Set List: Better Man, Don't Go, Save You, Tremor Christ, Given To Fly, Corduroy, Get Right, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Love Boat Captain, Wishlist, Jeremy, You Are, Whipping, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror;
1st encore: Off He Goes, Small Town, Last Kiss, Black, Leatherman, Do The Evolution;
2nd encore: Baba O'Riley

I took a leisurely walk down to the Rod Laver Arena from the centre of Melbourne, where my office is. Surprisingly, I was a great deal more excited than I thought I would be. I've been to hundreds of shows in dozens of cities, but for some reason I actually had a few butterflies in my stomach.

I ran into a group of similarly dressed office drones making the same pilgrimage as me, and we traded smiles. There was a silent recognition of the fact that none of us wanted to miss a second of the experience. We all knew that the guys wouldn't be on stage until at least 9:30 or so, but none of us wanted to miss even a second of the experience. One of the pilgrims and I shared briefly our frustration with the fact that we knew we had missed the sound check. We both vowed to ditch afternoon meetings and get there early the next night.

I had pretty crappy seats for the first night, so I lingered a little longer in the bar than I would normally have. There was a really great 3 piece acoustic combo playing Radiohead and Dave Mathews covers in the open air bar, so I had a couple of beers and mentally 'prepared'. When I heard 'The Healers' start their set, I grabbed a pair of binoculars from one of the hire places and walked slowly into the gig.

I didn't hear much of the Healer's set. It's not that I wasn't interested; it's just that I was spending an awful lot of time talking to complete strangers around me. There's something about going to see a band you are a huge fan of, with other huge fans that makes you want to talk absolute rubbish with them. It's the most amazing thing. If only you could bottle it. I did hear a few songs though and I must say that I was impressed. I'll look for their album next time I'm at HMV.

We are here for one thing though and it didn't come fast enough. When the house lights went down and I saw the darkened silhouettes of the guys take the stage, I couldn't stop myself from cheering. Ed stepped to the mic dressed in a jacket that Rodney Dangerfield wouldn't take off the rack, SG over his shoulder and began the intro to Betterman. No "Hi, how's it going, thanks for having us"...straight into the good stuff. I thought it was a strange choice to open the show with, but when the time came to start the first verse, I understood why. The crowd started singing so loudly that it was barely possible to hear Ed at all. He quickly came to the same conclusion, stepped back and played guitar to the crowd's lead vocals. It was great. At chorus time, the stage lights came up, the rest of the band joined in, and the crowd screamed. They continued to do so until the end of the song and the roof nearly came down as Mike soloed behind his head.

Boom was positioned next to and behind Matt and almost directly behind Stone. I have to say that he is one HUGE gentleman. Even from where I was in row OO, I could tell that he was a giant. His size was oddly juxtaposed with his touch behind the keys though, caressing them at the right times and belting on them when it was necessary. He stayed with the guys though Save You and TremorChrist, but then left the stage until I Am Mine.

Over all, the set was straight ahead with very little nonsense. Ed didn't really stop to address the crowd too much, choosing instead to mimic an Australian Rules Football goal umpire signaling a six pointer, which was greatly appreciated by the crowd. Just prior to Last Kiss, he commented on some of the signs in the audience, focusing on one requesting 'Drop the Leash'. "Can't remember the words, can barely remember the feeling, especially these days" he said. "This song isn't so hard to remember, it's only got 4 chords."

Possibly one of the best indications of how well Boom has integrated into this unit is the playing of Black. He really worked well with Mike in the extended solo part of the live song, delicately teasing out the refrain while Mike tried to get some feed back soloing happening. He was only on stage for about half the show, but his efforts on old favourites like Wishlist were welcome rather than conflicting.

Probably the highlight of the night (apart from Jeff and Mike getting some scissor kick action going on that a 20 year old would be proud of), was the stage invasion by one very lucky fan. During Do the Evolution, a rather tall and horribly dressed fan ambled over the barrier with speed your average cheetah would have been proud of. He scurried up onto the stage using a fold back amp as step. Security rushed in to remove the interloper, but in a move which for me defines Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, Ed waved the security off and allowed the guy to stay on stage. What followed will be a DVD highlight, no doubt. The audience member sang almost a whole verse of the song by himself, danced with Ed and got to wear the George Bush mask. Ed and our fan mimed a faux Master / Slave skit, before Ed jumped on the guy's shoulders for the last verse. At the end of the song, a very grateful and awestruck fan received hugs from the band and was shown back stage by the tour manager. A classic Pearl Jam moment on a great opening night in Melbourne. Baba and 3 broken tambourines at the end seemed almost an anti climax...almost.

For the technically minded, I noticed that there were at least 3 video cameras in operation through out the gig, two in front of the stage and one at the side. I can only assume that we will be seeing another 'Touring Band' style DVD released sometime toward the end of the year or into 2004. Mike also looked great. He has lost an amazing amount of weight and looks like the Mike McCready we know from the mid 90's. Great to see!! Jeff seemed a little subdued at the start, but fired up during Even Flow and kept it going for most of the night.

I can't wait till tonight!!

::M