Set List: Of The Girl, Corduroy, Whipping, Grievance, Animal, Gods' Dice, Nothing As It Seems, Given To Fly, Wishlist, Pilate, Last Kiss, Do The Evolution, MFC, (Improv)/Habit, Light Years, Better Man, Even Flow, Porch;
1st encore: Off He Goes, Breakerfall, State of Love and Trust, I Got Shit, Small Town, Leaving Here;
2nd encore: Fuckin' Up, Yellow Ledbetter

"I did, what I had to do, if there was a reason, it was you."

We made the drive from Syracuse, NY to Montreal, Quebec to see Pearl Jam at the Molson Center.

We made it to the arena by 12:30PM and already the line was in its beginning stages for the TEN CLUB tickets. Since we had nothing on our hands but time we sat patiently with other pearl jammers for the ticket booths to open at 3PM. We met the most kewlest fellow jammers-some as far away as Nova Scotia (I pray I spelled that correctly!) A group of jammers who were in the line with us continuously played PJ CD's and talks & discussions about previous shows and what was in store later that evening filled our wait.

First, a very, deep sincere 'THANK YOU' to the Ten Club for issuing us Front Row (A) seats (seat 19 & 20)-we were dead center stage. Eddie's mic stood directly in front of us! Also a tremendous thanks for the security guards-they were gentle & kind-especially you JAKE!!-u rule the free world! To let you have a clue how kick ass Jake is, he offered to take us back stage for the last 45 mins of the show-We didn't want our moment in time with Pearl Jam to be disrupted or disturbed-we want to live it out, and so we did.

After we had our tickets and we knew our set location, we then set out into the downtown area and began a search for a personal gift for Eddie. We ended up finding a amazingly unique blue long stem rose and a tan beaded necklace.

Now onto the show!! We went down to the Molson Center around 6pm and lines were forming for the doors to open up and let us in. The streets were heavy with "jamily members"-you could feel the anxiety mounting. Lights went dim and the intro to Baba O'Riley was blaring through the Molson Center-it brought every single body to their feet, the long wait was over and Pearl Jam was here, with us. Eddie, Mike, Stone, Jeff and Matt all take their places and off we go into "Of the Girl"- incredible!! They then ripped into "Corduroy"-one of my personal favorites songs to just go nuts on-and the whole place just went wild. Then an ever unsuspecting, the "Whipping"-WOW-need I say more?!

Grievance was done with such passion and intensity-you could see it on Eddie's face-he was giving us his all. And just when you thought you felt all the power & force of his lyrics Eddie brings up his hand for the next song, 1-2-3-4-5 against one-5-5-5against ONE! "Animal" was truly mind blowing. Each song had their moment in time-"God's Dice," "NAIS," "Given to Fly"-ahhh memories of that song back when I saw them here last in 8/89-it is as almost as if I can still see the back drop of the rolling white clouds on the blue sky screen. And who can ever forget the mirrored ball dropped down from above to assist in light illusion dream like state during "Wishlist." Then taking us into "Pilate & "Last Kiss"!-who would've thunk!!! I am also grateful that they did "MFC"-"ask I'm an ear…" Pearl Jam clearly masters their set lists strategically-and they do it like NO ONE can.

Moments that still burn in my mind are when Eddie was singing-at times his eyes were deeply closed at various points in songs-clearly this man full of passionate emotion-you could feel the power from the depths of his soul and to our hearts, thoughts, and minds. Eddie also did his dances and definitely got his groove on at various points in the show! (Do the Evolution, State of Love & Trust, Fuckin' Up) Eddie talking, chatting, and interacting with his audience-a few political discussions too place as well. Also an occasional musical meetings & discussions took place between songs.

Pearl Jam then took us back to some old schooling toward the end of this first set--you could not ask for better back to back songs of Even Flow & Porch-there was no stopping them. Mike and Stone are a fierce force not to be reckoned with! Jeff is the master of his kingdom of bass-and Matt is just amazing to watch-the man is precise & perfect!

Wait, I jumped over "Better Man"-this song is such the great sing-a-long. Voices were definitely in unison, with Eddie leading the way.

Stone had numerous problems with his guitar equipment and Eddie just said "Stone was going on a long break." While I am on the subject of Stone-I must say, "Hey Stone nice pants!" At one point Eddie even made reference to them-Eddie said, "if he could he would fuck those pants!" Eddie was laughing his ass off!

The first encore couldn't have begun with a greater ballot, "Off He Goes". The most amazingly bluest light lighting the entire arena. Speaking of blue-this shade was a perfect match to the rose we brought for Eddie. My sister Rina gave our rose to Eddie and he in turn 'thanked us" with his guitar pic! The rose stayed on stage the entire time til it was the last encore and you could see Eddie walking off the stage reading what we wrote on the side of the wrapper, looked at the rose and smelled it. I was in complete awe.

At one point of the first set, Eddie made his way down to his cup of tea he was drinking and I leaned over the barricade and extended my arm with the necklace I brought for him and took it from me and in exchange I received another of his guitar pics-he then looked at the necklace, looked down at me and I got a nodded 'thank you' then he placed it in his pocket. YES!!

One of the best moments was towards the end when Eddie came out with his tambourine and ripped into "Fuckin' Up"-he of course, had a few fuck ups in the show, but they were truly minimal and went mostly unnoticed-but Eddie even knew he couldn't pass his fuck-up during this song-so he began to hit himself in the head with the tambourine. And to the girl who was lucky enough to score that-U RAWK!!

You couldn't have asked for a better farewell than "Yellow Ledbetter"-house lights were brought on per Eddie's request so he can see EVERYONE! While Mike was doing his amazingly "outro"-Eddie & Stone stood side-by-side near a stack and just stood back and watched this extreme & concentrated Mike become 'other-wordly'-both stood with huge grins on their faces.

Eddie took some polaroid's of the roaring crowd that stood before him then turned the camera on himself-he ended up keeping the pics rather than throwing them out to us. He looked at the self pic of himself and started to laugh hysterically-and even turned to Matt and showed "his self portrait'---that must have been one memorable moment, right Eddie?

If we couldn't have been more fortunate-we ended up with the set list Eddie had on his monitor-we rec'd numerous offers as we made our way out of the Molson Center, but I would not part with that, or anything else, I received personally from Eddie. We gladly (with pleasure) showed the list and allowed 'our' extended JAMily members who asked to touch or hold it (if they so wanted)- And to the girl who rec'd Eddie's Tambourine-I hope you made it out of the arena!!!! (ha ha ha) because if me and my sister experienced what we did in trying to get out of there with what we had, I can't even imagine how you made it out alive!

There is nothing, and no one, who can ever touch or take from me the mental images and memories I have of seeing Pearl Jam live. For this I am truly thankful & appreciative. I am also happy to share my experience with the rest of the JAMily members and especially my sista, Rina. I framed Eddie's pic, ticket, and set lists-the second pic is on the way to Matt Hutchinson in Ohio. The front row purple wrist band will stay on my writs until it falls off.

I know I most likely missed many much moments & highlights of the show, but I rely and leave that for my other JAMily members to fill in the gaps-besides I feel like I wrote above & beyond what is limited & allowed!! To everyone we met in Montreal-U RAWK and to the two dudes who were in line with us (Nova Scotia) hey you two-we forgot to exchange e-mail addy's-and everyone else that was in the 4th row-and you guys know who you are!!!-we have some killa pics of the show from the front row we would love to share & exchange with you!!!

Thank you (again) Ten Club, stage crew, security and to everyone who was involved with fulfilling lasting memories & moments but most of all Mike, Stone, Jeff, Matt, and Eddie. P.S. Eddie, I can't wait to see you with my necklace on! All my bestest,
"T"
vedderology@hotmail.com
Syracuse, NY