Set List: Long Road, Breakerfall, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Animal, Even Flow, Nothing As It Seems, Light Years, Given To Fly, Insignificance, Daughter/(The Wrong Child by R.E.M.), Rearviewmirror, I Got Shit, Thin Air, Black, Better Man, Do The Evolution, Alive;
1st encore: Grievance, State of Love and Trust, Wishlist, Small Town, Go;
2nd encore: Last Kiss, Yellow Ledbetter

Poster credit: Victor Sainz

Miguelón Gómez García (elaustro@hotmail.com) :
I went to Barcelona with two friends (Punchito & Cartojarl), to see one of the most expected shows of the year. We arrived two hours before The Vandals began to play, after seven long hours in a train. There were hundreds of people sitting at the gates of the St. Jordi Pavilion, so we sat with them. When the gates were open, everybody began a frenetic race to the pavilion. A half an hour later, the security personal opened the internal doors, and we got into the pavilion. While we were arriving, I heard some people shouting, so we ran to see what was happening. Then I realised that there was a person taking some photos with a camera. He wore an orange t-shirt. I thought he was McCready, but I'm not sure. We placed in a very good position, at four metres of the stage. There were two big balloons on the stage hanging from the roof of the scenery.

The Vandals were late, but it didn't matter. They began with the OST song of Grease, and people turned crazy, liberating all their tension. As an anecdote, I can tell you that the bassist appeared with a Real Madrid's t-shirt (WE HAVE EIGHT EUROPEAN CUPS!!), and all the people there were astonished (remember that the show was in Barcelona).

The best part of their show was the last song ("I have a date"), dedicated to all the girls in the pavilion. This time the singer was Warren, the guitarist. This character got naked, jumped through the stage, stood up on the drums, and knocked his penis with the microphone (he looked like the crazy Flea). All this spectacle was contemplated by Eddie Vedder from the backstage. He was smiling and drinking. It was the first time I had ever seen Eddie Vedder in my whole life, so it was a special moment.

Half an hour later, all the people were nervous, shouting PEARL JAM, PEARL JAM…, but they didn't appear yet. Suddenly, the lights turned off. The band appeared and began with "Long Road."

Jeff was the first in the stage, with his hat. The Mike, wearing an orange t-shirt of QUEEN. Eddie wearing a black shirt and carrying a bottle of wine, a black jar and a notebook (I still don't know why he carries those things to all the concerts). Stone was smiling and saluted to the crowd with his hand. Matt went directly to the drums.

Photo credit: Hugo Silva
(hemandias@clix.pt)

Everyone turned delirious, and all the pushes, nudges and strikes took place, but in more quantity than usual. We were suffering a lot, and it was only the beginning. The next one was "Breakerfall," with all the lights on, and the next one "Corduroy" (one of my favorites). I didn't expect that song so soon. I could't enjoy it as I would like to do, because I was trying not to fall to the floor. I decided then to wait to the next song; if the people didn't get calmed, I would surrender and go some rows back. I had to do it, because the next song was "Hail Hail," and I hadn't a chance.

From my new site I could see the concert much better. At the same time I was taking photos all the time, because I didn't want to miss any detail (I will scan them, so I hope to send some photos to you soon). Then, Ed said: "I can't remember when was the last time we came here… Was it two… three years ago?" and the crowd replied at once: "FOUR!!!" After that, Ed smiled and apologized.

Two classics could be heard then: "Animal" and "Even Flow." Ed's voice was very difficult to hear, because all the crowd knew the lyrics of the songs, and all their voices became one, which sounded louder than Ed's one. Ed picked up an Argentinian flag, and put it over a speaker. I thought that I would hear Ed speaking Spanish, as he did four years ago, but he didn't (sniff). He presented the next song: "This song was written by Jeff, it's called "Nothing As It Seems"…" The I looked to Jeff; he was sitting down with his long bass, and without the hat. The song sounded beautiful, and all the audience sang the song as if it was a classic Pearl Jam song. The images in back of the stage were showing a rural road, like the Yield cover.

The same thing happened with the chorus of "Light Years" (not with the whole lyrics). After that new song, came (for me) the best song of the night: "Given To Fly." Each time that I hear this song, I like it more and more. The images projected in the two balloons were images of a sky with some beautiful clouds. Ed threw some wine to the crowd.

"Let's salute to Matt, who is playing the drums with us here tonight… Matt!" "Are you OK?… I see that you've got some problems here in the front, so take care, right?… This next song is a new one, and it's called Insignificance." This Ed's words presented "Insignificance." Then, "Daughter," an emotional and very long "Rearviewmirror" (one of the best of the night) and "I Got Shit."

Eddie asked if he could tell us a story (of course, our answer was YES), and began to speak about the afternoon he passed in Barcelona. He went to the Sagrada Familia and took some photos with his Polaroid. Two kids jumped and appeared in his photos. Ed gave them the photos, and after that the boys began to talk with two taller girls (or something like that). The boys were two rascals, and Ed joined watching how did they talk to the girls.

Photo credit: Hugo Silva
(hemandias@clix.pt)

Eddie presented "Thin Air", and after that, an impressionant "Black", "Better Man" and a furious "Do The Evolution". The last one was a hymn: "Alive." After a short break, they came back with "Grievance", "SoLaT", "Wishlist", "Small Town" ("One… two… onetwothreefour… I seem… to recognize…") and "Go." And they disappeared again, but only two minutes later, Ed came back, and played with the rest of the band "Last Kiss" (emotional), and finished their actuation with the expected "Yellow Ledbetter" (with all the lights of the pavilion on). In the last part of the song, during Mike's solo, Stone, Jeff, Ed and, obviously Matt, remained seated and looking at him. When he finished, Ed said: "Mike!" All of us applauded him. After that, the band said good-bye and went out of the stage. But before, Ed took some photos with his Polaroid, and threw some to the crowd.

As a conclusion, I have to say that I expected something else. I don't know what, maybe some jump of Eddie to the crowd, Immortality, Off He Goes, Jeremy… And of course that lovely song called "Sleight of Hand." I didn't go to any other PJ concert, but I've seen some videos, and I think that they have became more cold with the crowd than before (specially Matt), in the way that Ed doesn't jump to the crowd, and that the rest don't speak to the audience. But it's just an impression. Deeply, I still think that they're the best band in the history, behind Led Zeppelin, of course.

Goodbye, friends, I hope to see you soon,
Miguelón