Ed solo: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away before opening band
Set List: Small Town, Grievance, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Save You, Dissident, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Love Boat Captain, Thin Air, Wishlist, Even Flow, Better Man, Daughter/(Peace cheer), 1/2 Full, I Am A Patriot (reworked), MFC, Rearviewmirror;
1st encore: Last Kiss, Evolution, Black, Alive;
2nd encore: Yellow Ledbetter, Rockin' In the Free World with Sleater-Kinney

This was not only my first time attending a Pearl Jam show but my first concert ever! I will comment on just some of the performances.

I got to the stadium really early just in case there was a huge line. Got to my seat but it turned out Ticketmaster messed up my order. Fortunately the new seating wasn't that bad and I could see the stage pretty well. Anyway before the opening act Eddie came out and played Hide Your Love Away. I don't know what it is about this song but he forgot the lyrics right in the middle but that's cool, everybody just laughed. Then he introduced Sleater-Kinney and said they were a great band. I took his word for it even though I've never heard of them before. Well, he didn't lie, they were fucking amazing! From the moment they started it was just pure energy. The lead guitarist was jumping and doing kicks, I think I fell in love. There's nothing hotter than a woman with a guitar. Matt Cameron came out during one song to play the tambourine with the band, which I thought was really cool. After their incredible 45 minute set I was really warmed up for PJ.

Anyway the lights darkened and everybody started going nuts. All the members came out and played Small Town. Then quickly came Grievance (I love this song!), Corduroy, Hail Hail, and Save You (Mike is a God). Now it was time to slow it down, I think the girl in front of me was about to pass out. So they played Dissident, Given To Fly (It was amazing to see everybody with their hands in the air), Off He Goes, Love Boat Captain, and Thin Air. A big mirror ball was lowered during Wishlist, I thought that was a nice touch. Then came Even Flow (damn, Jeff has got some hops), and Better Man. At the end of Daughter Ed started to tell the crowd to spell out Peace and later said that's the only thing that keeps him going. As 1/2 Full was ending a stream of light came down on Ed. He raised his arms holding a mirror and started directing a beam of light throughout the crowd. I Am A Patriot was next, can't wait to get the bootleg for this song. Then they finished the set with MFC and Rearviewmirror.

PJ came back for an encore and they played Last Kiss. But something happened to me during Do The Evolution. I've seen this song played live before on TV but it's a completely different being there. Basically I completely lost my mind during this song. After momentarily calming down came Black. What an incredible song it is, I don't think there was a person that wasn't singing. Then they finished the 1st encore with Alive. The whole stadium was going nuts. You could tell Ed was into it because he started swinging the mic. Then for the final encore all the lights went up. You could see everybody standing in complete joy. Yellow Ledbetter was next, I know people are pretty sick of this song but I could care less. It was amazing! Then they ended the whole thing with Rockin' In The Free World. They invited the members of Sleater-Kinney on stage. It was so cool to see everybody on stage. Ed and the lead singer of Sleater-Kinney were like little children. They started doing Patty Cake and dancing around each other. Then I think I saw Jeff doing the "duck" walk like Chuck Berry. After that awesome performance they thanked everybody and left the stage.

In conclusion, I had the best night of my pitiful life. I know now what it feels like to have a religious experience. I want to thank the members of Pearl Jam and Sleater-Kinney for making me feel something I've never felt before. Experiencing a Pearl Jam concert is life-affirming and I will always love the band for that very reason. I can't thank you enough. Peace

David Torres
Orlando, FL