Set List: Of The Girl, Breakerfall, Corduroy, MFC, Once, Animal, Gods' Dice, Given To Fly, Evacuation, Pilate, Daughter/(WMA), Even Flow, Wishlist, Timeless Melody, Off He Goes, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Nothingman, Leatherman, Porch;
1st enc: Last Exit, Do The Evolution, Black, Crazy Mary, I Got Shit, Last Kiss, Baba O'Riley;
2nd enc: Yellow Ledbetter

It was the second straight night of Pearl Jam for me, as well as my last night in Florida before returning home to cool Buffalo, where the summer had never even started, and the autumn was already creeping in. For one more night though, time would stand still for a few hours.

The band walks out and the opener tonight would be "Of The Girl." A nice way to get warmed up before breaking into "Breakerfall." You can't appreciate "Breakerfall" until you hear it live. There's something about it, much like "Hail, Hail," that makes you want to hear it more only after you've heard it in concert.

The band is all smiles tonight. It's true, it's true, Mike has turned into a real ham onstage, and you know what, it's nice. Things are fun, the guys seem like a bunch of kids rocking away in some small garage, with, oh, twenty-thousand pairs of eyes glued on their every movement and gesture.

An electric version of Porch (is there any other version?) closes the set, and the lights onstage are off. The amphitheater may be draped in shadows, but it is anything but silent. The fans are pounding the seats making loud sounds as if bullets are going off, screaming for an encore. Within minutes the band returns with "Last Exit," a song that embodies the invincibility of youth, and the thirtysomething singer belting out "This is my...last exit," seems to be full of life and promise.

At the close of "Black," Ed sets the microphone base down ever so gently, as if putting the phantom body of a former lover to bed.

"Baba O'Riley" is as memorable as anything I've seen all vacation, and it's been quite a trip so far. He encourages everyone to sing along, for him, for the band, and then again, for him. The masses do not disappoint, nor does the five piece band playing for them.

Of course, it's time to say good-bye, for now, as the first few notes of "Yellow Ledbetter" sneak out of Mike's guitar, and Ed asks Keith for the lights. Mike's solo is extended tonight, very extended, to the point where the rest of the band just sort of marvels, as does the rest of the packed house. Stone is laughing, and Ed is amused at the mere sight of sharing the stage with a fellow modern rock god. Mike's playing is as beautiful as ever, mature, confident, relaxed, fun, all in the course of a few notes. Few people may have caught it, but Mike goes into a little Van Halen, believe it or not (I'd find it difficult to believe myself, had I not heard the exact same Van Halen riffs just the night before on a hard rock station; the name of the song escapes me at the moment though.)

As the very last note of Ledbetter was played, the Earth began to revolve again. Two hours gone from my life---two hours that I'd want back, only if I could spend them the exact same way---at a Pearl Jam concert. The next morning my brother dropped me off at the airport, and I was headed back to Buffalo, anxiously counting the days down until October 5, 2000, when I will be in Toronto, and for a few more hours, time will be on my side, as Pearl Jam will be playing in front of me.