Pearl Jam fans are the worst.

I mean there are spots of nice people, but en masse it's the largest concentration of stuck- up people I've ever witnessed.... consistently

Stip bought the last poster at 6:45.

I had a great spot, then at 9 some little fucker drug his 7ft friend over to stand in front of me. No matter how much I moved, he always blocked my view.

I would say my favorite part of the show was standing in front of B for 45 minutes with my 7 foot tall friend.

7:00 in the evening
Got a message from afar
Down under an oasis
Where there are posters being bought

I did literally get the last poster at my stand, and there was a huge line behind me. This was close to 7. They were selling little scroll tubes and half the assholes in front of me had those tubes, going up for their second helping. If you're one of those people, please stop being them.

some thoughts about the show

The four-song slow start was interesting – it wasn’t an acoustic set, so it didn’t feel differentiated from the main show, but it was a good way to warm up the band (I’m guessing that’s the point?). All the performances were great, and Hard to Imagine was an excellent transition into the explosive main set. I generally prefer the studio takes of almost all Pearl Jam songs (the live performances are about the experience more than preferring the sound of them live), but Hard to Imagine really comes into its own live – so much more immediate, the outro more transformative.

The run from Animal through Quick Escape was ferocious. I’m not sure if I could pick a highlight, but I was impressed with how intense Mind Your Manners was, and Quick Escape sounds incredible – the live version takes all the best elements of the album version and doubles down on them.

Retrograde was interesting. The main block of the song had a grandeur and importance that the studio version wants to have but couldn’t quite pull off. And Eddie clearly wants to find a way to translate the transcendent outro into a live setting, but we couldn’t’ quite get there. The band sounded great, but Eddie was really looking for the audience to lift the ‘hear the sound’ part, and it’s probably just too soon. A tour of Eddie going for broke during that sequence might create an organic audience call and response, but it won’t work right out the gate. It’s too new to generate that kind of emotional investment in the audience.

Who Ever Said sounded great – as did Why Go and Porch (and Eruption was fun). The main set was pretty relentless once it got going. Retrograde was the only real cool down moment (maybe the Modern Girl tag). And everyone was into everything. Why Go may have been the highlight of the back end of the set, though MFC had an edge I didn’t expect, and it was nice to hear the Untitled improv. It had been a long time.

The encore was one surprise after another. Inside Job had an unexpected sweep to it, though if I remember it was also more impressive live than on the studio back when I heard it on the 06 tour. Getting Breath and Leash (and the stories behind the requests) in one night was incredible. Crazy Mary had a great Boom solo, Alive was the cathartic triumph it always is, and they went hard on Rocking in the Free World. Looks like that was an audible from Yellow Ledbetter, and that was the right call. This wasn’t an audience that needed a cool down. The band left everything on the stage, and we stayed with them right until the end.

Amazing show. I also got to finally meet B, who is a lovely guy with excellent fashion sensibility.

Describe what he was wearing

He posted a picture in this very thread

nice review! i share a lot of those sentiments

so crazy reading that and being reminded of how many awesome early tracks they played

as if HTI, Oceans, Wash, Deep weren't enough ... you throw in Breath and Leash as well

even just one of those probably would have made my day ... and yet there were so many

and Not For You always makes me feel special

I agree with both of Stip's write-ups. They went at an absolutely blistering pace from Animal to Quick Escape. Interstellar --> Corduroy was a highlight of the front half for me, Given to Fly and Retrograde were the only ones that were a little lower energy. Porch ruled, Leash ruled, I would have taken YL to close it out but not really disappointed.

It was a good enough show to get me to listen to Pearl Jam again.

did your 7ft tall friend enjoy the show as well?

it says something about the intensity of that run that Given to Fly did feel a little lower energy, and it was played and its usual galloping pace.

i probably missed it, but what were the stories?

Mickey still loves Pearl Jam is pretty much all I needed to hear. I had tix to this show and didn’t make it. Fuck.

Yeah I did expect Mickey to attend a PJ show in 2022. Nice little surprise.

Great review Stip

really happy you guys are experiencing how good the band is live this year.

Whoa hang on now, let's not say "love."

In all seriousness though I think the part I really identified with in Stip's write-up was the bit about not taking this experience for granted, and the role the pandemic played in that. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I'd never seen Pearl Jam before. They weren't really touring around me when I was super into them, and then later it didn't seem worth the time and money for a band whose last two records I found basically unlistenable. I had a chance to go to the 2015 show in La Plata and skipped it due to the inconvenience of not having anyone to go with. I guess I felt like maybe I'd see them sometime down the road when it lined up, and after the past two years it no longer felt possible to indulge in that kind of "oh, one day..." thinking. I don't think I'm going to start blasting Backspacer anytime soon but I'm glad I went, it was fun as hell. And hearing all the songs that used to inspire big feelings in me in my late teenage years, now on the precipice of fatherhood, was quite an emotional experience.