August 15, 2000, The Pyramid; Memphis, TN
Set List: Of The Girl, Last Exit, Animal, Grievance, Corduroy, Tremor Christ, Nothing As It Seems, Wishlist, Can't Help Falling In Love With You (punked version), Given To Fly, In My Tree, Even Flow, I Got Shit, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Black, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror;
1st encore: Breakerfall, Do The Evolution, Thin Air, Nothingman, Small Town, State of Love and Trust, Go
2nd encore: Footsteps, Baba O'Riley
Brandon Vaughn (MrButts@aol.com):
First things first: Thank you, Pearl Jam, for one of the best nights of my life. This was my sixth show so far on the tour and I have to say it was definitely the best. The guys were just absolutely on FIRE tonight!!! Of The Girl is such a fantastic song and it makes for such a wonderful concert opener. After Wishlist, Ed said he needed a jacket for the next song and one of the crew brought him this striped sports coat which he buttoned up nice and then slowly started to sing. Within seconds every single person in that arena was singing along. This is Memphis after all, and EVERYONE knew the words to "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You." I knew they'd give us a little Elvis homage somewhere during the show but I figured it'd probably just be covered in a Daughter tag. I never suspected we'd get a hard rocking version of a Presley classic.
Photo credit: Joe Whaley
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Another Elvis reference occurred later during DO THE EVOLUTION when Ed donned a pair of those Graceland souvenir gold "Elvis glasses" and changed the lyrics to "I'm a thief, I'm a liar, I'm the King, let's sing in the choir" and began doing Elvis-like Karate chops and kicks towards Stone. He did the same thing during GO. My brother had brought a sign with him that said "Baba O' Riley" on it as big as he could fit it and was waving it in the air whenever he thought one of the guys was looking our way. Maybe they saw us and we gave them a good idea or maybe they were just going to play it anyway, but they did and it was absolutely breath taking. It was a great crowd tonight and I was glad to be a part of it. Once again, a big thank you to Matt, Mike, Jeff, Stone and Ed. Thank you for one of the best nights of my life.
Brandon Vaughn
LASTSHOUT@aol.com:
I had seen Pearl Jam before, but I must say that Pearl Jam really rocked the Pyramid.
The really big shock of the night came when Eddie said he needed a coat for the next song, "Something Nice!" A roadie hands Ed a brown suit jacket, he slips it on, and the crowd goes wild. He grabbed his guitar, and started to sing ,"Wise men say..." and the place went crazy. Pearl Jam broke into a really hard fast version of, "Can't Help Falling in Love With You."
People in the crowd were screaming for "Yellow Ledbetter!" The band of course skipped over that one, but the set list was quite impressive. I really wanted to hear some stuff off of TEN, we got an amazing version of Black, Even Flow, they did State of Love and Trust, and not to mention a powerful version of Footsteps featuring Ed on harmonica. He did a great job.
The mirrorball came down when they did Wishlist. I believe they had the mirrorball last time I saw them. It's a nice effect. They just dove into song after song, so much energy, and the crowd was right there with them. Some of the people behind me didn't even know the name of the new album, but people were into it.
When they went offstage, you could see a flashlight from the drum kit looking at requests in the crowd. They came on and did, "Breakerfall, and Do the Evolution," which blew me away. During the weird choir part, Eddie put on some Elvis sunglasses, sang the part, and the tore them off when he dug into the chorus. It was a great show.
They did one last number, Ed dedicated it to a new friend in West Memphis? The house lights came up and they did Baba O'Riley. Everyone screaming, "Teenage Wasteland." I'm not into the WHO, but they rocked.
Security was pretty tight. Cops and Event Staff were everywhere. They even had a few kids going around registering people to vote. But catch them if you can.
J. MIKE CARD (mikec@gmi.net):
First of all I want to say thank you to the Ten Club for the great
seats. I was sixth row center. From the start of the show I could tell
the show was going to be amazing. When they broke into Last Exit I was
so surprised. They played many songs I did not expect them to do such as
Tremor Christ and In My Tree. They played an Elvis cover and Eddie put
on some Elvis glasses. He also said he needed a coat for the song and
he put on some type of jacket. Baba O'Riley was awesome. Ed said that
it was dedicated to a guy named Ben who he was going to meet for the
first time the next day in West Memphis. He told them to turn the house
lights on for this song. Everyone was singing along to this song as well
as pretty much every song of the night.
Photo credit: Joe Whaley
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Mike is very much a crowd pleaser. Me and my friend saw him during
Sonic Youth on the side of the stage and he gave us the peace sign.
During the show my friend who was sitting with me had made a shirt for
Ed. It said Cubs on the front and Vedder 34 on the back. Eddie saw it
and when he threw it on stage Ed held it up then used it throughout the
night to wipe his face on it. During the last encore with the house
lights on I held up my sign which said EDDIE FOR PRESIDENT in 2000. He
looked at me smiled and shook his head. Another one of my friends got the
set list. All in all it was a wonderful night.
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