Set List: Sometimes, Corduroy, Breakerfall, MFC, Grievance, Animal, Given To Fly, Nothing As It Seems, Even Flow, Not For You, Wishlist, Better Man, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror, Timeless Melody, Alive, Daughter/(WMA)/(Behind Blue Eyes), Do The Evolution, Once;
1st encore: Small Town, Go, State of Love and Trust, Light Years, Black, Last Kiss, Fuckin' Up;
2nd encore: Yellow Ledbetter

Another great Pearl Jam show at Rock am Ring. I was a little dismayed when I got to the race track and saw that it was a stadium size show, but Pearl Jam gave a spectacular performance. Because of the size of the venue, you knew that all of the arena rock songs were going to be on the set list that night. The crowd was really anxious to see them and Sometimes is a great opener with its rising intensity. All the guys were rocking really hard at Rock am Ring, but Stone seemed a little distant during the show. A lot of the show was hard to see because of the size of the crowd, but what matters is that you could hear it all. Pearl Jam played the best version of "Alive" that I have ever seen. It was so intense and you could tell that it really got Mike and Eddie wired because Mike tore into a really long guitar solo while running around the left side of the stage, while Eddie ran towards the right side, and I thought, for a brief minute, that he was going to dive. Apparently, so did Pete, because he came hauling ass across the stage, but stopped halfway when he realized Eddie wasn't going anywhere.

I was really excited to hear "Not For You," because I think that it was really applicable in this show, and "Wishlist" was incredible. They did an extended "Rearviewmirror" and I think that song gets better every time they play it. Eddie remarked that something was going on behind the crowd, and was referring to the menacing storm clouds rolling in from the southwest. Luckily for those camping that night, it did not rain. They played "Timeless Melody" after Rearviewmirror and that song sounded really great even though I didn't know the words. "Do the Evolution" is such a great song live and they sounded especially strong tonight. The crowd really seemed to embrace this song, and went wild during the chorus. During the final chorus of the song, instead of saying, "I am the first mammal to wear pants," he said, "I am the first mammal to shit my pants." "Once" followed Evolution and was spectacular. I think that they have rediscovered this song, because they really seemed to enjoy playing it.

The best part of the show was in the encores though. If you haven't heard them do "Fuckin' Up" live, you must. It is terrific. Eddie prefaced the song by saying, "I asked a German security guard today, how do you say 'Fuck you' in German. He said, we just say, 'Fuck you.' I said, that's easy enough. So, FUCK YOU. FUCK ME. This is a song by Neil Young called "Fuckin' Up." With that, they launched into an amazing version of the song and the night seemed complete. That is until they came back out on stage because the crowd was going so wild, and Eddie preceded to sing the clearest version of Yellow Ledbetter that I have ever heard. He pronounce virtually every lyric clearly. I know that there are many versions of the song, but if you want to memorize the lyrics to at least one version, get the bootleg of this show. Mike ripped into an amazing guitar solo to finish off the night. Thanks for the outstanding show.