He also saw a bunch of fans pull out a picnic table and couches, food, drinks out of their trailer in the parking lot. " it's the best thing i've seen all tour." Alive with an amazing guitar solo from Mike at the end closed the concert - proper.

First encore: Eddie: "you're still alive. we just had a little talk in the back and you guys have handled yourself in an extreme fashion - you are really taking care of one another. but, to be honest i think we are overplaying this many people all at once. just because..hm..if anyone can handle it it's toronto, but i'm just thinking it's a little too much. we'll play three shows next time in a smaller place - fit the same amount of people. something like that... i commend you for really taking care of one another and i thank you for making it the party it seemed to have been. it's nice being a band. thank you." Than he thanked Cheap Trick, Hayden and Cracker for opening and said that there might not be the next time might never happen "cause as of yesterday, the doomsday clock moved another few minutes and its five to people...it means we're all gonna die fuckers...so before we do we've got this night together." Immortality - Mike is a grrrrreat guitar player. Rearwiewmirror - place is on fire. Townshedian solo on Ed's guitar . Last exit - place's still on fire. An AMAZING version of I Got Id: it made me cry. Black - beautiful guitar playing - a little too intense for the nature of the song, but different - cool. Do the Evolution - intense, with the video which comes out on Sunday on the screen. Second encore: Yellow Ledbetter. Beautiful guitar solo at the end.

Pearl Jam proved tonight that they are the best fucken mainstream Rock'n Roll Band in the world and that you don't have to blow up lemons or fly things to make a good concert. They just played music and it was a blowout. Everybody loved it.

Brooks Jordan:
Wow, what a show! I caught the soundcheck for the first time and listened in on "i got shit" and "mfc". Rumors before the show had Chris Cornell pegged as a special guest, but no such luck. During Cheap Trick Eddie was spotted sidestage hanging like a monkey from the scaffolding. Jeff and Stone were also jamming sidestage to Cheap Trick. I had my spot right in front about ten rows back secured early at about 5:15. Cheap Trick went on at about 6:30 and as soon as they were done the riot conditions in the "pit" began. It was every man for himself as PJ took the stage at about 7:50, and busted right into "corduroy". Brain of J, Hail Hail, and Animal were next and the crowd was outrageously full of energy. The pit was too much for me to handle at that point and I exited via security in front of the stage. "dissident" was next and then came the crowd favorite "given to fly". All together 25 songs were played including a huge 6 song encore and "yellow ledbetter" as a second encore. My favorites of the night included "even flow", " mfc", "dte" (with animation on backdrop) and "immortality". I heard Daughter for the first time for myself on the tour, having seen two other shows already, and was glad to hear it. The tag was a portion of the Cheap Trick song "surrender". Mike belted out a spectactular solo during "black" and jammed on a Rick Nielson double neck guitar on "state of love and trust". Eddie was full of comments during the evening speaking about how "the doomsday clock was at 5min to midnight" and how "we're all gonna fuckin' die fuckers". The rowdy pit caused a huge dust bowl in front of the stage and some asshole "fans" decided to through dust-filled shoes. At least a dozen landed on stage and one hit Eddie square in the face during "black". He just smiled, flipped the guy off, and continued to sing "...i don't wanna stayyyyy at all". Eddie expressed his displeasure with how the crowd was earlier by saying, "the next time we come back here we'll have to play like three small venues for the same amount of people or something..." Overall it was a great show, my next to the last for the tour, and I hope the guys can keep on truckin' till the end of September.

Rodelli10@aol.com:
Molson Park huge venue holding 40,000 people and it became clear quickly that close was not the place to be. 'Corduroy' rocked the house to start and the fans were wild. It was hard to even stay on your feet, people were desperate to get to the front. After moving back up the hill to enjoy the concert, 'Given to Fly' was played and I knew this would be a great night! It was absolutely perfect, the band has never sounded better at this point. During 'Habit', Ed changes the lyrics when the music stops to "speaking as a dumb-ass, beer-drinking, propaganda-believing, missile-shooting, american." Mike had an amazing solo at the end of 'Habit' also, which he would better by the end of the concert. 'Even Flow' and 'Jeremy' were as powerful as ever. 'State of Love and Trust' once again was just amazing, never would have thought I would here that song live, it was quite a treat. 'Nothingman' was played w/ lightning bolts on the backscreen.

After 'Leatherman' Eddie says: "driving in today, i saw two of the coolest things i've ever seen: first i saw a guy wearing a watermelon on his head [laughing] - that guy's canadian of the year; then i saw the most amazing thing i've ever seen on the tour: i saw a guy with a truck, and in the back of a truck he had a couch, a chair, a fridge ... this song's about a bad-ass, the people up front are a bunch of bad-asses, the people in the back are a bunch of bad-asses; you're all a bunch of bad-asses." 'Alive' kicked in and Mike's guitar solo was tremendous again. During the solo, Eddie went to the left of the stage pumping up the crowd and jumping up and down. I thought he was going in like I witnessed in '94 in Cleveland. Then he ran to the right side of the stage and did the same thing. After a short break, Eddie says, "next time we come here - actually there might not be a next time - i don't know if you know this, but the doomsday clock was pushed forward a few minutes, the doomsday clock is now at 5 minutes to midnight; you guys don't know what i'm talking about, do you - it means we're all gonna fuckin' die, fuckers." The band breaks into Immortality and Mike again brings the house down at the end of the song. 'Black' and 'Ledbetter' were the icing on the cake for the greatest show I have ever seen. I cannot express how good the band played and how energetic they were with Mike playing better than ever. Also 'Do the Evolution' had the new video on the backdrop. I am not from Canada, but the radio stations there were saying how sources were telling them that this was possibly the best show of the tour, both legs. It was my first of the tour and I can imagine that it was one of the best. See you in CLEVELAND.