Set List: Of The Girl, Breakerfall, Grievance, Corduroy, Light Years, Go, Given To Fly, Evacuation, Even Flow, Daughter, Animal, Wishlist, Nothingman, Better Man, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror;
1st encore: Last Exit, Once, Black, Timeless Melody, State of Love And Trust, Fuckin' Up
2nd encore: Leatherman, Footsteps, Do The Evolution, Garden, Yellow Ledbetter

Michael Flett (michaelef@hotmail.com):
The third time I've seen Pearl Jam, after the two London dates they played three and a half years ago. I'm still bitter about missing them in Glasgow, long long ago, because I couldn't get a ride through. Still, I guess I'll have to make up for it by seeing them as many times as I can in the future. As I write this, the Vandals will be onstage in Cardiff – if I'd been able to, I'd be there too, right now – and most likely wearing more than they are!

Unfortunately, we missed the whole Vandals set last night – although I've passed the Nynex (sorry, Manchester Evening News Arena – aw, Hell, it's the Nynex and we all know it is!) many times, I've never been inside, and it is huge. Finding somewhere to park was bad enough, then we had to find our way back down, then we actually had to find our way inside at the appropriate exit, which corresponded to the numbers on our ticket in no way. Finally we made our way in, and down the long concrete stairs to the floor, and saw in the distance several naked blokes running about the stage, but by the time we actually made our way down, they had left. Aha, thought I, that will have been the support act.

I wanted to go right up and press against the stage, but my partner wasn't feeling too great, so we stayed at the back of the thickest part of the crowd – close enough to be in the action, but not get thrown about (much) or beer tossed on us. Still, it was closer than the Wembley - at least I was in the standing section!

It was about 8.45 the lights went down – my first thought was how much they've changed. Stone wearing spectacles, Mike is blond, and Jeff has neither hat nor scarf. What can I say about the concert – you already have a set list (had I known, I wouldn't have struggled with a pen and post-it notes, trying to take notes on the fringe of a burgeoning mosh pit). I'll freely admit I don't know the new material as well as I should, but I think I knew it better than many of those there – everybody sang along to Even Flow and Daughter, but not so many of us even for Corduroy.

It was after Corduroy that Eddie first spoke to us – “Good evening! There's Manchesterians everywhere!” They're actually Mancunians, but yes, they were everywhere – though I resisted the urge to shout out I wasn't one – I'm actually from Edinburgh. “You look comfortable – that's good, because we going to be here a while.”

Light Years was up next, and Evacuation, then, as I said, the whole place went crazy for Even Flow – probably the first number that everybody in the place knew. Then Jeff went and got his mini stand up bass, for Daugher. The next song was delayed, when Stone managed to break at least two strings on his guitar on the opening chord. Eddie said that they had been going to play something by his arch enemy Stone, but he had changed his mind.

For me, the best part of the night was next – my two favourite songs from Vitalogy, Nothingman and Better Man, played back to back. Two more songs, then they took a few minutes break.

When they came back on for the first encore, Eddie apologised for being so long, but he had to go backstage and kick Stone's ass. He said they must be like family, because only brothers can fight the way they can, and went over to give Stone a hug. At that point,as Eddie walked back to his microphone stand, a can flew between them and hit Stone's amp – Eddie was not impressed! Kicking Stone is his responsibility, and nobody else's! He paused, and turned to Stone. “Was that a beer can?” Stone replied that it was. “Is it full?” Again, Stone agreed. “Can I have it?”

The first encore took us through Once, Black, and State Of Love And Trust. Eddie actually had his own can of Budweiser delivered to his microphone stand by a tech, and picked it up, but never actually opened it. He spent more time with a bottle of red wine, though again, I never actually saw him drink any of it.

For the second encore, Eddie said they were going to do songs we'd never heard – really obscure songs, starting with Leatherman, which they didn't even have a copy of to hand, so he hoped they played it right. I had a hope if they were playing obscure songs – and it came true. Not only Footsteps, but they finished on Yellow Ledbetter, as the lights came up, Mike playing an extended guitar outro as the rest of the band waved goodbye to us and left the stage. Eddie came back on to take a few Polaroids of the front rows of the crowd, and said he didn't know when they would be back, and it was time to go home. The tech crew began to disassemble the equipment, and the feeding frenzy began for plectrums and set lists – again, I wish I had been closer, that I had something to take home with me other than memories.

It's now 8.30. They'll be going on in Cardiff very soon. I'm going to go post this to the site, and look at the photos, and wish the guys my very best, and hope to see them all again soon. Thank you for last night.