Set List: Long Road, Interstellar Overdrive/Corduroy, Whipping, Save You, Given To Fly, Cropduster, I Am Mine, Thin Air, Gimme Some Truth, Present Tense, MFC, Habit, Jeremy, Even Flow, Better Man, Black, Porch;
1st encore: Soldier of Love, Blood, State of Love and Trust, Do The Evolution, Alive;
2nd encore: Smile, Small Town, Sonic Reducer, Yellow Ledbetter

You think of the term 'impressive' and the noun 'impression'... Tonight Pearl Jam were and they left one. I flew in may miles from Alaska and caught the Chicago show with a close friend, her first show to be precise. And it was a treat, an absolutely stunning concert that began with a huge down but ended with a big fat up.

I had fan club seating confirmations to Chicago, Cincy and Indy so you can only imagine my dismay as I escorted my friend to pick up our tickets at the United Center 'will call' window and saw a sign that read "Cincinnati Show Cancelled Due To Flooding At Venue." It was the worst fuckin thing I ever read. I was fortunate enough to have a level-headed and people-savvy lass with me for her words and responses helped relieve my dismay and the Chicago show was special. (K.S. ~ has it changed your life yet???) And tonight Indy was awesome.

My heart broke in Cincinnati and I never even set foot in city limits, but that non-event is sandwiched between 2 shows that will forever be entrenched in my recollections of near-perfect moments and really made the cancellation a whole lot more bearable. Forgive the winging, but Alaska's a helluva distance to come only to find out that 33% of 6 months worth of PJ anticipation went out the window. Lesson: anticipate, do not expect.... Onto the show~

The band came out and opened with "Long Road," as they did here in 98' as well. It was a soothing riff and they then broke into some jam I was not familiar with before an energized rendition of "Corduroy." "Save You" was next on deck and its performance was superb with Ed unleashing an abundance of middle fingers and the band helping to further build this song as one of PJ's best when live. Ed had this commanding intensity tonight and an energy I've never seen him exert in the 9 shows I've been to, and I've seen a few that were pretty impressionable. "Given To Fly" followed then "Cropduster." During this song the lighting caught Ed in a manner that left a huge shadow of him on the wall on the right hand side of the stage, kind of a relaxing perspective. Next up was "I Am Mine" which is such a fine song live and proved to be the last song from the new album they played during the show. "Thin Air" was next and was followed by the song which was my highlight of the night...

"Gimme Some Truth."... and they nailed it. Picture Sammy Sosa batting against the worst pitcher in your hometown's Little League. For those of you who have seen the Showbox dvd, picture Ed's rage during the "Daughter" tag. You have to fancy the political cover; in my excitement I turned to the young lady next to me who didn't appear to be as into the show as I and said with great meaning intended, "Hey, this is a John Lennon cover." To which she replied, "I know..." Right on... The whole band appeared energized during the song. "Present Tense" proved to be a crowd pleaser ~ it sounded like he changed the lyrics to "are you getting something out of this... all ensuffering trip" during the 2nd chorus. When they opened the chords to the this song my buddy Joe turned to me and said "This is awesome." A pretty simple statement, but had you been in our states of mind it conveyed much depth. MFC was great, they played "Habit" which was great, "Jeremy" which was great and "Evenflow" which was also great. As usual Mike shredded the solo and Ed sang, "looking through the papers though he doesn't know to read... DUMB FUCK." The crowd sang the first verse of "Betterman" which was tagged with EV inciting some more crowd chanting (Why Can't I Touch This?). The first set was rounded out by 2 more songs from Ten, "Black" and "Porch," a song that always carries a lot of weight and energy. That ended the set.

They reconvened onstage (I was kinda bummed that I couldn't see Boom but the Ten Club seats were still overly sufficient) to the crowd chanting "Eddie, Eddie" to which he responds, "Fuck You... how dare you embarrass me in front of my friends." They played "Soldier of Love" to start and broke into "Blood" which always rocks. During the middle of the song while the guys were playing between verses Ed broke into a sort of Indian-type chanting for about 15-20 seconds, something reminiscent of "Arc" but following the speed of the instruments. My first time seeing "State of Love and Trust" ensued which was just fine with me and seemed to appease the rest of the folks in attendance "Do The Evolution," with Ed singing "on the loose, I'm a truck, Indiana's hills I'll flatten em' out, yeh" then "Alive." It's one of those songs that you love for its roots. Then another encore break...

The next song was a surprise and also a first for me. They came out with Stone on bass and Jeff on the other guitar when Joe, my friend who got me hooked on PJ, turned to me and said they were going to play "Smile," which they did. And it was a dandy. If every person you thought of during the words "I miss you alreeeeaaaddyy" knew they were in your thoughts at that moment they would probably get into that song just a wee bit more, realize what a catching moment it was and revisit the regard in which you hold them. After that Ed went on a rant about how many people were from Jeff's hometown. It started with 350 and ended at 885, a number to which Ed refers to as "The Year Of The Fuckfest" The crowd laughed, the band laughed, then they played "Elderly Woman."

The closer was "Sonic Reducer," a very tightly played song on this night. After the tune Ed began to say goodbye when Mike decided on a different closer, breaking into a lights-on version of "Yellow Ledbetter." Ed looked at him kinda surprised and smiled, Matt sat back down to his drums and Stone and Jeff got back onto their guitars (again, I couldn't really see the big fella but I'm sure he was back there punding keys) They had the lyric changes, of course, which the bootleg will have to assist in deciphering and Mike again whacked the solo out of the yard. The crowd let their appreciation be shown with a voluminous ovation. Then they got together on stage and lined up. And bowed. It was a moment, and I hope somebody caught a photo of it.

I apologize for sounding like one of those people who only pays attention to EV at the show, but tonight was his for his display of raw energy and intensity. The man looked pissed during "Gimme Some Truth" and probably was. The band as a whole tore every song up they played. I think they like playing this venue a fair bit as displayed by their vigor and execution of each tune. A really crisp show!!! They look happy these days as am I for bearing witness to 2 phenomenal shows.

I thank you Kathryn, for Chicago. And I thank you Hawg, for Indy. Good times...
Danny Ungrue

Well, last night was one of the best Pearl Jam shows I've ever seen. It always seems to be a little different every time Eddie and the guys play Indy. They started off with Long Road, I knew right then that it was going to be a kick ass show. They continued to surprise and delight the crowd for the next two hours. Whipping, Thin Air, and Habit all sounded extra awesome, but when they played Jeremy, the place went nuts. That could have made the evening perfect right then, but they went right into the best version of Even Flow I have ever heard. When they started playing Black, I just got cold chills because that is the best song ever, but then hearing Porch live made my chills turn into waves of excitement. Again they came out and did two encores, playing Soldier of Love, Sonic Reducer, and of course Yellow Ledbetter. The show reminded me of the older Pearl Jam because they were rockin' there hearts out and full of energy, just all over the stage. Every time I see them, it just keeps getting better. I also have to add it was very cool after they played the last song, they all stood together on stage with their arms around each other. It was a very awesome way to end a damn good show!!!

Brent Sullivan
Hartford City, IN