Set List: Release, Corduroy, Grievance, Gods' Dice, Animal, Red Mosquito, Nothing As It Seems, Given To Fly, Wishlist, Small Town, In Hiding, Even Flow, Light Years, MFC, Lukin, Not For You, Better Man, Leatherman, Nothingman, Do The Evolution, Insignificance, Black, Parting Ways;
1st encore: Sleight of Hand, Soldier of Love, Crazy Mary, Jeremy, Rearviewmirror;
2nd encore: Soon Forget, Baba O'Riley

WOW!!! 30 songs! Simply amazing.

Nothing at all could sum up just how special this weekend was for me. Fanclub seats at Alpine Valley (Thank you Ten Club, you guys are great!!), and even without reserved seats in Chicago, I still had great floor seats and an awesome view of the guys. As Supergrass finished off their set, I anxiously awaited for the greatest band ever to come out and take the stage. I knew it was going to be a great performance, as it always is in Chicago, but little did I know what was in store for us.

As the opening chords of "Release" were playing, the crowd went crazy, and, might I add, never held back all the way through Eddie's last tambourine smash on Baba! After "Release, they break into "Corduroy." During this song Mike covers his ears to let us all know how loud we really are! Next 2 songs are the first Binaural cuts of the night, "Grievance" and "God's Dice." All in all, 8 songs off the new album, including "Sleight of Hand" and "Parting Ways," two of my personal faves. I felt like the only one singing along with "Sleight of Hand" and even had someone come up to me asking the name of the song because he was keeping the setlist. Anyhow, the new stuff sounds unbelievable live, the only thing missing so far for me is "Rival."

"Animal" comes next, and much of the crowd gets into the whole "1-2-3-4-5 against 1" hand thing which was really cool. Skipping ahead a little, "Wishlist" comes along with the mirrorball that we all love so much. Of course, and this really gets the crowd pumped up. After "Light Years," Ed starts talking about the show the night before at Alpine Valley, saying there were "as many thousand people out there as it was degrees (He mentions the number 26)." He seemed surprised that as many people showed up as they did, but who would pass up any chance you have to see these guys, regardless of temperature. "Not for You" is a pleasant surprise, followed by "Better Man," "Leatherman" (where I am word for word with Ed), and a fabulous version of "Nothingman." "Do the Evolution" is really kickin', and had to give Ed a little holler when he posed after the "admire my clothes" line. A few songs later, after a beautiful rendition of "Black," Ed goes over and gets a count from the side of the stage, and reports back that they have already played 22 songs without a break. "Parting Ways" makes it 23, and they head off while the crowd continually roars for more!

"Sleight of Hand" opens the first encore, followed by "Soldier of Love" which was quite a treat with Ed doing a lovely Elvis move, and "Crazy Mary" with Ed jumping down off the stage and passing around his bottle of wine to those lucky ones in the front row. "Jeremy" is played for the 2nd straight night, as the whole crowd sings along word for word, and of course, "Rearviewmirror" is just, well, it's "Rearviewmirror," what more can I say. Amazing! They break again before Ed jumps out by himself and starts talking some politics again. Unfortunately I had to be back at school, or else I'd be a lock at the Nader rally. He's still got my vote though! He then breaks out the ukelele and plays "Soon Forget" for the "richies, like the ones in the skybox." Before he can start, his attention is taken into the upper deck where he sees a light blue neon light, saying "they must have cocaine up there," with a laugh. As he starts singing, the crowd claps to break the silence, so Eddie stops, gets the crowd to quiet down again "so the rich would get the full effect," and picks up where he left off.

Finally comes Baba O'Riley. What a way to cap a perfect evening. Everyone standing on their chairs, with the lights on screaming as loud as possible. Toronto would have had to have been beyond perfect to beat us out for that spot on the album. Stone was absolutely going crazy, and Jeff even did a little dance. As the song comes to rest, Ed throws his tambourine to the rows behind the stage, and fans dive left and right for it. The guys leave the stage as the crowd continues to roar for a few more minutes. This was absolutely the best show I have ever been to, and is a must have when the bootlegs come out for everyone.

Lastly, I just wanna thank everyone who participated in this overwhelming experience this weekend. Brenna and Tiff, you girls are the coolest ... unfortunately we have "light years" separating us. Thanks to Shara for putting up with all my craziness and for keeping me somewhat sane. Thanks to the Ten club for the spectacular seats. And of course, thanks to Pearl Jam for allowing me this experience this weekend and for continually putting out album after album of flawless material. I'll stay out in the subfreezing temps for you any day of the year. You guys are unbelievable! See Ya in ST. LOUIS!!! hopefully with "Rival," "Tremor Christ," and "In My Tree" :)

Eric Hjelm
EJuiuc10@hotmail.com