Set List: Long Road, Brain of J., Do The Evolution, Animal, Dissident, Faithfull, Even Flow, Corduroy, Lukin, Wishlist, Given To Fly, Hail Hail, In Hiding, Jeremy, Daughter, MFC, Immortality, Alive; Encore: Who You Are, Last Exit, Once, Better Man, Yellow Ledbetter

Sublime (xtr17071301@xtra.co.nz):

The Wellington Soundcheck...
This was wicked! the longest soundcheck ever! oh, okay so I don't know for sure but here's the setlist, make up your own minds:
Hail Hail, Elderly Woman, Off He Goes, Faithfull, Who You Are, In Hiding, Long Road, Pilate, Go, Mankind

It just went on & on! Wild. Elderly Woman sounded like someone was playing the single at 33 1/3. Who You Are was instrumental and sounded bloody great, right down to the cowbell! ...and oh man, In Hiding... by then I had found a spot that let the sound thru like you were inside. i.e., LOUD! Ed was belting it out...what a fucking voice. I'm sorry...but really. What a voice and I didn't even think I liked that song so much... well, the soundcheck changed that. Long Road was divine...truly...and Go... well, I got to WATCH Go, thru a hole in the shades, a great view of Ed screaming and leaping...jumping about, nutting off... watched only by the guys in the band, the crew, three fans who'd blagged their way in earlier and...me.

Neat.

Oh, I saw some of Pilate too. Ed smoked a cigarette all thru it...singing too. As you would expect it didn't sound too shit hot. didn't look too shit hot either.

Heard Mankind from the back of the venue (go Stone!), where Fi was writing the soundcheck set list on her hand. I gave her an envelope to transfer it to, and I still have it, and although it's the only setlist I DO have right now...it's kind of the coolest one. : } Stayed and raved with Fi til it was just about time for me to dash uptown to catch the people I was going to the gig with...

The Show
Arrived at the soundesk with a few songs to go in STT's set - I liked 'em! they were groovy, good singer too. You gotta feel sorry for any band that opens for Pearl Jam... you could be God herself and get chanted off the stage! The house lights came right up between bands, which I always hate, and it always happens (these days...), - after a summer of blinding gigs, at the Pearl Jam shows, I finally beat the problem with my mighty squishable five buck plastic redlensed sunnies. They rule and they make everything go orange, which rules even more. Stoney-vision!

So I was still by the sounddesk, being impressed by the full-on Mexican Waves from the balconies, and by the good view I had of the stage, when Michael came up and beckoned mysteriously to me... He took me out the side door at the back...up the hallway...and in the side door at the front... and bang. There was the stage. Right there. Twenty feet away. Awesome. Awesome! Wee Ben was right there. He said “Ed stood just about where you're standing for the first band.”

“I hope no-one bugged him. No-one.” ...and then the gig started with the Long Road... "I have wished for so long..." Perfect. Perfect. Then it all went mental... I haven't said much about the atmosphere in there, but believe me it was electric. Huge excitement, especially from me! Wicked! Michael & I ventured into the craziness at the front for a few songs. Evolution was huge, stonking, wild... got close to the stage, about fourth row, but the dudesurfers were all over us. I remember yelling at one big guy as he crushed me double, "Find something better to do with your time!" ...like watch the band, maybe. Something I was trying very hard to do. I must've been close to the centre coz the only person I could really see was Ed (not a bad thing) and then we spat ourselves out again onto Mike's side where we'd started... I just have to say here that Mike looks completely transformed and it's a bit bloody spooky really. Hasn't affected his guitar playing any, tho, of course! He was awesome to watch! Wicked! Jumped up and down like a nutter for Cordouroy and Lukin, then cruised back to the soundesk for a change of scene during Wishlist... Ed added a verse, I think, maybe... it was something about the local surf - or lack of it - you know, like, I wish there were waves in Lyall Bay, but there weren't today - I don't know, I hope there was a taper there.

And then round the other side, Stone's side, and up the front for Hail Hail, still jumping about. God who was it who said you can't dance to Pearl Jam?? Rubbish. Daughter - very funky! Really! Go Jack! Talking of go Jack, one of the most memorable images of the night - for me - was of the cluster of guitars around Jack as he went OFF, wild, wicked, at the end of Immortality... really intense. Amazing. The other two images of the night were both of Ed - leaning into the crowd, fingers twitching, “C'mon, c'mon” and of his smile during Alive. Alive was brilliant - so fresh. it sparkled. I know the last time I saw these guys Alive was awesome and I hadn't expected it to be, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but this time it was even better. It was like it was brand new, like they wrote it yesterday. stunning. Um...so... Ed said a few things over the night, one thing was about drinking beer with Mudhoney, something along the lines of, “ We like Steinlager” ... which didn't get quite the reaction he perhaps was expecting. perhaps if he'd said “We like Mac's Ale” he would've got more of a cheer! Not that there's anything wrong with a Steinlager on a hot day. : }

After maybe the second song of the encore (which was strangely, Last Exit, - the first song was a brilliant Who You Are) he said, “ We're still here because we haven't played to a crowd like this in a long, long time...” which, of course, got a deafening roar in return and had the whole band smiling at us... it really was going off! I've been to a zillion gigs in my life, and shitload of Big gigs this summer, and the balconies just don't go off like they were on Thursday night... it was hectic up there - and I hear the upstairs security guys were uptight about people getting “excited”, so it was even more impressive for that not to mention the downstairs crowd and me in it... I haven't gone that apeshit over any band ever. It was woo-hoo central. It was mental. No-one gets a reaction like Pearl Jam. No-one gives a shit about sitting back and being cool - they want to be in it and they are. Great energy. Wow. Best crowd anywhere ever for me. They were especially impressive in their reaction to Ed mentioning Oasis - boos & hisses! “
Ed: "Oh, do you guys work for the airline?”

Five song encore, and the last song was YL. It was real crunchy, and I was glad to be back on Mike's side of the stage for it! Beautiful. Beautiful to watch. Beautiful to hear. I swear I was the only person singing along tho. Teehee.

So, back on with the Stoney-vision shades as the lights went up, headed outside...found everyone... downstairs to the car. Downstairs to the evidence of how distracting it is to be going to a Pearl Jam gig... it was totally unlocked. The driver's door was ajar, even. This never happens. Wicked. But the car was still there and we drove home and the person who knows me best in the whole world but has always found this Pearl Jam shit a little odd, said, “ They're the only thing that inspires you, aren't they?...Pearl Jam...” And of course I disagreed but really, at that moment I couldn't think of anything that inspired me more. And not only inspirational - they're a great pain-killer. By the time I got into bed, ears ringing, shoulders bruised, I couldn't help but notice that I'd busted-up my ankle and it hurt like hell, I had to go and have a hot bath (at 2am) so I could get some sleep. I mean, I probably did it, like, halfway thru the gig and just kept right on pogo-ing and dancing and didn't even notice. Trippin'.