Set List: Long Road, Grievance, Oklahoma improv, Corduroy, Save You, Given To Fly, Dissident, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Love Boat Captain, 1/2 Full, Not For You, Off He Goes, Small Town, Untitled/ MFC, Happy Birthday, Driftin', Get Right, Deep, Blood;
1st encore: Better Man, Daughter/(War by Edwin Starr), Do The Evolution, Rearviewmirror;
2nd encore: Alive, Yellow Ledbetter

My day started by going to the Doctors office to learn my expecting wife was now 3cm dilated!! The doctor explained to me that it would be o.k. to leave Wichita KS for one night only! (Is she secretly a Pearl Jammer?) A friend and I got down to the Ford Center to pick up our 10 club seats around 3pm. Upon arriving we noticed quite a few fans in line and everyone seemed fired up for the upcoming show. Upon walking away from the ticket window my exact reaction was, "Holy $hit......5th row!! My friend was equally excited when we walked down to the floor of the arena and proceeded to walk all the way up to the front. My friend is a casual fan (this changed during/after the show) but was blown away with the seat location! Sleater-Kinney was an adequate opening act. Matt Cameron joined them on tambourine for one of their tunes and members of the band could be seen stageside during the set. Finally time for Pearl Jam...and they opened with Long Road...definitely one of favorites! The set included everything you'd want and even Mike having amp issues!! He certainly tried to make it up to fans in front by showering us several times with guitar picks. Eventually the night turned a bit political. Ed explained the right of the 1st amendment and elaborated a bit on the controversy the other night in Denver when 12 people walked out. I am a supporter of Iraq's liberation but thought Ed's choice of protest was perfectly acceptable and is part of what continues to help make this country great. He even mentioned his support for the troops overseas and wished for their safety. Out of all the songs of the evening Blood had to be my favorite...and what a surprise to hear as well. They closed with a rousing version of Yellow Ledbetter which had everyone walking out of the Ford Center with smiles on their faces for a good night was had by all. After the show my friend (blown away by surrounding ten clubbers singing every word to each song) said..."Man, I'm out of the loop...educate me!" Yet another pearl jammer is on board...with another due any day now!!

First off, I would like to thank Pearl Jam for all that they do. I don't know if the guys in the band actually read anything on this site, but THANKS. There are many other bands out there with talent, but no band has the integrity of Pearl Jam or treats their fans as well as Pearl Jam. This was my 5th Pearl Jam show, and they play every show like it's going to be their last. Not only that, but they provide their fan club members with unbelievably close seats to their shows. On to the show...  

They opened with an intense and moving version of Long Road before picking up the tempo a little with Grievance, Corduroy, and Save You. Ed paused briefly in between songs towards the beginning of the show to address the incident which happened in Denver in which 24 fans apparently left the show in protest because Ed had been "bashing" President Bush. Ed addressed the issue by noting the importance of freedom of speech and by saying how crazy it would be for someone to think that he is not for our troops. He then made reference to his military style haircut, which got a few chuckles from the crowd. He said that when people protest, it is important to understand that they are protesting against politicians, not our troops. He made a few other references to the issue over the course of the night, talking about freedom of speech and giving his best wishes to our troops to get home safe.

The main set was absolutely amazing. Ed introduced Small Town as a song for people from Chickasaw (??? I think that was the town). At the end of the song, he had the crowd sing the last few "hearts and thoughts they fade away" lines. Mike blew an amp during MFC that took a few minutes to fix. While they were working on Mike's amp, Ed took the opportunity to involve the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to his brother Chris(topher) and Keely, one of the bands light technicians. They then went into an amazing spontaneous version of Driftin'-- definitely one of the highlights of the show for me. Once the amp was up and going, they finished the set with Get Right (which sounded really good live), Deep (which hadn't been played live in quite a while), and Blood. Highlights of the main set for me were Long Road (1st time I've seen them play it in person), Corduroy (one of my all-time PJ favorites), Not For You, Small Town, and Driftin'. I was interested to hear how some of the new songs would sound live, and they all sounded really great. My favorites were Love Boat Captain (really tight and powerful) and Save You.

The encore began with Better Man and Daughter--2 songs they usually don't play back to back. It seemed like EVERYONE in the crowd sang along to every single word of Better Man. Ed sang some words to War by Edwin Starr at the end of Daughter, noting that Edwin had died the day before and that people had freedom of speech if they didn't want to sing along (another reference to the Denver incident). They then followed up Daughter with blistering versions of Do the Evolution and Rearviewmirror (my favorite Pearl Jam song) before leaving the stage.

With the entire crowd still on their feet and cheering loudly, Pearl Jam returned to the stage once again and went into a very powerful version of Alive. The crowd reacted to the opening chords with a thunderous roar. I would have to say that Alive was the highlight of the show for me. They hadn't played it the last few shows I went to, and I was really hoping they would play it tonight. Ed had the house turns turned on at the conclusion of Alive "to check and see if anyone was heading for the exits." They then concluding an absolutely amazing show with one of my favorites, Yellow Ledbetter (another highlight for me).

Having previously been to 4 Pearl Jam shows, I came to this show with high expectations. They were surpassed. Every time I have seen Pearl Jam, they have put on an absolutely amazing show, and this one was no different. Thank you Pearl Jam!!!!

I'd just like to thank the 10C in advance for the FANTASTIC seats!! 8TH ROW CENTER. You guys (and gals) rock! This was my 6th time seeing the band, and was by far the best. Mike's technical probs brought about "Driftin'", which was really cool, but the biggest hightlight by far was DEEP!! I would've never expected them to pull that one out, but it was so worth it. It was amazing and surreal. Almost like they never stopped playing it because it sounded so flawless. I can't wait to get this bootleg...among all the others. Other highlights were: Save You, LBC, 1/2 Full (Mike's solo was awesome), and Off He Goes. I look forward to seeing them in Dallas, and am anxious to see what else they have in store for us during the rest of this great tour. ROCK ON!! Ron