Set List: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, (Dueling Banjos by Arthur Smith)/Corduroy, Immortality, Wishlist, Go, Daughter/(Androgynous Mind by Sonic Youth)/(Stuff & Nonsense), Footsteps, Even Flow, Jeremy, Faithfull, Brain Of J, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Porch; 1st Encore: Small Town, Leatherman, Do The Evolution, Alive, Black, Baba O'Riley

Dueling Banjoes sound clip credit: Eric Swibel

Brian Byrd (byrdbl@uab.edu):
UNBELIEVABLE!!! That is how I would describe tonight's Pearl Jam concert in Birmingham, AL. It was my first PJ show, and it was by far the greatest concert I've ever seen. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

First of all, let me thank the fan club so very much for my front row tickets. It was an awesome experience, and truly a great honor to be that close to the greatest band of all time! I am so grateful to have had those seats. Mudhoney was a great opening band that played about 45 minutes. Then after the set change, Pearl Jam came on and just rocked for a little over 2 hours. The extended version of the "red dot" song played over the arena before the band took the stage. When they came out, they opened with one of my favorite songs...Release. I thought it was the perfect opener. Then they broke into Hail Hail, Animal, Given to Fly, and Corduroy...their first five songs from five different albums. Excellent choice!

After that they played awesome versions of Immortality, Wish List, Go, and Daughter. For those of you that have yet to see them, let me tell you that the disco ball during Wish List is absolutely awesome! It lights up the entire arena and just works wonderfully throughout the whole song. After that came Footsteps, Even Flow, and Jeremy. Excellent performances of all three classic songs. Mike was especially good during his lead on Even Flow, as well as every other solo he played.

The band then played a couple songs off Yield...Faithfull and Brain of J. Both songs rocked! Yet Pearl Jam was just beginning. They then had a magnificent performance of my third favorite song Better Man, and totally rocked the place with my second favorite Rearviewmirror. Then Eddie said, "there's just one thing i forgot to say...1,2,3,4..." as they broke into their extended version of Porch. The strobe lights during that song were awesome! After that, they said goodnight and left the stage.

Of course we knew they'd come back out for an encore, so the entire crowd is yelling for more. And Pearl Jam obliges with a few more great songs. The encore started with Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, and then moved into Leatherman and Do The Evolution. Then came my personal highlight of the show, as the crowd erupted when my favorite song Alive began. They then closed the show with a classic performance of Black and then as they all put on their dark sunglasses, Baba O'Riley was performed as their last song to us. They thanked us and left the stage as everyone yelled and applauded their unbelievable performance!

I was fortunate to catch some souvenirs from the band. I got a pick from Mike, Jeff's water bottle, Stone's set list, and a wave from Eddie. All in all, it was one of the best nights of my life so far, and I envy those of you who still have the opportunity to see them on this tour. It was definitely a night I will always remember. And for the guys themselves, if you read this, thank you so much and please come back to Birmingham as soon and as often as you can. Thanks again!

Wes Keng (wkeng@emory.edu):
Well I just got back from my trilogy of shows involving Pearl Jam. Atlanta on Tuesday, Beastie Boys in Atlanta on Wednesday, and Birmingham on Thursday. It was amazing. You already have fanviews for Atlanta - during the show Eddie said he might be back the next day and he was...the person sitting behind me met him during the show...anyway I got to see the boys in Birmingham which was amazing.

They started with a cool mellow Release then kicked into Hail Hail and Animal then Given To Fly. Before Corduroy Eddie started playing Dueling Banjoes [aif] [wav] (20 sec.) (guess he thinks Alabamians are like the people in Deliverance) they then toned things down with a good version of Immortality and a kickin version of Go. They then played Daughter with the 'Hey hey its ok' tag and something else I couldn't make out. Then Eddie pulled out a "song i wrote before i met the rest of the band" and they played Footsteps. Very cool. They then plowed through Even Flow, Jeremy Faithfull (awesome version), Brain of J, Better Man, RVM and Porch... Eddie went into the crowd again like in Atlanta.

The encore was definitely the highlight of the night. They started with Small Town, then played a song about someone else that lives in a small town, Leatherman. Then they kicked into Do The Evolution and Alive. They played a beautiful version of Black. And then they all put on their sunglasses and finished off an amazing night with Baba O'Riley. It was awesome. It was a great concert and I can't wait until I can see them again.