That pop up merch van was open at 4 when I went by. Not too big of a line

A couple quick things:

4th row on Stone's side in section 105, closest I've been to the stage in years. I could have gotten some really good pics of Stone & Ed had I had my camera. The kids Ed gave picks & tamborines to at the end? Two rows below me. Apparently Carrie Brownstein & Annie Clark were seated around there most of the show too.
The people around us were really cool; long time fans that were fun to talk to. Most of them were going to OKC too but I didn't see any of them the next night. A guy had his son, about 13, with him and the kid was rocking out and singing along the whole night.
The band was on and it was obvious they were enjoying themselves. They sounded fantastic but I couldn't hear Ed much except on the slower songs. Can't Keep was a pleasant surprise. Sirens still sucks the energy out of the room to me but I understand why they have to play it. I adore the Chloe Dancer intro & have gotten it twice now. Ed messed up the Porch but the crowd kept singing and he kept playing until we finished the first part before circling back to start. That was fun. I was very glad to get Elderly Woman instead of Last Kiss facing the back. My 5th Real Me but still no Love Reign O'er Me. Thought I was going to get through a show with no Evolution.
Oh and Pappas Bros Steakhouse was fantastic.

Dallas Morning New write-up:

It wasn’t by random choice that Pearl Jam opened its show Friday night with “Pendulum,” a new song with the lyrics “Easy come and easy go/Easy left me a long time ago.”

Even in middle age, the Seattle band still thrives on dissent, turmoil and all things angsty. It just sounds slightly different than it did in the days of grunge.

Performing an often-thrilling concert for a capacity crowd at American Airlines Center, Pearl Jam showed no signs of aging gracefully. While it’s writing prettier, mellower tunes these days, the lyrics rarely aim to please: “We live our lives with death over our shoulders,” Eddie Vedder sang in the new “Sirens.”

With age 50 breathing down his neck, Vedder no longer dives into the crowd from atop scaffolds like a man with a death wish. But he’s still a captivating performer, scissor-kicking through the air, windmilling at his guitar and filling the arena with a rich, melancholy baritone suitable for a Wagner opera.

Vedder has spoken recently about trying to give up booze, but he was in full Dionysus mode Friday night as he downed multiple bottles of red wine and occasionally shared some with fans near the stage. “If I don’t stop toasting now, I might not remember this date,” he said.

But he never spun out of control. Rather than rant, like he often did in the ‘90s, he spoke eloquently about gun violence, JFK’s assassination and “Jeremy,” the grunge anthem he wrote about a 1991 classroom suicide at Richardson High School. Never actually calling for gun control, Vedder simply dedicated his speech “in the name of no further tragedies.”

The rest of Pearl Jam stayed in check, too, replacing the long-winded guitar jams of yesteryear with a renewed focus on punk rock. At two-and-half-hours, the concert dragged at times. But it was seldom predictable, with obscure songs intertwined with the singalong hits “Better Man” and “Alive.” The band brought out Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and Dallas’ own Annie Clark for a jubilant encore of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Vedder reminisced about playing Trees in early ‘90s and apologized for the ten-year gap since Pearl Jam last played Dallas. “Let’s have another bottle,” he said during the umpteenth encore. “It could be another ten years before we come back.”

The traffic in Dallas on a Friday during rush hour was absolutely insane. We got a late start driving up from Austin, so we pretty much went straight from the hotel to dinner/beers and into the show. It was already dark by the time we checked in to the hotel.

I wish we would have had a couple hours to walk around the city near the arena. The city was buzzing pretty good. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

I think it's funny how PJ has evolved from an $18/ticket band to an $85/ticket and $18/pre-show-drink band. We didn't have much time to look around and ended up at the Victory Grill...pricey drinks, damn.

Had to scramble around a little to meet up with two different people to exchange tickets with before the show, but they were both great guys and nobody got stuck with fake tickets so I was glad we all figured a way around the scalpers and nobody paid above face value for my extras.