Set List: Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Marker In The Sand, Given To Fly, Better Man, Even Flow, Unemployable, Garden, Sad, Corduroy, Present Tense, Daughter, Grievance, Not For You, Inside Job, Why Go

1st encore: Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Come Back, Alive
2nd encore: Porch, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter

Here I am, back in Toronto for another great Pearl Jam show. Last Time I was in Toronto, it was to see them play 10 years ago. So it's kinda like an anniversary for me today. We usually go see them in Montréal or Québec. We drove 7 hours to see them play, and what a terrific day it has been. Great trip, great food excellent show ! It was a great feeling to see them at the first show of the 2006 tour and just a week after the release of their new album.

The show opened with My morning Jacket which was very good. Better than what I expected cause I didn't know anything about them before tonight. Great guys and cool music. A must buy in anyone's CD collection.

Then Pearl Jam took the stage. Everyone started yelling like crazy! They started off with 4 songs off the new album. Started with bang and got us right in the mood for what was going to be a great show. Then played Given to fly which is a great song to hear and watch live. Betterman than Evenflow (Mike's solos just ROCK!). Than they played Unemployable which is one of my favorites off the new album. Then they started what sounded like a new song or improv. and ended to be a new version of Garden which completely left me speechless. Sad which was my second seeing that song played live. They also played Daughter which is a great song the see live. Ed did this lyrical improv bit, but talked kinda fast couldn't hear what he was actually saying. I'll have to wait and get the bootleg to find out I guess. But I really loved it. They also played Inside Job. I was listening to it all day hoping they would play it cause I was supposed to go to see them with my cousin. Unfortunately he's in the hospital with Leukemia. So I thought about him all day, and that song just made it for me. Especially when Ed sings I will not loose my faith. It's an inside job today. Makes us realize that half the battle comes from inside. Not to loose faith. Made that day very special for me. I took some great picture for him.

First encore started with Do The Evolution which was really cool. Jeremy and Comeback than Alive just threw the crowd wild. Ed running around stage. Mike doing his incredible solos.

Second encore started out with Porch. Great solos and jam in the middle. They also played Rocking in the free world with the guys from My morning Jacket really awesome. They ended the show with a classic show ending... Yellow Ledbetter. This song closes the evening so perfectly.

Well I must thank Pearl Jam for opening the tour in Toronto. Hope they come by Montreal and Québec again. Montreal was by far one of my best shows ever. Wish this time I could go and see you with my cousin when he gets better. Maybe play wishlist for him.

Thanks again!
Kevin P.

Pearl Jam knows how to kick off a tour.

My friend and I drove up from Rochester, NY to catch the beginning of the 2006 tour. She, being a "PJ Concert Virgin" was super excited about finally getting to see the band live. For me, it was my lucky 13th & 14th times, so I am already a Pearl Jam whore.

The mood was great, everyone was juiced up and ready to go. People gathered in lines to check everything and everyone else out. Sidewalks had PJ, Pearl Jam, a Maple Leaf with the group's name in it written in chalk. And I even contributed, writing my name on the ground for a Toronto radio station. Hokey, maybe, but why not?

Getting to my seat at the Air Canada Center, I was pumped up. The music playing was Master/Slave, and the group came up to the stage as the crowd roared... then the guys played a fury of songs from the new CD (Severed Hand and Life Wasted were my faves) getting the crowd jumping and moving. Awesome beginning.

Then the group went into melodic favorites, starting off with Given to Fly and ending with Even Flow (one of the best live songs ever - becasue Mikey just goes off the hook). Eddie then made a job-related comment before jamming into Unemployable, and the group continued to flow through the first set turning down the pace from Sad to PT and Daughter.

Then came the premiere of Inside Job, which was better than the CD version, and the group wrapped up with Why Go as the crowd cheered til the encore. DTE rocked the first encore with Stone soloing and Ed howling, and Jeff's bass-play in Jeremy was hypnotic and gave me chills. Alive was once again a great closer.

Then came the second encore, and Porch with its funcky intro tricked some because Eddie said we were gonna keep it slow... but tricked everyone to delight. "Uncle Neil's" RITFW and the classic Yellow Ledbetter closed off a short, but memorable set.

The show proved to me that 13 could be a lucky number. Very nice show.

(continued night 2...)