Ed solo: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away before opening band
Set List: Love Boat Captain, Animal, Hail Hail, Save You, Get Right, Corduroy, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Thumbing My Way, You Are, I Am Mine, Lukin, Grievance, 1/2 Full, Better Man, Parting Ways, Rearviewmirror;
1st encore: Soon Forget, Do The Evolution, Small Town, State of Love and Trust, Go;
2nd encore: I Won't Back Down (Ed solo), Bu$hleaguer, Crazy Mary, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter

Well, if I can say anything about my experience for the Vancouver show it was FUN. My friend and I met some cool people in line and hung out with them all day, got nice seats from the 10C in the fifth row of the first level on Mike's side. We had been in our seats for maybe a half hour when -guess who- Ed shows up on stage with his Cubs hat on, making him look like an average Joe (except he was on stage with his harmonica and guitar!) Those of us who were there got a nice version of Hide Your Love Away before Idlewild.

When PJ came on for the start of the show, I will admit, I was kind of hoping to avoid Love Boat Captain as an opener. Nice song, but I'd take Long Road any day. But, as to be expected, once the song gets going there's not much to do but sing along and enjoy it. Any disappointment instantly left at the start of Animal, which I was very glad to hear. I was equally glad to hear Hail Hail- and enjoyed the false start at the beginning. Mike gave a huge fist pump after they stopped the song as if to say "YES! We are a rock band and we screwed up!" No problem though as they swiftly recovered and played a great version. Save You was nice, but Get Right was better. The end was long as Ed used his mirror to reflect the spotlight all over the upper decks in the stadium. Very cool to watch the crowd going nuts in the beam of light. They coasted right through Corduroy, and into a great Given to Fly. This was a personal favorite of the show, even though it is a fairly common song it will make you feel awesome every time you hear it. Not much to say about Even Flow- other than Mike tore it up. Great solo- by this point it was clear that Mike was really getting into things. After Thumbing My Way, I got a real treat with You Are. Again, fairly common, but a really cool song- I liked seeing Matt on backup vocals too! After I am Mine, we got a one-two punch of Lukin to Grievance. Could've done without Lukin, but if it was necessary as an intro to Grievance, I'll take it because Grievance rocks. 1/2 Full was very nice- Mike at his BEST for any version of this song. Next was Better Man, and Ed let us sing the entire first verse, and it was really cool. Everyone was singing, and Ed was lovin it- so much that we got a nice long Save it For Later tag at the end. Wrapping up the set was another gem- Parting Ways, making it's second appearance of this tour. Beautiful song, and to have it followed up by a nice long RVM was great. During the jam in the middle of RVM, Stone knelt down and was playing with his pedals and making guitar noise, and then most of the stage lights were off and I couldn't really see much of the stage. BUT when they came back down, there's Stone on all fours slamming his guitar into the stage! He worked it so hard he had to trade it for a new guitar since it stopped working before the song was over!

After the encore break, Ed comes up with ook the Uke, and says he is waiting to play the song until a special guest arrives. While we are waiting he says, here's a joke we tell in Seattle: Canada is like your grandmother's attic. You never go up there, and when you do, you say 'What the fuck is all of this shit?' Then he told us who the special guest was supposed to be- none other than Bill Gates. Well, Bill couldn't make it because he was out shopping. Ed says, 'What could he be shopping for he has everything? Well, he's going to try and buy Canada.' I thought that was hilarious, but not as funny as when Ed took the Gates mask and after setting it on his mike stand says "Watch closely you I'm impaling the mask.' A perfect Soon Forget leads to Evolution and a great sing a long in Small Town. The double whammy of State of Love and Trust followed by Go (featuring Mike soloing behind his head) ended the first encore with everyone in the room screaming for more.

Ed came out by himself again for the second encore and did a solo version of I Won't Back Down, and then was joined by the band for the return of Bushleaguer. No mask, no boos, just a solid rendition that pleased everyone in the room. A nice and long Crazy Mary came next, with Mike going back and playing most of his solo with Boom. The night wound down with Rockin in the Free World and Yellow Ledbetter with the lights on- everyone in the room, band and fans, having enjoyed a great show.

Although if I were choosing the set list, I would have left several of these songs off in favor of others, but when you have a good crowd, an energetic band, and no place to be for 2 hours, what more could you ask for. Thanks PJ, and I'll see ya next tour!