-PEARL JAM-
7 September 1998



yea!!

I got that picture from Synergy (check music links). I also stole one of Mike and Jeff.

I had been anticipating this concert for a long time. Way before the radio stations found out that they would be playing here. And, me being OGPJ and this being my first chance to experience Pearl Jam firsthand, I was extremely anxious for the day of the concert to come, even though it was the day before school would start.

Mudhoney opened. I had never heard anything by them. Really, I didn't know a damn thing about them except that they were Seattle based and they hung out with Pearl Jam a lot. So, I wasn't really sure what to expect. They were good, though. The amphitheater is a bad place to try to watch opening bands, though. Like, at the Boathouse or the Riverview, you can watch opening bands and it's not that bad. Maybe it's cos the amphitheater is so big. But, to make a long story short, I got bored of watching them after about half an hour and went off to get a shirt.

Since I was at the concert alone, I had a shortage of interesting occurrences with friends. The entire night was awesome, but a few things really stood out in my mind. Pearl Jam's setlist was: Animal, Hail Hail, Given to Fly, Corduroy, I Got Shit, Daughter, Brain of J, Rats, Jeremy, Even Flow, an improvisation period, MFC, Wishlist, Leatherman, Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror, Black, Do the Evolution, Immortality, Better Man/Save it for Later, No Way, Alive, Sonic Reducer, and Porch. The list was provided for me by my friend John (he's linked up under my friends section), who's a bigger PJ fan than me, and was able to provide me with the names of the non-album songs I didn't know.

I guess Wishlist is the song I most clearly remember. (Ironic that I'm listening to it as I type this.) When Eddie got to the line "I wish I was the grounds for 50 million hands upraised and open towards the sky," this sea of palms sprang up in the crowd. Shortly after that, they turned on a silver disco ball. The cool but warm shards of light that were cast over the entire crowd were the perfect compliment to the mellow, introspective nature of the song. Every time I think of Wishlist I can close my eyes and be at the amphitheater again, bathed in cool silver light.

The same thing happened during Jeremy on the line "arms raised in a V." That wasn't really as cool cos I was expecting it. Wishlist was from the newest CD and I was pretty sure a lot of people were there to hear all the songs from Ten.

On the live album, Live on Two Legs, Black is taken from our concert. Yea, that's right. You know all those people screaming in the background? I'm one of those people.