Set List: Can't Keep, Corduroy, Grievance, Save You, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Small Town, Love Boat Captain, I Am Mine, Even Flow, Present Tense, Jeremy, Lukin, Not For You, Thumbing My Way, Spin The Black Circle, Alive;
1st encore: You Are, Animal, Daughter/(People Have the Power), State of Love and Trust, Black;
2nd encore: I Am A Patriot, Driven To Tears, Better Man, Crazy Mary, Sonic Reducer, Rockin In The Free World

Wow. I can't think of a better way to summarize tonight other than 'wow'. First, Sparta was a great opening band. Make sure you get there early enough to hear them if they're opening for one of the shows you're going to. After a 45 minute set by Sparta, it was time for Pearl Jam. They hit the stage at 9:15 and opened with a beautiful version of Can't Keep. Then, they went right into Corduroy and already Gund Arena was going nuts. The crowd was very energetic and the band really seemed to feed of the energy. I can't remember the last time I saw the whole band as active as they were tonight. Mike, as usual, was running around the stage like a madman. Jeff was a thousand times more active than he was on the Binaural tour. He seemed to really be into it tonight. Even Stone made his way out from his corner a couple times tonight to jump around and display some energy. And Eddie seemed to have an extra spark tonight as well. He didn't have much to say to the crowd tonight, though. I think tonight he embraced the idea of "less talkin', more rockin' ."

The band was really "on" tonight, too, and so rock they did. For those of you who haven't seen them on this tour yet, let me tell you, you are in for quite a treat. The band's sound is so tight and they put so much energy and emotion into the songs that they all have a very fresh feel to them, like they're playing every song for the first time. Highlights for me included, but were not limited to, Small Town (because it still gives me chills to hear a full crowd singing every word just as loud as Ed), Present Tense (a very powerful version), and Alive (what a great way to close out the first half of the set). It was interesting to hear Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, and Black. The band seems to be embracing these early songs a lot more on this tour. The second encore was just stunning. The new reworked version of I Am A Patriot is absolutely awe-inspiring. Next came a great cover of Driven To Tears, followed by Better Man. Then came Crazy Mary. I kid you not, Boom just goes to town on that song. He was SO into it, dancing around while playing one of the best organ solos I've heard in a long time. That was followed by a blazing cover of Sonic Reducer. Finally, the show ended with, for the lack of a better term, a truly rocking version of Rockin' In The Free World. They played this song with the house lights up, which was really cool because you could see EVERYONE in the crowd dancing around and jumping and just really getting into it. At one point during the first instrumental part of the song, Eddie was on the right side of the stage throwing tambourines into the crowd when he appeared to slip and fall off the stage. It was a pretty scary moment because we didn't know what was going on and whether or not he was ok. Fortunately, he appeared to be all right and he triumphantly made his way back onto the stage, at which point he received a huge ovation from the crowd. Then the song ended and I was sad with the realization that the show was over. I looked at my watch and saw it was almost midnight, which blew me away because they played for almost 3 hours but yet if like only 3 minutes to me. I guess it's true that time flies when you're having a great time.

The best way to summarize tonight's show is breath-taking and powerful. I don't know if they were this tight on the previous nights or not, but the band really clicked tonight and it was without a doubt the best Pearl Jam show I have ever seen, hands down. Unfortunately I won't be seeing them again until they come back to Ohio to play Columbus, but at least I'll have a couple months here to digest what has been the best concert experience of my life. Thanks Pearl Jam!!!

Andrew Schnitkey
Columbus, OH

After a personal 3 year hiatus, it was good to see pearl jam in Cleveland last night. The new material sounded good and it was great to hear so many Pearl Jam staples like Corduroy, Even Flow, and Small Town. Every time I hear them live you get a little something different but they still stay true to the song which makes Pearl Jam great in my humble opinion. If you haven't heard it Present Tense is defiantly one for you to add to your "want list" to see live. It just builds into a dramatically beautiful climax. And when did Pearl Jam get a light show? It was Aerosmith-esce with all the lights and lasers on You Are.

Boom has also been a great addition. That guy really knows how to rock out. Not like I'm a fan of keyboard solos, but the keyboard solo on Crazy Mary was pretty damn cool, but Mike was not to be out done...

I was just really impressed with the balance also. Other than Binaural every album was fairly represented, with some rarities and covers on top of that. Black, Alive, and Not for You were among some of the best of the evening. (Note: If you want to come to Pearl Jam show and hear all of the Ten album, you're not going to, so don't bother coming or change you attitude) And what was up with all the clapping? I've never been to a concert that clapped with the songs that often. It was very European. If you have ever heard a bootleg of a band in Europe they do it all the time.

My favorite of the evening was Sonic Reducer. This is a hell of a song live. This along with RITFW were the peak of an energetic evening by the band. I've never seen bounce around the stage like that, especially Mike.

Fan club tickets were done very well. I'm very pleased with how the system works now. Other than the notoriously bad acoustics of the Gund it was a pretty good concert. I'm looking forward to the rest of Ohio shows where the venues are much better. Thanks guys for another great show...