Set List: Throw Your Arms Around Me by Hunters and Collectors (before Iggy Pop), PJ Set: Release, Brain of J, Last Exit, Corduroy, I Got Shit, Faithfull, Even Flow, Jeremy, MFC, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, Daughter/(Outshined by Soundgarden)/(I Want To Live by Iggy), Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Small Town, Alive, 1st Encore: No Way, Animal, Hail Hail, Not For You, Nothingman, Black, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter

TIMboogiLY@aol.com:
Hey all-- I'm still in complete and utter awe/shock/nausea/euphoria/mania, but here goes:

I had like 4th row center, literally spitting distance (which is accurate-- I had to dodge several Vedder-loogies!). I'm pretty sure that my jaw was on the ground the whole time. The Amphitheater was totally jam packed full, there were people as far as the eye could see-- an incredible sight I'll refer to later. We watched the techs get the gear together, and then The Color Red came on and the place went totally apeshit.

Someone posted that Release was downright eerie and it was. I'll tell you why-- Pittsburgh had not witnessed the likes of Pearl Jam in a good four or five years. We all knew the words to Release, but were totally dumbfounded. You couldn't sing, you couldn't blink, you couldn't move. You just stood there entranced in bliss. But we all found our voices in time to scream the last few "release meeeeeee"s with Ed. Ed had on a furry hat, and had his eyes closed through the whole song. Stone walked quiet slow circles. Jeff did that sorta head-wobbling thing. Matt was surveying the crowd from behind his kit, as if summing up the feel of thousands of people ready to have an insane night. He grinned just briefly because he knew what none of us did...

Was this to be a subtle beginning? HELL NO. Mike launches straight away into Brain of J, which Matt was more than happy to pound out like a madman. Talk about shifting from first gear to like fifth!! I don't know who sang the lyrics more ferociously, us or Ed. I think the band noted this, and the song continued into a grudge match between band and audience. I'd call it a draw. But McCready had a head up on us all with the screaming guitar work, I'd say.

Next was Last Exit, great screaming in this one from Ed, who's voice was in fantastic form all night. Stone began that silent "speaking in tongues" thing he always does when he plays, notably in his wah-wah part in the middle of this tune. But Stone, honey, that hair....haha!! Corduroy followed, and Ed finally makes eye contact with the audience. He glared the intro on his guitar. If memory serves me right, he changed up some of the words to the earlier incarnation of this tune. I Got Shit, which I think was intended to be a "calm the crowd down" number, failed miserably at that task. Here is where we found out who the serious listeners were, and who weren't. The serious people were particularly loud that night... This was pretty much straightforward rendition, the solo exact.

Then Faithfull was next. Jeff seemed to be especially enjoying this one. Stone was digging those bent chords in the break section, too.

Those naughty boys, they had us all calmed down after Faithfull, and then what do they unleash (and unleash is exactly the verb I'd use, it was like a wild animal): Evenflow!! McCready totally molested this song. This was the first of many times that we and the rest of the band just turned to Mike and said "gawdamn!" Of particular interest was that insane glare that Mike gave Stone (as if it were a challenge) after his solo, when Stone brings that groove back in and Mike answers it. "ya wanna piece of this do ya?" haha!!

Jeremy was next. I'm going to say my piece about this first: I prefer the reworked Jeremy we all heard last tour. It was just a mess, and I like it better. But the original was great this evening too. Jeff had his hands full with those 12 strings, but had total mastery over the whole song. Sure, sure, Ed had all those "whooaaaaa"s and "hoo hoohoohooo"s but the massive entity that was Jeff's bass line ruled supreme. Although as an audience, we had a lot of fun screaming the lyrics. I noted that unusually, Ed sang all the parts, as opposed to allowing the audience to sing to him. I guess that volume grudge match was still on.

MFC marked the return of the pogo to the land of Starlake Amphitheater. I might add that Ed was working in that E-bow whenever he could with the new tunes. But I have to agree with his opinion from Single Video Theory, man it just sounds too cool to leave out. It seemed to me like they sped this tune up (no pun intended).

In keeping with the car theme, I suppose, Rearviewmirror was next. McCready the song molester was at it again in this tune. Ed made up for the lacking singalong in Jeremy by letting us cover the screaming of "rearviewmirroooooooor" at the end, which I must admit was a hoot.

They brought down the mirror ball and Wishlist next. It really IS a nice touch. although I myself tend to get dizzy when around a mirror ball. It was very surreal though. Mike seemed to be a little off on the volume knob roll-offs on that one guitar part, although it very well could have just been where I was listening from.

Speaking of: Ed was silent until about the sixth or seventh song into the set, and when he did speak, I could barely decipher what he said. In between the volume, my half-shot hearing, and the state of shock I was in, who knows was actually the case?

Stone brought out his acoustic/electric and Daughter was next. The crowd really enjoyed this one. Great solo, once again. The extended jam at the end was a tough call for me until Ed said "feeling pennsylvaaaaania." Outshined, it was. I don't know how Jeff resisted the temptation to go into that vicious bass line intro... there was another song added to the end, which I've been informed was "i wanna live" but I would not have been able to tell you that myself.

Everyone was all happy-feely after Daughter, so Stone decided to launch that heinous intro line to Do The Evolution, and it turned into StompFest. Ed had some seriously sick screaming going on here. It was like, don't even sing along, because it will get no sicker than this... Stone was really into that solo break in the middle, the volume was slightly more up than on the album take.

Brief commentary, and then Given To Fly, which added a backdrop film of passing clouds (much like the background of the single). Ed introduced this film about a third of the way into the song, sweeping his arm across and going "shhhhooop" as it rolled across the screen with his arm. Reminded me of that Sorceror's Apprentice scene with Mickey controlling all the choas from above. Mike was not in Pittsburgh during this song. I don't know where he was, but man he was loving it!

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town was next, with the token screaming of "hello!!!" which evoked a big smile from Ed and laughs from Jeff.

Alive was unbelievable. Untouchable. Not to be perceived even. It was another, everybody just stop what you're doing and stare in worship at Mike while he brings the muthagrabbin' ruckus. You know that point during the course of a firecracker's life span when it just bursts into color and light? Okay extend that from a split second to like a few minutes and then change it from visual to musical, and that would give you an idea of this solo. Things this good usually don't last this long.

The fellows took off their instruments and went off the stage, but we knew they'd be back. I myself, was kind of disappointed in the lack of noise from the crowd at this point. Future concert goers-- don't take your encore(s) for granted!! Earn em!!

As I said, they came back on, when a t-shirt flies through the air. Ed walks over and picks it up to study it. He laughs and holds it up for us to see. "no" on the front. "way" on the back. Ed says, "well here's my response" and holds the shirt up sequencially again, laughing. They decide, much to the glee of the audience, to give it a try. Try, my ass, okay? They nailed it like crazy! Ed played this freaky guitar with like a zither on the top of it. Stone was particularly enjoying this, as was evident by the look on his face as he sang back up.

They skipped gears once again with Animal, which had everyone on their feet and jumping again. Mike ruined that lead. All you guitar players, just set `em down and forget it. Won't happen. Ever. Jeff was also digging on Animal, and moving about a good bit. Mike, however, had it for movement through the night with these mad dashes. I fully expected him to break something before nights end.

Hail Hail was next, and belonged to Jeff, I think. I read in that Bass Player interview that this is one of his fave's, and man oh man was it obvious!! He never opened his eyes, yet he spun about like a whirling dervish. All while playing that big fat healthy groove.

I missed Ed's intro to Not For You, sorry. Matt made his presence well known in this one, I felt, driving it home like he was possessed. Nothingman was precious, absolutely precious. Even without the backup vocals. I really dig how they didn't just throw all of the acoustic numbers together, but instead interspersed them.

Black was breathtaking, really. And while one usually thinks of this song chiefly on the basis of the lyrics, I've gotta tell ya, Mike almost stole it all. And everyone who was there knows it. He planted his feet on the stage, reeled backwards and just wailed. Missing was the "we belong together" tag at the end, but not really given the spectacular solo ending the tune.

Okay, first off. In Rockin' In The Free World, the tamborine did NOT just oops, break. Ed slammed his fist through it. I guess that disgustingly fat pounding beat and bass thump just set the tone for the whole song. I about laughed my can off when Ed placed the busted tamborine around his neck and continued singing. Jeff, Stone, AND Mike were taking backup duties. Matt beat the living caca out of those cymbals and drums. It was as though he was getting a whole new drum set tomorrow, so may as well ruin this one.

Mike didn't get to sneak in Yellow Ledbetter on any of us with trained ears. He accidentally strummed the first few notes and gave it away. Everyone lost it. The band lost it, I lost it, security lost it, the people driving by the ampitheater lost it. I mean, it was like Ed didn't even have to sing (hell, it's not like we ever understand the damn words anyway!), just hand it all over to Mike. Which they did.

Okay, some overall crud: I know this sounds repetitive, but it is SO true: these guys are so damn happy it's embarrassing. While Mike reigns supreme in solo land, Stone must be given mad props as well. Especially with the newer material, he takes plenty of lead parts, and he brings the funk on them all. Both of the guys played to their amps a good bit tonight. Mike, for feedback purposes, and Stone because he just can't stand still and play, dammit! I'd love to know how Jeff plays a good 80% of the show with his eyes closed, too. And though I didn't mention it much, Matt was an awesome force behind all of this. Not to be underestimated at all.

Priceless moments: Most people go to a concert and they want an autograph, or something tangible from the band. At one point, Ed looked down at several of us up front and we shared a big happy smile that I must say (okay, so I'm sappy) was even better. Also, at one point, Ed looked back over the whole crowd while we were all clapping, and tells us in front, "turn around, man you gotta see this!" It was unbelievable. There were thousands of arms outstreched (although no sun) in unison for as far as you could see. This tour may as well be renamed the "watch mikey" tour, because that is what you'll end up doing. Hell, even the band was doing it!

And okay, so what if I'm being a hypocrite, from the concert I took with me one of Stone's guitar pick!!! It landed right at my feet, and I spent the following two songs just randomly screaming my happiness. It's yellow, and simply says "stone" in this funky old typewriter font. It doesn't appear to have been terribly abused, save for a rather deep groove in it, clearly from running it along the length of a thicker string (I'm guessing the A or E).

Damn, I wish I would've taken a camera, from my vantage point I could have had some kick ass shots. Instead I offered to take em for a couple of surrounding folks [who, if you're reading this, would do me a large favor by letting me pay for some reprints!! ;) ]

And I saw a LOT of folks with tape recorders (Ed even spoke into one during Ledbetter--lucky girl!) somebody hook me up with a copy!!! Also, I must apologize to the choppy nature of this review, I am still awestruck. I can't freaking wait until SC and VA!!!!