Set List to be confirmed: Long Road, Do The Evolution, Animal, Hail Hail, Dissident, Even Flow, Faithfull, MFC, Corduroy, Wishlist, Jeremy, Daughter, Given To Fly, Last Exit, Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror, Not For You, Black, Alive; 1st Encore: Brain of J., Better Man, Smile; 2nd Encore: Rockin' In The Free World

Leigh (lamina@iaccess.com.au):
Tonight's show was really great with the WHOLE Band in great spirits and having a great time. In my eyes and several others I spoke to after the show, the crowd was a little quiet. The mosh was pretty wild right at the front but it was totally tame compared to the first Melbourne show in '95. The band were much better though. The sounds of "The Color Red" over the PA began what will for me be an amazing "journey" seeing 6 PJ shows over the next 2 weeks.

Firstly the support band: Shudder To Think.
After reading several reviews of them from Auckland, I fully expected them to be the worst band in existence. Once they got going though, they weren't really all that bad. I could think of worse bands to have. They weren't great by any means, but they were OK. It must be hard for them ..an unknown band in this country playing to 15,000 people dying to see PJ. Before they would leave the stage they made the crowd stick their middle fingers up at them and yell "Shudder To Think." After a few dismal attempts by the crowd, the singer said, "Pearl Jam want to come on and play, but it's not going to work until you do this properly" or something to that effect. After the crowd did it this time, the band left the stage.

The Pearl Jam stage set up was as per usual ...pretty basic ..but when you are Pearl Jam you don't need any more than that!! There were 5 posts across the back of the stage with candles on top of them ...and on one of the amps there was a funny looking rooster with a white flower painted on it ...very weird.

PJ opened with Long Road ... one of my favs and a great way to start the gig. From the very first note you could tell that Eddie was in fine form. Next was Do The Evolution. This was really good live. Apparently in a few of the more recent gigs Mike has used his flying V on this track ...but tonight he didn't. The crowd was noticeably quiet so far. The usual cheers etc. but not the usual energy you associate with a PJ show. Next up was Animal. This got the crowd going a bit and Eddie's voice sounded great.

This was followed by Hail Hail. After Hail Hail, Eddie says something to the effect of, "It's been a couple of years and a couple of records since we`ve been here." Then he looks at the crowd and says, "You look great." The crowd cheers then Ed jokes, " But I look better." (maybe someone who might have taped it can correct my quotes ..these are all only rough quotes from notes scribbled in the dark).

Then after that Ed says, "We found a bunch of cocaine in our dressing room... you guys think you couldn't wait to come ...we couldn't wait to come on!" I'm assuming that this was Ed joking because OASIS played the same venue the night before... he didnt sound like he was joking though ...but who knows.

Dissident was next. I think at this stage Ed noticed the crowd was a little quiet so he went and had a quick chat to the band then they burst into Even Flow. Nothing like a good oldie to liven things up! When Mike was playing the solo, Eddie and Stone stood back and just watched him; it was great.

Next up was Faithfull. This was PJ at their best. This is such an amazing song. Mike was fully getting into it with this song (as he was all night) and it all sent chills down my spine ...one of the highlights from the night.

Next was MFC. This song on the CD is great ...live it's awesome! ...It was great looking at Jeff, Eddie and Stone all at the mics singing away. You can tell that this is a new and rejuvenated Pearl Jam...so much energy from the band.

Next was another crowd favorite....Corduroy. The crowd was probably at its best so far for this song.

Next another great new one ...Wishlist. Eddie stuffed up the lyrics a little ...went to sing the "souvenir" line in the wrong spot, but was still an incredible song live. To me ...I totally love Yield ..but these songs sound even better live. They seem to have more energy than the older stuff ..maybe that's because it's still relatively new to me and new for the band to play live ..but even the slower ones were better live. I think with Yield they conciously made songs that were great on CD and also would have a great live vibe to them. Next up was the old faithful Jeremy, followed by Daughter. I didn't recognise the tag in it. I dont know if it was an improv or not ..the words were something like "Double Trouble set me free. I want to love myself and I aint got a light? I'm gonna lose my way coz I ain't got a light to see".

Next up was Given To Fly ..This came accross much better than I expected. Great song ..great rendition of it. The crowd were a starting to really warm up by now. Next was Last Exit. I had been thinking all night how great Ed's voice was sounding .. but after Last Exit he said "My throat's starting to go on me. We got 3 days in Melbourne so we better take it easy. We got alot of songs to get through" crowd roars, then Ed says "Not tonight, tonight we only got 2 more" crowd boos a bit then Ed says " You never know when an American is pulling your leg." Then he says something like "this is going to be a story telling song" before a brilliant version of Off He Goes.

Off He Goes was great. After Eddie's little "speech" about taking it easy coz his voice was going on him I thought that I did notice it sounding slightly croaky during this song. As soon as they started the next song though I realised it was just my imagination.

After Off He Goes Ed says, "We havent played this one live yet this time around so we don`t know if it will work..."The song was Rearviewmirror and it certainly did work!

Next up was Not For You, another excellent track live. While waiting to start playing his bit Mike just stood there with his arms streched out and gently swinging his guitar around his neck looking very happy. I really think it was so great to see Mike in a good mood enjoying himself and playing awesome guitar. I must admit Mike has never been one of my favorite members and seeing him play in 95, well, he was just playing, ..BUT, this time he was a member of the band and loving it ! A totally different Mike than the one I saw 3 years earlier. Next up was BLACK .. what can you say ..this song is always great and Ed sings it with so much emotion everytime ... didn't have the "we belong together" bit at the end but was still a really good version of the song.

Next up was another great highlight of the night ...if not the highlight. It was Alive. Mike actually had his "flying V" guitar and the song was just brilliant. It amazes me how good this song still is after all these years and countless times they must have played it. It was just like it was being played for the first time .. awesome. During the song a guy got up on stage out of the crowd and put his arm around Eddie and they both were singing away! Eddie made no attempt to get the guy away and seemed to enjoy having a helping hand to sing the song!...before the solo the guy walked over to Mike and just watched him for a few seconds before Ed came over and got the guy during the solo ...and began to waltz with him !! It was soo funny !! Ed and the guy waltzing to Alive ..It was a great moment.They danced around the stage for a few minutes. After this, Ed kissed the guy's hand and sent him to the side of the stage. Great stuff!...I honestly did not for one second think that Alive would be a big highlight of the night ..but it was... The band left the stage after this then returned a few minutes later for the encore. Starting with Brain of J followed by Better Man ..another crowd favorite.

When Better Man finished, Stone and Jeff went to get new guitars. As soon as Stone walked back I noticed he had a BASS and suddenly I got extremely excited knowing I was going to hear Smile!! ... It was pretty special watching Stone play Bass and Jeff play guitar ..they even swapped positions on the stage so Stone was in Jeff's normal position etc. .. Stone had been wearing his glasses all night and during this song JEFF wore glasses also ..whether this was a kind of joking piss take at Stone's expense or whether Jeff really does need to wear them when he plays giutar I'm not sure ..but I do know it was excellent..another of the great highlights for me.

After Smile, Ed says see you tommorow and the band left the stage. It was only 1 or 2 minutes to 11pm and the venue has an 11pm curfew so I thought the night was over ...

But a minute or so later Ed walks out on stage on his own .. he says "I'll tell you what. We're done for the night ..but if you do one thing for me we might play another song. I want you to say something and I want it to be so good. I want to hear clear diction ... Now put up your middle finger ..." the crowd laughs realising what was coming up ..Ed says, "On 3 say in perfect Aussie diction ..Shudder To Think" ..of course the crowd said it ..and alot better and louder than when Shudder To Think's singer said the same thing. :-) Ed was pretty happy then said something else which I didnt quite exactly hear properly..he jokingly said "Now if you say on 3 ????????? I'll take my trousers down." Then they started a most fitting way to end the show with Rocking in the Free World.

I desperately wanted to hear Yellow Ledbetter ..but I'm sure they will do it at one of the shows I'm going to so I'll see it soon enough :-) So that was it. Alot of my quotes will be inaccurate but are roughly right to get the point across of what Ed was saying ..if an Audio of it shows up It will be good to hear it all again exactly. It's harder than I thought taking notes in the dark with people all around you!! It was a great gig though. The band were happy and enjoying being there. Ed was full of his trademark emotion in the songs where it counted. Mike was in great spirits (wearing a M.A.S.H 4077 T-shirt with one sleeve ripped shorter than the other and for alot of the night a jacket over top of it.

The crowd for the last half was good, although I've seen bigger mosh pits at local band's pub gig than what there was at this gig ...Complete contrast to the AMAZINGLY huge mosh from the first gig in '95 (where security was sacked) .This was probably good in some ways ..but in other ways it took away a bit from the atmosphere. Actually that's a way to sum up the night..the band was excellent ..but the atmosphere was missing just a little .. dont get me wrong it was still good but just not the buzz I expected from the crowd at PJs FIRST Aussie show of the tour. You still had the usual people up the very front crowd surfing etc., but only maybe 1/4 if that of the floor were even really moving! oops I could continue my ramblings for alot longer but just realised Im now running a few minutes late for tonights show.

A few little things for people who might be going tonight or Thursday night ...if you have a General Admission ticket ..get there early. The floor was actually partitioned off into a front section and a back section ...The first 1000 people through the gates with a GA ticket got a stamp on their wrists allowing them into the front section ..the rest were in the back section. For info ..PJ played approx 1 hour 50 mins ..coming on stage about 9.15 pm I think and played until about 11.05pm.

Please excuse any spelling mistakes etc ..this was kinda rushed. So much more I could say but I really have to go .. I`m going to try to get my Video Camera in Thursday night... might even try tonight ..wait and see. Eddie and the Band awaits !!! :-) 1 down ..5 to go !!