Set List: Long Road, Save You, Gods' Dice, Corduroy, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Get Right, Cropduster, Jeremy, Small Town, I Am Mine, Love Boat Captain, MFC, Improv #12, Habit, You Are, Wish List, 1/2 Full, Insignificance, Go;
1st encore: Do The Evolution, Better Man, Daughter, Crazy Mary;
2nd encore: Throw your Arms Around Me [w/Mark Seymour], Alive, Fortunate Son [w/ Johnny Marr](by Creedence Clearwater Revival)

Ok, let me just say that I had previously seen Pearl Jam 3 times in Perth, but last night was EASILY, the best show the guys have played here, and it was the best night of my life.

A small group of us, rocked up to the Burswood at around four, to meet Mark Smith, who works as one of PJ's tour manager. My girlfriend Bettina and I met Mark at a Brad gig in Marageret River in January, and he was nice enough to give us his mobile phone number, to (hopefully) arrange backstage passes.

On Saturday (22nd), my friend Blair who works for a local radio station was lucky enough to meet Mark Seymour and his manager at the station. Blair told Seymour that Ed had been playing Throw Your Arms Around me a few times on the tour and suggested that he give Mark Smith a call, to arrange a possible meeting with Ed and a collaboration on Throw your Arms Around Me.

So I relayed the number to Blair, who gave it to Mark Seymour, and you wouldn't bloody believe it would you!?! Seymour's manager phoned back to say that the two guys would be getting together at the soundcheck. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't this just mindblowingly AMAZING!!!!!

So back to the day, we rocked up to the dome, and Mark Smith issued us 4 backstage passes for the show's after party! The best feeling ever created, passed through my veins! We knew that there was soon to be a soundcheck, as the tarago's were ever-present The band was inside. Sitting outside, the first chords of Breakerfall, and Ed's awe-inspiring shriek let rip through the stadium, and out of the huge air conditioner vent, where we were listening. This was all........very hard to take in at once, as I am sure you will agree?

The soundcheck setlist is as follows: Breakerfall, Habit, You Are, Get Right, All or None (a spine-tingling version, Mike's solo left us speechless!), Down, Smile, and Throw Your Arms Around Me (they played / rehearsed this with Seymour three times).

After the soundcheck, Seymour and his manager exited the building and thanked Blair for helping out. Matt Cameron left next, and I think the rest of the band stayed inside for the following 2 hours before the concert.

So we also played the waiting game. The adjacent Casino had a Pre-Pearl Jam concert Party, and it was great to see so many dedicated fans at the venue early, eager to down a beer and get primed for the show.

Johnny Marr played a decent set, but it was so hard to concentrate. I had 4 passed in my pocket for afterwards, and I was standing 12 rows back, straight infront, with all of my best friends! They hit the stage. Long Road was immaculate. You could have cut the energy inside the dome with a blunt spoon, it was so thick! 19,000 fans went uncontrollably WILD! Save You and God's Dice followed, and ran into a damn fine version of Corduroy.

Given to fly was played to perfection, and Mikes solo during Even Flow, was just...........no words, sorry. Ed was mumbling quite a lot, probably due to his clearly drunken state, but he thanked Matt for being in the band, before ripping into Get Right, which I thought was played unusually slow, but still great. Cropduster, another newy was just fantastic, with Mike running in circles and Stone doing his "walk on the spot."

Jeremy. One of the night's highlights. Ed said that he would need some help singing this one, and did we help or what! It felt like we were in 1992, listening to the days of old. It brought the house down, what else can I say?

The "quiet middle section" consisted of Small Town, I Am Mine and Love Boat Captain. This is when I noticed Boom. The man looked insane as he jigged back and fourth through the song!

MFC, and Habit were the next songs to be played before You Are, which was also a highlight. The crowd could literally feel the Earth move as that awesome riff filled the air. They played such a good version of You Are, I was really surprised to hear how they almost mimicked the CD. Go was in the same league. Just brilliant! In Wishlist, Ed Sang, "I wish I was as fortunate as Luc Longley," and smiled to his left where the ex-Chicago Bull himself was sitting, to the side of the stage.

At this point, myself and a very select few, thought that Seymour would be making a soon-to-be presence. But it was not yet to be, as before the start of the first encore, Ed came out by himself and discussed the Save Ningaloo Reef Campaign, which by the way is highly endorsed by Longley. Ed said that the WA premier, knows the right decision, he just needs a push, or something to that effect.

Evolution was fucking unbelievable! Mike was running the full length of the stage and doing "rock star" style jumps. I got some GREAT photos of all this! The crowd embraced for Betterman and Daughter. At the end of Daughter, Ed engaged the crowd in some "echo" type calls and wails, before he burst out laughing, and got all 19,000 fans screaming "HA HA HA HA HA HA," over and over again until the final chord was played. Ed donned a John Howard mask for Evolution, just so funny!

CRAZY MARY! We were all hugging each other as the band did their thing, it was sooooooo emotional down there! I haven't heard the bootleg yet, but I bet you can hear me scream out "MARY!!!!!!!" , during a very quiet pause during the first half of the song. Blair and I were also yelling out "State of Love and Trust!!!!!" at the top of our lungs all night, but alas, it was not to be played. Ed handed his bottle of Red Wine to Longley, who took his swig, before Ed handed it to the lucky bastards in the front row, who each took the bottle, drank it down, and passed it around.

2nd Encore. The stage guy brought out an extra mike stand, and we knew what was about to take place. Ed said that he had been playing this song around camp fires for years, and he finally got to meet the author of the song today, Mark Seymore. Mark took the stage, and there are just no words in the English language to describe how we felt. Listen to me here, this was one of the most emotional experiences ever, in the history of the world. The rest of the crowd had no idea, and Blair, my girl Bettina and I just HAD to feel as though we played a part in this particular Pearl Jam concert. The song was BEAUTIFUL, friends and strangers cried together and Ed and Mark took turns at singing the verses and united during the chorus. This piece of music spoke to our souls, as the crowd swayed and sang and rejoiced!

The lights came on, and I knew the end was close. But who would have thought it would be Alive? As I turned to look at the ocean of people behind me, the greatest song ever erupted into the Burswood dome, and complete and utter chaos broke out. We jumped and sang harder than ever before. My voice had gone long ago, but I just could not stop myself. Eddie was in perfect form. PERFECT FORM. His voice rang out "I'm still aliiiihiiiiive! yeah yeah yeah!!" He was clearly enjoying the show. Jeff was bouncing around, like I had never seen, and someone from the Pearl Jam Crew had a hand held video camera in the crowd, possibly to compliment the other 3, rather large cameras that filmed the show.

Ed then brought Johnny Marr out on stage to help close the show, and finalise the 2003 Australian Tour. They played Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Pure, Fantastic, Rock! At it's very Best!

"Goodnight, Peace.....................Maybe," "Peace" were Eddie Vedder's last words to the crowd as he sincerely waved good-bye to the crowd.

It was over. But we had Backstage After Part Passes right? Security, gave Bettina, Blair, Little Jezz and I directions, where we were asked to wait to be given further instructions. Then one of Pearl Jam's guy's checked our passes, and ordered the non-passholders to leave. We must have waited 20 mins before another security guy told us that Pearl Jam had left the building straight after they got off stage. He apologised, but what could we do? It wasn't too much of a disappointment, because we were content with such a fine show, and we helped in making it one (even just a little bit), and that had made our night.

At least for a few hours, we felt like the most important people in the world, as we witnessed the greatest band in the world, do what they enjoy doing - making thousands upon thousands of people happy.

Thank you, to Eddie, Matt, Stone, Mike, and Jeff. YOU ARE unbelievable! Thanks also to Mark Smith, you made the experience much more fantastic. Thanks to Mark Seymour and his manager Michael, for coming through and making the concert such a touching experience, from an Aussie point of view! And finally, thanks Teen, for meeting Mark at that Brad gig in Margaret River, to Blair for being such a bloody networker (you bastard), to all my friends who I have shared other PJ concerts with over the years, and the whole crowd.

The 2 nights sleeping on the pavement were well worth it guys!!!
Cheers!
Joel Martin
joelmartin@bigpond.com