Set List: Arc, Save You, Hail Hail, Animal, Green Disease, Grievance, Faithfull, Cropduster, Dissident, Even Flow, Driven To Tears by the Police, Spin The Black Circle, Bu$hleaguer, Thumbing My Way, Love Boat Captain, Nothingman, Go;
1st encore: Better Man, Daughter/(With My Own Two Hands), Down, Jeremy;
2nd encore: Hide Your Love Away, Crazy Mary, Know Your Rights, Rockin' in the Free World

How do I begin? It's been over a decade since PJ has been within 3 hours of the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. This hasn't stopped me from going elsewhere. This was my 14th show as well as the greatest. The last time they were here my musical world consisted of two dubbed cassettes-Ten and Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I did not see that show. I didn't even know what seeing a band live was all about. Now, at the age of 26 there is nothing I enjoy more than seeing and feeling the music at a Pearl Jam concert. Thank you Ten Club for second row, dead center. This was my 4th and final show of this tour. I survived the monsoon from the night before and had a feeling tonight was going to be a phenomenal show. I had a smile on my face from beginning to end. I have never seen anything better than tonight. For a sold-out crowd of around 7,000, they sounded 10 times that-making it even more magical.

On to the show. Oh yeah, I don't want to forget about Idlewild who were a wonderful opener. I have been listening to them since I found out they were going to open my last two shows and they truly were great. In the darkness Ed appeared wearing headphones and carrying his usual belongings onto the stage. What was going on, I wondered. Arc was going on. What a way to begin the show. It was an awesome long version as well. Then came the energy. Save You, Hail Hail, Animal, Green Disease, Grievance, before mellowing out just a tad for Faithfull. Save You is a song they should continue to play at every single show it's just that good. This was the first time I got to see Bushleaguer which was very cool. I'm so glad they played this as this is my Mom's favorite Riot Act song as she too was amongst the 7,000. Yes, my Mom. Love Boat Captain-a personal favorite was beautiful. I can't say enough how happy I am that Boom is aboard. I have always thought a keyboardist would add so much to the band. Boom, we love ya. Nothingman and then Go powerfully went on to end the set.

Better Man began the encores. It's so awesome when Ed lets the crowd sing the beginning before the band kicks in. Mike and Stone were debuting their fresh new buzz cuts. At one point Ed unfolded a piece of paper which had some of Mike's hair in it which he said he would deal to the crowd. Teasing us, he kept it. Another highlight was the tag in Daughter touched some Ben Harper with changing the world with your own two hands which was so cool because we went to Kansas City two days earlier to begin this trip seeing Ben Harper. I love a cover filled final encore which included Ed solo with harmonica on Hide Your Love Away. Crazy Mary was amazing as ever with a Jeff, Stone and Mike circle jam full of smiles. Boom also again taking this song to another level. A rowdy Know Your Rights-my favorite new cover and some good old-fashioned tambourine-smashin' on Rockin' In the Free World ended the show. I love the ending on a hard rocker. Pearl Jam-thank you so much for the music, thank you for making me feel great! On behalf of the 7,000 others at the show, please come back here soon!

Josh Nelson
Omaha

Incredible is the only way to describe last night's show.

My brother-in-law, Jeff is a huge fan and asked me several months ago if I wanted to go to see Pearl Jam with him. When I agreed, I had no idea how incredible the day was going to be. Let me first explain that I am not a huge PJ fan. I have their first 3 albums but lost interest with Vitalogy. I know they have put out better stuff since then but I haven't taken the time to reacquaint myself with them. Until now...

We got lost on the way to the MidAmerican Center (apparently Yahoo maps wanted us to go to the MidAmerican building in Omaha). When we got directions at the gas station, they were sketchy at best. Then we got caught in a traffic jam trying to get onto I-80 East because a house had fallen off a truck onto the road and had to go West. I was sure Friday the 13th was playing a role, but things only got better from there.

We finally found it, we stood in line for about 30-40 minutes to get our tickets. It was pretty confusing to know which line to stand in; they weren't well marked and the staff wasn't very helpful. We eventually picked a line and did the normal "How many shows have you seen" dance with the people around us. It was fun hearing stories of the rain from the KC show the night before, Seattle in 2000, etc. When we finally got to the window, and they gave my brother-in-law the tickets, the guys behind us asked "where are you"? We were in 2nd row. The excitement was building.

Walking toward the stage was awesome. Getting stopped every 20 feet to prove that we had the right to continue was fun. When we got to row 2, things got a little hairy. The seats weren't marked and apparently no one wanted to figure out where to sit. So we just plopped as close to center stage as possible. Things were all right through Idlewild (who put on a great show) but between acts, I saw the writing on the wall. We eventually got kicked out of our seats by the rightful owners. I was pretty bummed, I thought we would end up too far to the other side. In actuality, we ended up GREAT!

We ended up next to a couple of ladies that were apparently pretty hard core fans. They had been traveling for a week and started in Texas and they were a ton of fun. The one right next to me had these funky kiddy star glasses hanging from her neck. "I'm going to get Mike to wear these," she said. At one point she looked at my watch and said "they always start at 8:52." I looked at my watch. 8:51. Before I could even get "Oh Yeah" out of my mouth, the house lights dropped. Holy crap, she's good. The excitement level just went through the roof.

During the first song, this gal next to me whipped her kiddy star glasses on stage. I'm not sure how, but they ended up on one of the amplifiers behind Mike. Eventually, with Mike flirting with the crowd so much, she caught his eye. After a game of charades, he finally understood that the star glasses were from her. He mouthed "thank you" and kept playing.

The show was awesome. The energy level was incredible. The crowd was great! Everything was in perfect alignment for an incredible show. Eddie lost his place during Even Flow, which was fun to watch. Apparently not the first time he's done this during a show. But it didn't matter. I realized at that point that we weren't there to hear them replicate songs from an album. We were there to see them put on a show. To be with them, to be a part of them. When Ed lost his place, I didn't feel annoyance or anger, only a desire to help him find his place again. That was why this show was awesome.

During the first encore, Mike did put on the star glasses. The girl next to me was enjoying the moment so much. It was odd though, she wasn't swooning or crying or anything that I would have associated with a fanatic, she was just laughing and truly enjoying the moment. Mike mouthed "thank you" to her again.

The best moment was when I really saw Eddie feel the way I was feeling. When they were playing their final song "Rockin in the Free World," he stopped and it appeared that he was speechless. He just saw thousands of people jumping up and down and being in the moment. He seemed to get it. I'm sure he gets the feeling a lot on tour, but I'm also sure that night after night, song after song, that he and his bandmates become a little numb. It was nice to see his expression and realize that he was feeling the moment like I was.

While I may never be the fan that goes to 7 shows in a row. I may never see another PJ concert again (I'm old and have 2 kids). But I got one of Mike's guitar picks and I will never forget the show last night. And I will always be a fan. So thanks, Jeff for being a great brother-in-law.

Chris