The Pearl Jam Concert

Yesterday was by far one of the most fun days I've had all year. October 28. Pearl Jam. Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion. Devore, California.

I met up with a group of my Pearl Jam buddies that I went with to the Pearl Jam concert in San Francisco back in '95. I haven't seen them since I graduated from college, so it was cool seeing them again. We decided to get there early, even though the show started at 7:30, and since I only had the confirmation number for the fan club tickets, I wanted to have the tickets in my hands as soon as possible. So we left at around 2:30 and got there around 3:15. There was already a big group of people there, just hanging around, tailgating, and tossing around frisbees. As we walked to the box office to pick up my tickets, I noticed that a lot of the cars had Pearl Jam stickers on 'em. Cool. Who else would be there 4 hours early, other than dedicated PJ fans! =)

So I picked up my tickets, and the seats I ended up getting KICKED ASS. I got Orchestra 2, J 15 – which is 10 rows from the stage, and right in the middle. Sweet. The seat locations were based on seniority in the fan club, and I got way better seats than I thought. So after I got my tix, we headed back to the car and busted out the barbecue and had our own tailgate party. We forgot to bring along a spatula to flip the burgers, but my friend Loren pulled a MacGyver and made one with an empty soda can. I got beaned in the back of the head with a frisbee which decided to stay and spin around my head before it bounced off. It was pretty funny. Who knew PJ fans had such frisbee throwing and catching skills?! Haha... The only thing that kept me from fully enjoying the party was the freezing cold temps. It had rained the day before, and there were more than a few dark clouds right above the venue. Luckily, it didn't rain during the show. (And as a sidenote, it started to rain about an hour after the show, and it's still raining.)

There was still about an hour to kill after we ate, so we got back inside the warm car and chatted it up. When it was time to head to the gates, we had a major setback in that the uninformed security people wouldn't let my friend Aida bring in her digital still camera, and Loren couldn't bring in his MD recorder – even though Pearl Jam lets people bring in still cameras and record shows. For some reason, they thought that the camera was a camcorder and said they wouldn't let that in, even though it looked nothing like a camcorder (no viewfinder and a place to insert a tape). So we tried another security person and he said it was because it's digital. And the MD couldn't be brought in because it had a jack for an external microphone. What's up with that? Like we're gonna bring in a studio setup and plug it in. Bullshit! So we went back to the car and dropped off the contraband. The only things we were able to bring in were my 2 disposable cameras and Aida's "analog" film camera.

The opening group, Supergrass, rocked. I never heard of them previously, but I knew one of the songs. I'm gonna have to pick up their CD. The songs they played were pretty darned good. After their set, I was watching the crew set up PJ's equipment. There was a guy with a ukulele that walked to the front of the stage and tweaked some equipment, and then walked back with the ukulele. So I wasn't sure if we were going to get "Soon Forget". (We didn't.) I looked at the top of the stage, and there was a huge mirrorball hidden behind the lighting rig. So I knew we were going to get "Wishlist". =)

PJ finally came on and they started off with a rocking song. Here's the setlist:

Main: Rearviewmirror, Go, Animal, State of Love and Trust, Given to Fly, Grievance, Corduroy, Wishlist, Nothing as it Seems, Evacuation, Evenflow, Light Years, Daughter, Jeremy, Leatherman, Betterman, Nothingman, Spin the Black Circle, Porch

Encore 1: Breakerfall, Insignificance, Elderly Woman, Crazy Mary, U, Do the Evolution

Encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter

This is the most kickass setlist ever. =)

Ed hammed it up too. He greeted the crowd with "Hello San Pedro! What? This isn't San Pedro?"... When he introduced the band members, he mentioned where they worked at before. Jeff worked at a coffee shop, Mike worked at a pizza place (and then Mike waved his hands around like he was tossing up some dough). Matt worked at... Kinko's (which got a big laugh). And Stone "never worked a day in his life". After which Stone said something to Ed and he said "he says he worked at a lumberyard." Stone said something else which prompted Ed to say "oh, his uncle owned the lumberyard. Can I get you some coffee, Uncle Steve?" And then Ed said he waited tables, which got some cheers from the audience.

During "Elderly Woman", a fan managed to get up onto the stage and gave Ed a hug (which caused Ed to miss some lines). The security walked out to take him off, but Ed let him stay on stage. So for the rest of the song, this dude was being a clown and pantomiming the words to the song, waving his arms around and all. After the song finished, security escorted him off the stage and then Ed said "have a nice night in jail, young man" and then said "when he was leaving, I gave him a guitar pic and then he asked me 'can you do me a favor?'", which got big laughs from the crowd.

The group also did a couple things for Halloween. During "Given to Fly", Ed put on these huge 3 feet tall skeleton-looking gloves, and made hand gestures during the song, and when the song was ending, he turned his back to the audience and crossed his arms to make it look like he was making out with someone.. Hehe.. During another song (I can't remember which one), Ed donned a silver-glittered top hat and then later tossed it into the crowd. And a young kid ended up catching it. For the rest of the show, his dad propped the kid up on his shoulders with him wearing the top hat. Ed, during the thank yous, said that he "would like to thank that 7-year-old kid in the front for touching my heart." Awww.. =)

During the show, Mike also threw some things into the audience. Looked like Halloween candy, but it could have been a bunch of guitar pics. I know for sure that he tossed out his pic after his amazing solo at the end of Yellow Ledbetter. And then he motioned like he was going to throw his guitar out to the stage, but then he pulled it back. He fooled me!

Fun fun fun show. The crowd was awesome. Or at least the people up front (all Ten Club members). There were a few people that tried to jump rows and sneak up to the front, but they got caught. Two of them were right in front of me and then I pretended to grab their heads and bang them together, after which this girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. Eventually, they were taken away. Everyone up front was totally into it – singing along, jumping around, waving our hands. At times it felt like we were the show for Ed. =)

During "Porch", Ed looked up at the lighting rig and looked like he was trying to figure out a way to get up there (a la 1992 Ed Vedder), but he didn't and instead crowdsurfed!! I don't know how long it's been since he did that at a show, but he did. So I guess he trusted us Ten Club people. =)

My friend Aida, who got loge seats (the level between the orchestra seats and the shitty lawn seats), said the crowd there was totally dead and not into it. And then the people in the lawn area were being rowdy, setting lawn fires. This prompted Ed to start the first encore by saying that he's going to "be very serious" and said that a few people in the back were starting some fires (which got big boos from the audience) and thought that the fires that happened in Woodstock were some of the most fucked up shit he's seen. Then he said to "just start a small fire... light up a cigarette or smoke a joint". Hehe.

My observations: the band looked like they were having a great time playing. All smiles. Mike McCready is a guitar god. I think most of the pictures I took are of him working on his solos. It's okay to wear Pearl Jam clothing at a Pearl Jam show. I thought that would be kinda "Trekkie" to do that, but it's not. I would have been much more comfy if I was wearing my PJ ski cap. And finally, from now on, I will be getting tickets from the Ten Club.

So that's my little story. Hehe... Can't wait till the next show rolls into town! =)