Set List: Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Corduroy, I Got Shit, Wishlist, Even Flow, In Hiding, Last Exit, Yeastie Girls rap, Off He Goes, MFC, Better Man, Brain of J, Alive; 1st Encore: Go, No Way, Rearviewmirror, Daughter/(Talk About The Passion by R.E.M.)/(All Those Yesterdays)/(The Wrong Child by R.E.M.), Black, Porch; 2nd Encore: Yellow Ledbetter

Rhynster@aol.com:
Man, how long I have been waiting for this! Pearl Jam last came to Atlanta back in 1994. I'm sure most of you remember; that was the weekend they played live over the radio over the world. That was particularly pleasing because I got to see them Saturday, then got to hear them live the next night. Anyway, I'm getting off track.

We decided that we needed to start early this year so we all went to the Braves game the night before. All that got us was a couple of hangovers and about $100 poorer. $4.50 beers. God love capitalism.

Anyway, on Tuesday night. We're driving into Lakewood Amphitheatre and traffic is unreal. At one point I measured how far we moved in half an hour: 7/10 mile. Meanwhile, there are guys running all over the place selling bootleg T-shirts. You know, I wouldn't even mind if the things were halfway cool, but my God, they're the ugliest things I've ever seen. One simply said "pearl fuckin' jam". You know, I'm no English major, but certainly someone could do better than that.

Finally, we get in and Mudhoney is wrapping up their set. I'll give them this much: Mark Arm sure does sound better than his days in Green River. Personally, I'm checking out the red dove T-shirts. Very cool. So, I've got my tape recorder in hand and I'm trying to poll people in the seats. No use. Everyone's looking at me and looking at security as if I'm holding 5 pounds of crack in front of them. Apparently, some people haven't been reading their Synergy pages.

I knew it was going to be a cool night when I heard them play T. Rex's Slider between sets, one of my all-time favorite albums. After some hurried set changes, we hear the beginning of The Color Red and everyone stands up. The show begins with Hail, Hail. Everyone is going nuts. Animal is next, and I'm singing my lungs out, hoping it didn't record on the tape (phew, it didn't). Given to Fly. Do The Evolution. Dissident. Corduroy. I Got Id. They run through a great set.

When Wishlist finally came around, I turned to one of my friends and said "look for something coming down from the ceiling." And there it came, the great mirror ball. I've been reading what everyone was saying about the mirror ball, and I can't tell you how little justice you guys have done it. What a tremendous effect! I thought the place was amazing. I know how the band says the experience needing to be about hearing, not about seeing. I don't know. This was a nice touch.

On Better Man, I was really surprised to see the response it got from everyone. Other than Alive, I don't think anything came as close in terms of audience excitement. I was also surprised to see Eddie sporting some rather nice dance moves. Of course, every girl in the place went gaga.

As for Mike, I don't know how he can even play. The whole time his head is leaning back, and he's planted right in front of a stack of amps. He was amazing. His solo on Black had everyone turning and saying, "damn." Looking around, everyone was just kind of standing there with raised eyebrows and gaping mouths.

Stone was fun to watch. He did his "right step, left step" groove thing. You know what I'm talking about. It's the same groove he gets in on Single Video Theory.

Matt was impressive. He really changed the effect of Off He Goes. I've never been a big fan of that song, but he really brought it together for me. Jeff was his usual bouncy self.

It was a great show. Much better than in 1994. But I didn't know how much better it would end up. In 1994 I was disappointed because they didn't play Porch the night I went. Before the show, someone asked me what my favorite Jam song was, and I answered "porch" out of second nature. Well, I couldn't believe it when I heard Eddie say "well, what i was trying to say before was, uh, one, two, three, four...what the fuck is this world running to..." Nearly dropped my tape recorder.

That was my personal highlight, but some others were an Eddie Vedder impromptu rap about a band called the Yeastie Girls. You see, the Beastie Boys were playing the next night, so Eddie told us about an old band out of San Francisco called the Yeastie Girls. He "remembered" one of the verses. It went: "we're the yeastie girls, and we got yeast problems. we don't shave our arms, and we don't shower. we don't say 'thank-you' and we don't say 'please', we put things in our vaginas that you wouldn't believe." I don't know. Not the kind of thing I'd expect from Ed, but he did admit (tongue in cheek) that the Yeastie Girls never were really a top ten band. That got quite a laugh from Mike who nearly tripped over a stage monitor.

Also, during one of the encores, someone threw up a T-shirt that said "stop skateboard harassment". Eddie held it up and said, "so i see you got the same problem down here." He added later that it was "nice to have the northwest meet with the southeast" with his hands clasped together in union above his head.

Well, anyway, I could talk about this forever. I know there aren't many shows left. But I hope for those of you remaining that you get the chance to see the guys. For everyone else who has been, it was a great experience. As for me, I'm still kicking myself for not having the patience to stand in line and grab the red dove T-shirt. Well, maybe one day luck will find a way to get one in my hands. Later all.