Ed solo before opening bands: Don't Be Shy by Cat Stevens, Growin' Up by Bruce Springsteen
Set list: Love Boat Captain, Animal, Brain of J., Do The Evolution, Nothing As It Seems, Insignificance, The American in Me, Gimme Some Truth, Given to Fly, 1/2 Full, Sad, Go;
1st encore (acoustic): Soon Forget, Small Town, Masters of War, Nothingman, Crazy Mary;
2nd encore: Last Kiss, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop), Bleed for Me by Dead Kennedys, The New World (by X) with Tim Robbins, Alive;
3rd encore: Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter

Photo credit: Rick Piedade

Maybe it was because the building was only half as tall as Boston, maybe it was because smoking rules were a little more lax than before, or maybe it's because Pearl Jam has enlisted Mike McCready on lead guitars, but tonight's show was truly a memorable one. The band opened up with Love Boat Captain warming up to a very loud crowd. Then the band went into Animal followed by Brain of J. After these two rockers, the fans, the band and everyone else is the Sovereign Center realized there was a very special energy tonight.

Pearl Jam did not let up... a stellar version of Evolution left most fans (mainly myself) dripping with sweat, and jumping up and down for more. The band slowed down the pace a tad with Nothing As It Seems, featuring the man of the night, Mikey. He was out of control and his solos reflected the intensity and energy the fans were giving back to him (except the two girls behind me talking loudly-- however, they were hushed but shooting dirty looks after I told them I'd cut them a deal and not talk at the next Ashlee Simpson concert). During this song, there seemed to be some sound difficulties, I believe the problem was coming from Stone's Guitar, or at least channel (proving once again that it always seems to be Stone's fault... more on this to come). The band ripped through Insignificance with sound problems continuing to plague Stone... however, the rest of the band did an excellent job filling the vacant music gap. 'The American In Me' was once again brought out tonight.. and the fans seem to be really warming up to it after hearing it for a couple of shows. A wonderful, passionate version of Gimme Some Truth followed. Continued with Given to Fly and 1/2 Full.

Eddie set up the next song as one of the songs that got cut from Binaural but made the Lost Dogs album. During this time I was squeezing my girlfriend's hand so hard, she had to rip it away complaining that I was about to break it... right she was, cause if I still had a grip after Eddie announced Sad would be played... we would have had to take a trip to the emergency room after the concert. Since I first put Lost Dogs in my CD player and song number two played... I hoped for this moment that possibly could never come. But it did. And Pearl Jam did not disappoint. The crowd erupted after this amazing, beautiful, energetic song. I can always gloat that I saw the first live Sad. Ha ha.

Feeding on a ravenous crowd, Pearl Jam closed with Go... and what a go it was. Following the same format as the previous shows, Pearl Jam encored with an acoustic set. Before the set started, Eddie addressed the crowd about the dangers of being undecided in the approaching election. When he likened indecision to having a Mullet "short in the front, long in the back" I think he really drove the message home. Not wanting to be likened to our 'Northern Friends', most people decided right then and there who their vote would be for. Eddie played a Soon Forget similar to the one on the Light Years single. He messed up the end with an "oh no" but built on his mistake and made a very memorable outro. "He pissing... on himself" Elderly Woman brought the rest of the band on stage for the acoustic set (With Stone being at fault once again {see?} for starting to early... but Eddie calmed his nerves with the passing of his bottle of Wine), followed by the new version of Masters of War. Nothingman made its debut this tour, and the set was wrapped up with Crazy Mary (featuring Mike's greatest Crazy Mary solo of his career... yes, better than MSG 2 2003).

For the next encore, the band once again turned around and played Last Kiss to the back of the arena. Daughter was followed by another "shades go down" sing-along and "Blitzkrieg Bop" (for those with out a radio ever... hey ho... let's go). Pearl Jam rocked out to Bleed for Me, and were once again joined on stage by Actor/ Writer/ Activist/ Shawshank Redemptionist, Tim Robbins, for The New World. They closed this encore with Alive.

For the final encore, Baba O'Riley made it first appearance this tour. Mike may have missed his cue for the first solo, but was quickly forgiven for his energy all night, and the energy that seemed to come to a peak during this song (running around the stage,,, can someone get a leash on this guy?). Yellow Ledbetter, also a first this tour, followed and ended a perfect night.

Ok, let me just start off by saying...AMAZING SHOW!!! I had seats in section 119 row FF, 6 rows elevated on Mikes side. There really wasn't a bad seat in the place. The crowd was GREAT!! My night started off by leaving New York and getting to Reading. I got there just in time to see ED's pre-set. He started at around 7:10 (check that time, I might be wrong) and played Don't Be Shy and Growin Up. From that pre-set alone you knew the show was going to be great because of the crowd.

Tim Roberts came on pretending to be a republican in a wheel chair making fun of all the liberals. After mass amount of booing he joined his band and played about a 20 minute set. I enjoyed them. Then at about 8:10, Death Cab For Cutie came on. They weren't bad, played about 40 minutes.

Then at 9:25 PEARL JAM came on!!! They opened with LBC which was great because you could not hear Ed sing. Then they played some of the best versions of Animal, Brain of J, and Do The Evolution. Those songs set the crowd to be even more insane! They played, maybe the best version of Given To Fly and Go EVER!!! 1/2 Full was good too. It was probably the best main set I have ever seen for any band even though the set only lasted about 50 Minutes

After that they came out to play an acoustic set. Before Ed played Soon Forget, he talked to the crowd for 5-10 minutes about how important it is to vote. They ended the set with a very strong Nothingman and Crazy Mary. During the 2nd Encore they played Last Kiss to the people at the back of the stage which was very cool, I remember them doing that at Uniondale. Tim Robbins came on to sing The New World with the band and ended the set with an AMAZING/SUPER/GREAT ALIIIIIVE!!!!!! The 3rd encore was great too, I was thinking they would only play Rockin In The Free World but they played 2 strong songs, Baba O'Riley and Yellow Ledbetter. They ended around 11:55.

During the whole show Mike McCready was just going all out. Jumping around on stage, falling down while still played, and playing a solo behind his head. Ed was in rare form. He was going all out as well.

Overall, it maybe the best Pearl Jam show I have seen. Just as good as the MSG shows even though the show was shorter. Please let there be a DVD of this show or a mix of songs from every show onto 1 DVD.

Anyone who saw this show can say this was one of their favorite Pearl Jam shows. Again, the crowd set the momentum for Pearl Jam to play their HEARTS out.

Joe
Long Island, NY