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

James Ellaby (nitanitro@hotmail.com):

This was my very first experience of Pearl Jam live, and I was not disappointed.

However, before they came on, we had The Vandals to entertain us with classic So-Cal punk songs like "Oi To The World" and "I've Got An Ape Drape". Insane guitarist Warren Fitzgeral gave his all and showed his all as he took the mike for the last song "I Have A Date". From the appreciative noises made by some girls behind me, he may well have had a date that night.

After a thankfully brief interlude Pearl Jam strolled onstage at the unusually early time of 8.30, catching out many of the crowd still queuing for drinks. "Of The Girl" was never a song that impressed me on the album, but live, Edddie's incredible voice turns it into something quite amazing. A few faster songs from Binaural followed, before a huge cheer greeted "Corduroy". "Light Years" also sounded much better live than on record, where it's still cool.

"Even Flow" was dispensed with halfway through the set, showing how many great songs PJ actually have. One of the many highlights of the first set was the coupling of "Nothingman" and "Better Man". They closed the set with "Rearviewmirror".

"Sorry about that, I just had to kick Stone's ass back there" apologised Eddie as they emerged for the first encore. The highlight of the whole evening soon followed, with the whole crowd singing along to "Black". Eddie's local geography was a little suspect, as he called us "Manchesterians" (actually it's Mancunians) and he claimed that The La's were from our town, whereas they're from Liverpool. No matter, their song "Timeless Melody" sounded pretty good. With a rocking end to the first encore; "State of Love and Trust" and "Fuckin' Up", we waited patiently for them to return again.

"We're gonna play some songs you won't know" threatened Eddie when they did return and launched into "Leatherman" and "Footsteps. To his obvious joy most people knew both. They ran through "Do The Evolution" and "Garden" before the house lights came on and they finished with "Yellow Ledbetter" to a standing ovation.

"We're making most of this up," Eddie said midway through the last encore, "cos we're not sure when we'll be back in England, if ever." All I can say, and I speak for everyone that was there, is that you'd better come back, cos this was an experience I can't wait to repeat.