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

It is difficult to explain the feeling and emotion that occurred inside Rod Laver Arena last night. Pearl Jam was in town and I finally got to break my rock concert virginity, and who could name a better band in which to do so? It all began for me at 6:30am, get up go to work. Under the weight of expectation a 7 hour shift felt like 21 hours and I was feeling a little flat. After a quick phone call to my girlfriend though who was more excited then I thought, I got up and started focusing on what we were going to see.

Arriving at the 10 club ticket booth at 5:30, we waited for it to open at 6 and collected our tickets at 6:30. The atmosphere was great, and the security guards got a bit of a cheer when the told some scalpers to leave the area. Anyhow picked up my tickets and at about 8:00 after a few drinks entered. Security was surprisingly lax and I somehow avoided the metal detector as did the 5 people in front of me.

Johnny Marr and the Healers opened brilliantly, have to get their new album. After a quick trip to the Heineken bar it was back to the floor, in row 8, on the end near where Mike would be (brilliant).

Then it started. Surprisingly a haunting rendition of Betterman opened. The crowd just went sick, and got close real quick. Then it came into Don't Go and Mike was going absolutely sick already, with a bit of behind the head playing. Next came Save You and as it is one of my favourites of the new album I almost couldn't control myself. It was a bit weird, how I think I was the only one going absolutely nuts near my end of the row...How can people just stand still or even sit at a Pearl Jam concert? Tremor Christ came next, and something inside said this was going to be a different night. It seemed like they were revisiting a lot of earlier stuff. They continued on with Given to Fly, Corduroy, Get Right and even Flow. I Am Mine was brilliant and it was hilarious watching Boom Gaspar go nuts on the keyboards.

Love Boat Captain came on which made my girlfriends night followed by Wishlist, and when those opening strains of Jeremy played, well I have never heard a louder roar in my life. Rounding off the set came You Are, Whipping, Insignificance (it wasa bit disappointing that this was the only Binaural song) and an excellent version of RearViewMirror The encore began with  I was stoked when they played my favourite No Code song, Off He goes followed by Small Town Ed pointed to a "Drop the Leash" banner and said it was great to see dreams are alive in the year 2003. Don't know the chorus, don't remember the words. And then he played a bit on his guitar "I remember the intro." That got a bit of a laugh. He rounded it up with Last Kiss a great version of Black and a guy who could "easily be Australian" Leatherman. Afterwards came a kick ass version of Evolution and some guy rushed the stage. Security were waved away and he managed to get his 15 minutes of fame. The highlight was putting the George Bush mask on him, giving him glasses and making him appear to be little Johnny Howard our Prime Minister. It was pretty funnny. And after a few oohs, the were dancing, he ended up putting Ed on his shoulders for a while, and was sent off with a "hope they feed you in jail." Finally they rounded it off with Baba O'Riley. I almost cried when I heard the "Keely give us the lights" because well it was all over. And I can't get to any of the other concerts so I left on a massive downer, which somehow has continued to this morning. It was by far the most surreal, united feeling I have ever had. Much more uplifting then some big sports events I have ever been too.

I was a bit surprised it didn't go as long as some other shows though, only 23. But I suppose they a bit tired by now. I just hope the security breach didn't prevent them from continuing on because it looked like they had a great time. All I can say to those of you who are going on Wednesday and Thursday, you are in for the time of your lives. Nothing will ever compare to this.

Ryan