Set List: Of The Girl, (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Last Exit, Love Boat Captain, Cropduster, Happy Birthday Mike, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Wishlist/(Improv), Lukin, Grievance, Animal, Given To Fly, Faithfull, Black, Insignificance, Save You, Spin The Black Circle;
1st encore: Last Kiss, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Crazy Mary, Happy Birthday, the punked version, Improv, Do The Evolution;
2nd encore: I Am A Patroit, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter, Baba O'Riley

As always, I leave a Pearl Jam concert and start wishing that I had bought tickets to other concerts and could follow them around the states. The band was tight and in great spirits, especially when singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Mike McCready. The place was full. And again, the Ten Club came through with 3rd row aisle seats (I cannot tell you how great it is to be surrounded by fans who actually want to be there...so THANK YOU TEN CLUB).

Sleater-Kinney were awesome. I stood behind two guys who were die-hard SK fans and their enthusiasm made the experience that much better (again, thank you Ten Club).

The concert seemed heavy with Riot Act and Binaural songs (some of the latter are so relevant to the today's times that it struck me how strange that the record was actually released two years ago). I love "Of The Girl" and last night's version was excellent. They then rolled into Corduroy and Last Exit (yeah!). Two from Riot Act followed (a great version of Cropduster). We then sang Happy Birthday to Mike :-) followed by a blistering version of Evenflow. I am not certain, but I think during Mike's solo (it was Mike's night, after all), Ed took a smoke. Stone then started clapping and pointing to Ed & then we had I Am Mine. Wishlist followed. The tag was great...as someone who lives in the city of Clear Channel anyone who knocks CC (I wish I was a radio station who can play any song it wants...or something like that) is all right in my book. Media conglomeration sucks especially when it includes four radio stations, one television station and a political agenda. Okay, enough about that. The tag also included a line about being free to say what you want to say. And thus began a group of songs (at least this is how I saw it) that were about personal freedom, democracy and politics: Lukin, Grievance, Animal, Given To Fly & Faithfull. (I am probably reading too much into the lineup). Grievance, Animal and GTF were met with great enthusiasm, GTF especially. Black was, for all practical purposes, a sing-a-long and a spotlight for Stone's solo! "Bombs, dropping down, overhead..." Insignificance followed with a blistering Save You and Spin The Black Circle, the latter of which was a crowd pleaser.

The crowd was impatient for them to come back and Ed cracked that "weren't we supposed to be at work tomorrow?" and then he remembered tomorrow was Sunday not Monday. He then thanked the fans that were there "on time" for SL. He also pointed out the two guys in front of me who were such huge SL fans (they were. just watching them enjoy SL's set could make you tired because they were so energetic) Last Kiss and Better Man followed. Ed dedicated their next song to Ben, a friend of the band's from around here, who requested Crazy Mary. He then tripped himself up on the second line "on the South side of the tracks." At the end he took his wine bottle (he had been drinking wine, tea (?) and water), took a swig and passed it to a guy in the front row. Ed then pointed to the drinkers to pass it back to the section next to mine. They were thrilled. Ed brought out his ukulele and sang a FAST version of Happy Birthday to Mike. Jeff brought a cake whose candles burned out (I could have s worn I saw them lighted briefly) and presented it to Mike. And then he promptly put it in Mike's face and then licked some off. Very funny. Hope a video of it comes out :-) "Its evolution, baby" followed (after a brief Improv) and the crowd was off.

The second encore began with Ed (who carried his notebook, jacket and wine bottle every time he left and came back to the stage) and Matt. Ed said something about giving recognition to the great Matt Cameron on drumkit. We cheered, but Matt wasn't there. He came running up a few seconds later and Ed repeated himself and so did we. "I Am A Patriot" followed. Cheers were heard with the line "I am not a republican" This is SA, after all, the GOP has made strides but the city is still full of Democrats. The rest of the band followed for Alive and Yellow Ledbetter. I was sure that was the end, but at the end of YL, I saw Stone's guitar was changing! Yeah another song. And then Ed got his 2 tambourines and slammed those suckers together for an amazing, blistering, truly great show stopper: Baba O'Riley. The band stormed through the song. It was great.

Sigh. I wish I was going to Houston to them tonight or go to another show. I have enjoyed quite a few PJ shows, but this one really was one of the best.

We made it to the venue in 45 minutes from Austin (Hook 'Em, even though they lost) and sat on the lawn. If the beautiful weather was any indication of the show we had in store for us we wouldn't have believed it.

The guys opened with "Of The Girl." Solid musicianship. "Corduroy" got the crowd going. Mike's solo was dope as per his usual. Mike played a cool black and white flying v during "Last Exit." A serene blue spotlight bathed Eddie at the beginning of "Love Boat Captain." There was also a sky and cloud background behind the band. Soon after LBC ended "Cropduster" began. I love the melodies in this song, sounded very good live of course. Then Eddie spoke to us a little:

"All right San Antonio, Texas. Howdy. Is it someone's birthday tonight? Can we get a spotlight on Mike McCready?" Then Eddie got the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to Mike, ukulele and all. Very cool moment. Then, another cool one when "Evenflow" started. McCready for President again ripped thru an amazing solo. He held a beautiful high note and did some great bends for a long time. I wish I could have been closer, thank goodness for the projected video. "I Am Mine" was enjoyed by the crowd. Eddie feigned "looking good" for the camera before the fan fav "Wishlist" started. The disco ball came out during the second verse and a blue spotlight was cast on it. Eddie finished the song without using an e-bow. I was wondering if Eddie would give us a new lyric or too and he came thru: "I wish I was the radio song, the song that said whatever it wanted, It's a free country, yeah, you should hear what you want to hear, there's nothing that you shouldn't hear. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. You should not be afraid to say what you want or who (you) love, I love you and I love this country, too." Everyone dug this so much. Take that media punk asses who only want to report something negative. "Lukin" moved into "Grievance" then Eddie let us sing during the hook for "Animal." "Given to Fly" was next, then a beautiful version of "Black." The tempo was slower that normal and really gave it a ballad type of feeling to it. It was the best live version I have heard. McCready's solo was great. There was a new intro, or at least one I have never heard, before "Insignificance." Nice to hear this song again because it is my fav off "Binaural." "Save You" and STBC closed out the set.

Encore time. "Last Kiss" was sung by all. Then "Better Man" was sung even louder by all. "Save it For Later" was the tag. Then EV said there was a special guest there and he requested "Crazy Mary." After the song finished Ed got the ukulele again and said it was time for a punk version of "Happy Bday" for Mike again. Someone had a cake on stage and lit the candles and when Mike was blowing them out Jeff pushed the cake into Mike's face. Classic PJ moment. Mike cleaned up as best as he could and proceeded to kill his solo in the next song "Do The Evolution."

Crowd would not budge so...second encore. Eddie and Matt played the prettiest damn version of "I am a Patriot." It was something to be proud of (god bless the troops) ya'll get the bootleg you will see. "Alive" was greeted with the biggest applause of the night. Actually all the songs from "Ten" were well received. "Yellow Ledbetter" was so great as always with the house lights on and I thought they guys were done but no: song 25 was "Baba O'Riley." A lot of people were just going crazy pogo stick style everywhere.

This was one hell of a performance and a great crowd beautiful weather and PJ once again comes thru for us. I love this band and can't wait to see them again. And again. And again...