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

Met up with my friend at the venue where we also met up with a couple of other people. The atmosphere outside was fantastic. Triple M had their usual car thing set up blasting out Riot Act, getting us all into the spirit. The place was packed at 7:30. Security was high, and the signs said no cameras were allowed, but both me and my friend managed to sneak our cameras in.

Our seats were "bad," second row from the wall, in upper. But I wasn't complaining. At least here you could see the band, unlike Colonial. The arena appeared really small to me now, but I remember thinking how huge it used to seem. It's an awesome venue, felt really cosy, I love it. The photos don't reflect how close the stage was at all, which is a shame as everyone keeps exclaiming, "Wow you were so far away!!" (even the lady that developed them said that), but it's not true, we could see them clear as day.

Pearl Jam opened the Melbourne part of the tour with Betterman. Or should I say the crowd opened, as we sang louder than Eddie. From that very moment it was on. It was an awesome way to open the show, as it got everybody pumped and really into it. I was still in a state of disbelief that it was actually Pearl Jam there on stage. Pearl Jam! Seattle. America. 7 studio albums.

The song that followed was an absolute shock but one that I am grateful for. Go. That song really rocked. I love it on the album, it's one that I play over and over and I didn't think they'd play it so I was really happy when they did. I was already on my feet and I think it stayed that way for the first few songs.

Save You was a great song if not simply for the fact I got to scream "fuck it" at the top of my lungs and nobody cared! But that's not giving the song enough credit – it really was great. Probably my favourite from Riot Act next to I Am Mine and LBC.

Tremor Christ was a surprise song. The stage was lit up in red lights for that one. It was a good song, nothing too spectacular but still good in its own right.

Next up was Given To Fly. The people loved that song too – as did I. The lighting all went green and I made a mental note as I took pictures so I'd remember which pics were from this song. Half the show was lighting. I think lighting technicians are very underrated! GTF is one of my favourite PJ songs and I felt really lucky to hear it live.

Corduroy followed soon after and when that song started the crowd went nuts. I think Eddie fucked up the lyrics a bit but he seemed to do that a few times. It was great to sing “The waiting drove me mad, you're finally here and I'm a mess!” as I sympathised with every die hard PJ that agonised over the wait. For me, PJ was always a favourite but I'm not die hard – until now. I pointed to the guys when I sang that. Another memorable line was “Take my hand, not my picture, spelled my t-shirt.”

After standing since the show started, Get Right was a welcome chance to sit down and rest a bit. I took the opportunity to remind myself to breathe deeply before I pass out. My throat was already killing me and the strain had given me a headache but do you think that was going to stop me? I think I changed film at this point but I'm not sure.

Straight after that we were back on our feet for Even Flow. Even Flow really went off, as you can imagine. The guitar solo at the end was incredible and we all watched in absolute awe. You could tell they'd been playing for years and years with finger work like that. Eddie Vedder stood to the side of the drums nodding his head along to the guitar and let our much loved guitarist have the spot light for a while. Very gracious.

I Am Mine was incredible. It was truly amazing to watch Eddie play the guitar. He does this thing where he sways and rocks his head as he plays, just like on the video clip. I could have watched him all day.

Love Boat Captain. The was lit up my favourite colours - blue and purple. The lights looked absolutely beautiful – fitted the song nicely. “Trying to shake the cancer off…oh stupid human beings.” I looked at all the people on the floor when he sang that and just thought about all the people in here tonight all united by this one moment in our lives. All the individual trials and pains, all these lives, all together, all still fighting everyday to shake the cancer off.

I think I may have been seated when Wishlist started and I remember gasping “Oh my God I love this song!” when it started. The lighting went purple with orange lights across the top of the stage. (another mental note). Eddie fucked up the lyrics there too and laughed at himself. Didn't matter, I've been listening to the song for a couple of weeks now and I still forgot the lyrics. My favourite line was, “I wish I was the messenger and all the news was good.” And he didn't screw up that line so I was happy!

Again I think I was seated when the first few notes of Jeremy began. At the very second it started I leapt out of my seat like everyone else in the arena and gasped, “Oh my God!!” The start of the song pierced right into your skull – so familiar and sung so many times. Heard so many times. Recalled memories we never had. And here it was. That song was awesome and a few people did raise their arms in a V. I just thought about Eddie and wondered if he really was thinking about Jeremy as he sang it.

We were given a chance to calm down again when they played You Are. A nice calming song to let us recover a bit before launching head first into Whipping. That was a fun song to sing. “Don't need a helmet, got a hard hard head…” It was really fun and energetic.

I was surprised Insignificance didn't get a bigger crowd response considering the war and PJ position on it. We were seated for that song as well, and I couldn't remember the words to the verses but the chorus rocked. The anticipation of the chorus made the intensity of that song. “To wanna live” was awesome to scream out loud even if it did damage the vocal chords a tad more. Eddie's voice is absolutely incredible.

Yes, I did cry. Rear View Mirror. I fucking love that song. I got through the first half of the song ok. They lengthened the guitar part before “Saw things, saw things…” It was an incredible wait for Ed to kick into the last few lines and it was during that bit that some people decided to show up and find their seats, pushing past me and totally spoiling the moment. Grrr. Least they could have done was waited till between songs. Anyway, he got to the “Saw things, saw things” part and that's when the tears started. Three tears until “I gathered speed from you fucking with me” at which point I had to wipe my eyes and really consciously stop the tears from coming. After RVM they left the stage. I was both shocked and panicked that it was over already. It felt like they hadn't been out for two seconds. But they were coming back as the lights had not yet come on. So we cheered and someone started a Pearl Jam chant.

During the encore the techies were running around and everytime someone approached the stage a small cheer went up amongst the gullible few – until Pearl Jam came back onto the stage at which point the crowd went nuts. I knew they were coming back but I still prayed over and over in my head, “Please come back.”

My stupid prayers were answered and the first song of the encore was Off He Goes, and although I didn't exactly know the song, I still recognised it. It was really good and people seemed to really enjoy it. I liked it.

When Eddie sang “I seem to recognise your face..” the crowd went nuts and started singing along to Small Town. A few people brought out the lighters but not many. It felt like a really light song and I think we all enjoyed it. He fucked the lyrics a bit and exclaimed, “Fuck!” but it didn't matter. When he sang “Hello!” the lights all went onto the audience and we all sang "Hello!" together. It sounded phenomenal.

Eddie had his guitar for the next song. He strummed a bit and said something about at least he still remembers the start. It was the start of Last Kiss. I never liked that song, it was too sad and depressing for me, but the people loved it and I stood up and sang (surprised I knew it word for word) anyway.

At the end of that song my mate said, “Come on just play Black, please!!” and what did they do? As if they'd heard her, they played Black. I said to her, “Wow, timing!” What a great song. Eddie's voice is amazing and I just love that song. The lighters were out in force for that one. I took a few photos of the crowd. Really touching moment. A definite highlight there. I don't know how long it will be before I can listen to Black again.

I changed to my third roll of film after Black, thanking God I decided to bring it after all. Eddie said something about us not knowing this song too well or something like that (it was really hard to understand what he was saying, the sound for speaking wasn't too good.) He sang Leatherman.

Do The Evolution was absolutely incredible. Some guy in one of the front rows somehow managed to jump the fence, dodge security and get up on stage with Ed. One security guard launched at him but Eddie said to let him stay. So this guy rocked out with Eddie for the entire song!! Ed let him sing a few lines and during the parts where Eddie doesn't sing he grabbed this guys hands and danced around like you would if you were just mucking around in your living room. He then hopped up on the guy's shoulders to sing the rest of the song. I remember saying to my mate, “Oh my God please don't drop him please!!” The crowd was absolutely ballistic. I just kept saying, “Oh my God, how would you be!?!?!” I took about ten photos of that alone. The guy and Eddie ended up falling over and landing awkwardly on the stage floor. Then Eddie got straight back up and jumped at the guy, toppling them both over again. After the song, the guy walked towards the left of stage and out of our view. It was absolutely fucking incredible. How lucky was that guy to be on stage with Pearl Jam and muck around with Eddie Vedder!! We were all so incredibly jealous but it was so funny and we were having as much fun watching them and cheering them on. That guy took a risk and it sure paid off! Unforgettable. One of the moments when Eddie really let go and just had fun. The whole arena was just laughing and genuinely having a good time. That guy did us all a favour.

They ended with some song I didn't know, and Eddie smashed up a tamborine. All the lights went on…yes, like before the concert started – full lighting. Perfect photo time! You could see the guys as clear as day and it was just so hard to get my head around the fact that these guys were really there. Much to our dismay, they left the stage and as the lights were already on, people began to leave right away. We watched the stage tech guys throw picks into the crowd but there was no way we could get down there. We didn't even think about sneaking up the front – EVERY SEAT WAS TAKEN!!! I have never seen that before in my life! Every single fucking seat was taken – except for the one beside me that stayed empty till those people showed up half way through. Our seats weren't really that bad, I can't complain.

At one stage between songs the crowd got really quiet so Eddie did the goal thing that umpires do in AFL and the crowd went absolutely nuts. He did it again later on. He also introduced Matt Cameron on drums, as it was his first time touring in Australia with PJ. He intro-d Boom on keyboards. At one stage he pointed to the back of the crowd and said something about a sign someone had made. It said “Drop The Leash” and he said the reason he's pointing it out is because he likes the fact there are still dreamers left in 2003. Early on in the evening he said, “Good evening Melbourne.” And I replied, “Good evening Eddie!” and the retard next to me looked at me funny. I don't care, it's impolite not to answer!!

It was a really awesome evening. My mate asked me if I cried and I held my hands up and said yes – I have no shame! We met back up with our other friends and walked outside in time to see the white van leaving, taking the guys away (until Wednesday night heh). They didn't hang around long at all. We got to the car and took a couple of photos. In the car, a few fans in Riot Act t-shirts walked past the car and my mate said, “Look at them all, it's like the Pearl Jam army!”

Really awesome night. I had a great time. The people in the seats around us were really cool. We looked at some guy's program, and when I needed a good photo I tapped the guy in front on the shoulder and he sat so I could take the pic. Some concerts have dodgy people, but the only dodgy ones were the arseholes that showed up at the end, and the boring guy next to me who looked like he had to be there like it was some school excursion. But generally, Pearl Jam fans are as great as Live fans. The atmosphere was incredible. The people were generally nice and easy going and no one was bitching or sitting when they should have been standing. Really excellent. Great lot of people – great band! I have an incredible amount of respect and admiration for those guys.

There's nothing left to say but IT ROCKED!!! One of the best concerts I have been to. I had a great time, the band rocked – everything was just great. I'm picking up the photos in 20 minutes – fingers crossed they rock too!!

Oh yeah and by the end, my throat was close to requiring medical attention. Even now I can't talk properly. My hearing survived ok though! I just feel sick as a dog and my voice sounds like its breaking. I'll suffer for my love! I'll do what it takes. Reading the fanviews made me think about the people that went to their first concert ever last night. I was blessed with my first being Live but I must say, for Pearl Jam to be the first band you ever see, you don't get much luckier than that.

So I saw a bunch a-guys out of some place in the States called Seattle. They've released a few albums. I think I see some potential there. ;) Seriously though, maybe one day I'll get my head around the fact that THE Pearl Jam was here in Melbourne Australia and I went and saw them. Maybe one day I'll understand how 6 guys can light up an entire city – country even. 6 ordinary guys – yet so incredibly special – special enough to touch the lives of thousands. And if I can't get my head around it, I don't know how they do it and still maintain modesty and remain so down to earth and genuine.

So amazingly talented.
I think I love this band.

I SAW PEARL JAM!!!