Ed solo: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away before opening band
Set List: Release, Even Flow, Save You, Help Help, Given To Fly, Cropduster, I Am Mine, Lukin, Not For You, Corduroy, I Got Id, You Are, Small Town, Insignificance, Alive, Porch, Blood;
1st encore: Gimmie Some Truth, Love Boat Captain, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Glorified G, Evolution, Rearviewmirror;
2nd encore: Fortunate Son with Sleater-Kinney, Rockin In The Free World with Sleater-Kinney

I drove for 5 hours to go see the show and then drove back afterward. I slept for two hours, got up, and went to class for 5 hours. I am dog tired, but who the hell cares? It was totally worth it. I've been a fan since Ten, but this was only my second Pearl Jam show. The first was Virginia Beach on the Binaural tour. As I suspected, the show was extraordinary! Ed came out right before Sleater-Kinney and did Hide Your Love Away. This drew a lot of fans in to their seats. Then he introduced Sleater-Kinney, and they came on and gave a damn good performance. I had never heard anything by them, but I enjoyed their show.

Then the boys came on and opened up with Release, which was one of 2 songs I was hoping they would start off with (Long Road was the other). They surprised me by playing Even Flow second. They usually play that one a few songs in. They did six songs off of Riot Act-Save You, Help Help, Cropduster, I Am Mine, You Are, and Love Boat Captain. You Are sounds so great live, and the lights for that one are amazing! Speaking of lights-they seem to have a more elaborate light show this tour. One part I particularly thought was bad ass was during the jam part in the middle of Rearviewmirror. There was a spotlight shining down upon Ed. He had a small mirror, held it above his head, and slowly reflected the spotlight around to all parts of the crowd while the rest of the band was jamming. It was simple yet unbelievable at the same time. At the end of one song-I can't remember which one-Ed was standing at the front of the stage when the song ended. He tried to step backward over the monitors and ended up taking a tumble backward over the monitor. He fell on his ass and rolled on over. It was funny. He stayed down for a few seconds. He was probably embarrassed, judging by the look on his face when he got up.

Porch was frickin' awesome, and I was very pleased to hear the tag after Betterman. They closed the show with 2 cover songs-Fortunate Son and Rockin in the Free World-both with Sleater-Kinney. It was evident that both bands were having a blast during these two songs. They were dancing around and smiling. Actually, the whole show had a fun vibe to it. The guys were energetic and jumping around. It was an excellent night in Raleigh. Thanks to the Ten Club for the good seats. And damn that lucky fan who caught the disposable camera thrown by Ed after he had just snapped a few photos of the band while they were playing.

I am going to keep this short, but I wanted to send this in while it was fresh in my head. I just got home from the show. I can't believe the set list. You have to buy this bootleg.

First, Eddie slipped out before Sleater Kinney came on and played You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. Also, Matt came out during one of the Sleater songs and played tambourine.

The show opened with a low-light version of Release that got me and a lot of people around me pumped up. Then Even Flow. I can't think of a better kick in the face song to follow Release. To make a long story short (because I don't want to have to describe everything... I paid to see this show...) They did a couple of change-ups in the song lineup. Eddie walked around to each member to let them know what was next after Alive. I guess us crazy NC fans got them pumped up to drive us nuts. After Alive, they played an 8 minute version of Porch, immediately followed by Blood. Talk about a triple shot.

The other big highlight for me was the long version of Rearviewmirror that they did at the end of the first encore. Eddie pulled out a mirror and reflected the single spotlight that shown down on his mic stand and slowly fanned it across the crowd, turning Walnut Creek into an ocean of people waving and going nuts when hit by the light... The whole time, the Rearviewmirror beat was pumping...

This was my fourth show that I have been too, and it was definitely one of the best. They have so many songs that they can pull from, and every song start is exciting.

GO TO THE SHOW!!!!

I have been waiting five years for Pearl Jam to come back to Raleigh. In '98 I was in the front row in front of Mike, which was incredible, but this time I was 5th row center. It gave me a great view of the whole band. I must say the crowd was almost as good as Pearl Jam! We were singing along to all of the songs and clapping to the beat. The band played a blistering set. Starting off with Release and finishing off the first encore with RVM. Very good show, I was very glad to have been there.