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

After a drive which took over an hour longer than it should have I started to question my sanity for driving from North Jersey to Reading, PA. Early into the show. It was exciting to see Eddie come out and give great renditions of "Don't Be Shy" and "Growin' Up." Any notions as to my sanity were quickly dispelled at that point and when the band hit the stage for their set no questions about my sanity lingered. The band set a frantic pace right out of the gate with scorching renditions of "Animal," "Brain of J." and "Do The Evolution" after the set opener "Love Boat Captain." Those in the crowd, myself included, went along for this great ride and at an early point during the show, Eddie quipped ''If you're going to participate in voting as well as you do in singing along, we don't have to talk about politics at all." Eddie was having a great time on stage. Lots of smiles, lots of laughter coming from him. Mike was on fire as usual.

The highlight of the night for me was hearing the first performance of "Sad." Other highlights were the crowd chanting "Boooooooooooooooooooooom" and Ed saying, "Bruce in Philadelphia tonight" then going ahead and reintroducing Boom. Eddie mentioning Johnny Ramone and his passing and how he and Johnny were great friends, however, on a political level they disagreed because Johnny was a Republican. But they were able to have discussions and agree and disagree on certain issues and have political discourse and find some sort of middle ground. I think that's probably the most important non-musical message of the night. During the tag in "Daughter" the "hey ho let's go" refrain became "hey ho let's vote." The band and the crowd were so in tune that it prompted Eddie to say "we've got a band here" referring to the 6 guys on stage and the great crowd. Tim Robbins coming out on stage was great. It was even funnier seeing him jump off the side of the stage like a giddy teenager.

When the band played "Alive," I thought that would be the end of the show. The crowd went into a frenzy and the song was punctuated with "yeahs" and fist pumping. Eddie seemed to be taken aback by the energy as this continued. He stood on the stage sideways, and just gave us the peace sign with each subsequent "yeah" and fist pump. To my surprise the show went on and we got "Baba O'Riley" and "Yellow Ledbetter" to end the night. The band was on stage for approximately 2:20 from first note to last. Those fearing that the shows would be shorter because it was the VFC tour, fear not. The band is on fire. Enjoy the rest of the tour.

Andy
Cliffside Park, NJ

What a great day! My girlfriend and I got to the Reading early, around 5:00 or so. As we were walking up to the arena, we noticed a small crowd up against one of the fences outside. Mike was on the other side signing autographs and chatting with everybody! I waited a few minutes for my turn, and then instantly went from calm, cool, and collected into a giggly, starstruck nervous wreck. I managed to get my ticket stub signed and gave Mike one of my personalized guitar picks. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, not that I've ever expected any less of him.

The atmosphere outside the arena while waiting to get in was really energizing. A few protestors showed up with anti-abortion signs and one woman holding a sign saying she didn't let musicians speak for her (neither do I, what a coincidence!). But everything stayed peaceful. SuChin Pak from MTV news was outside talking to some of the fans, as well.

Once inside there were the usual mob scenes in line to get posters and t-shirts. I managed to get mine just in time to get my seats for Ed's 2 song pre-set. Don't Be Shy was beautiful, and Growing Up was a good first listen for me. And on came Tim Robbins' band, Gob Roberts. Death Cab For Cutie played a quick set as well, thanking everything for paying attention while we waited for Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam came on just before 9:30. I won't go into all the song-by-song details and repeat what the others have said, but here are some of the highlights for me:

-Ed having trouble with his mic during Animal and then backing away from it, signaling for the crowd to sing it

-Mike running and jumping all over the stage, at times falling over...he was on fire all night

-Hearing Sad played live for the first time...my girlfriend and I always pick one song before the show that we want to hear, and this was the one for me

-Ed coming out for the 1st encore to chants of "Eddie! Eddie!" and telling everyone, "You can call me Ed. It's okay."

-Ed's talk about one of his best friends, Johnny Ramone, being a hard-core Republican, but how the 2 of them were always able to talk and to look for a middle ground

-Ed talking about the upcoming election, and how indecision can be a very dangerous thing, for example, people with mullets..."Do I want it short? Do I want it long? I just can't take a stand."

-Ed's poor Dr. Evil impression, while talking with a fan up front, saying he needed to get a better "con-nec-tion", maybe with a "cell-u-lar" phone...complete with the finger-quotation marks

-Ed messing up at the end of Soon Forget, stopping with a quick "Oh no" and then starting back up to finish. I have yet to be at a show when he gets this song right all the way through :)

-Seeing Stone trip and almost fall as he came on stage to play the 1st encore

-Stone jumping the gun on Small Town, then Ed passing him some wine in consolation for his miscue

-Near the end of the 1st encore, Ed announcing that this is where they would play Bu$hleaguer, but that they would play a love song instead, going into Nothingman

-Mike and Boom trading amazing solos on Crazy Mary, with Mike making his way back to Boom's side of the stage for part of it

-The whole band turning backwards to play Last Kiss to everybody sitting behind the stage, and Ed occasionally shaking his butt for the rest of us in front of the stage

-Playing Bleed For Me, and it being so loud (even where I was sitting on the opposite end of the arena) that I almost wanted to cover my ears

-Ed introducing Tim Robbins before coming out to sing The New World, as a great actor, a great director, a great activist, and a really tall man

-Mike's great extended solo at the end of Alive

-The whole band turning to look at Mike when he forgot to play one of his parts in Baba O'Riley

Well, that's what I remember of it. Great night, great music, great fans, great show. Thanks Pearl Jam and thanks Ten Club for the tickets.

Adam
Harrisburg, PA