Fuck him and fuck Creighton!

I think it's fair to say anyone posting here is a relatively big Pearl Jam fan.

Thusly it is amazing to me how many here didn't see the band live until 10+ years into their existence. Many other bands don't even make it 10 years, and here is PJ just solidifying their fan base at that point...even after record breaking sales numbers early on after breaking into the scene and TONS of touring.

That is pretty incredible. Collectively here on RM, really not that many shows attended in the 90's.

Of course some of that is due to age. Anyone who saw them in 1991 must be at least 45 now. Seems lke my age (mid 30's) is about average amongst this group.

One of my favorite websites. But you spelled the first word wrong.

Top shows for me are 11/06/00 Seattle, 6/20/00 Verona, 5/30/00 London (Eng), 10/7/00 Detroit, 4/29/03 Albany, 5/2/03 Buffalo, 9/12/05 London (Ont), 9/16/05 Ottawa, and 5/19/06 Grand Rapids.

I was 19 when I first saw them in 2000.

1. 5/4/06 - Ed Sullivan Theatre, New York, NY - I remember going on to the website at work and thinking " there is no way I am getting tickets" but I did, in like 30 seconds! I made this number one on the sheer fact the avocado is on of my favorite records and getting to see pearl jam in basically a big room was amazing. Great version of Porch here.

2. 7/14/03 - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ - I remember when ten club offer the ability to trade your MSG 2 tickets for tickets here to slow the demand for msg 2. I went for the offer and it was the best decision. They came out and played two songs from each album in order in the main set. Solo version of growin up and they played hunger strike! Mike even had customs shirts made and left for fans on the seats. The band really enjoyed playing here. I don't know why they never went back.

3. 5/21/10 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - One of the best pearl jam shows I have ever been to and it a later one. The crowd and the band were just in fire here. Kick out the jams right before Yellow Ledbetter was fucking insane.

4. 5/3/03 - Bryce Jordan Center - One of the first longest shows ever. It was the best played or loudest crowd, but the band and the crowd where in sync. It was right after the Uniondale incident. I remember reading an article a few days later that they had a plane waiting and just kept playing.

5. 7/8/03 - MSG 1, New York, NY - Super tight show, loud intense crowd. I remember taking a leak and some guy asking the guy next to me in the urinal what he thought would happened this night and he responded, "there gonna blow the roof off this place" and they fucking did. Possibly the last time Sonic Reducer sounded so good.


6. 7/1/08 - Beacon Theatre, New York, NY - I was literally in the last row of this place, but when the band showed up after playing the night before in Boston, they were shot. Which lead to the first 5 songs being seated, Opening with lowlight and including harvest moon, Masters of War, Down All Night, Light Years and opening the encore with Undone and Who you are, I doubt I will ever see a show like this again.

7. 6/27/08 - Dodge Music Center, Hartford Ct - I had been to hartford in 06, 08 and 13, but 2008 was one of the most underrated shows I had ever seen. It was a short east coast tour in 2008. And while it wasn't the best played shows that year. This one pulled out alot of tracks that were not too frequent at the time. Killer version of fuckin up

8. 8/25/00 - Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY - It was the night AFTER the show on the radio here in NY. They pulled out alot of no code tracks and just had a real fun time at this show. As soon as they ended Ledbetter, the band kinda hopped off the side of the stage and went to the trucks.


9. 9/8/04 - Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, FL - Interesting show, was in the middle of nowhere near disney world at some shitty rodeo arena, awful sound, and a weird floor set up leaving a giant gap in the middle of where the ten club seats where set. The band came on opened with a furious Last exit and everyone rushed the floor. It basically became a GA pit show. 11 song first set and a very rare timeless melody performance. My friend even successfully wrestled a very big chick for Ed's tamboruine.

10. 5/12/06 - Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY When the band came back to albany in 2006, they made up for the short show in 03 by come back tight and pulling out song like Rats and Satans Bed properly for the first time in years, they closed with alive, which they should just ends shows with more often.

11. 9/15/05 - Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada - One of the first montreal shows I had been to where it wasn't sold out. But LOUD as fuck. The band came out furious at this show. I remember driving up 8 hours the day of and then watching this show and hearing to ottawa the next night. It was downright tiring. Blood, Trouble and better with the boyfriend tag were fantastic

12. 9/16/05 - Corel Centre, Ottawa, Ontario - I don't remember much of this show except for being exhausted, but if you went to this and montreal, you got your full tour's worth. I remember ed getting shocked by the mic during corduroy and slaying it down with his guitar. Funny thing, the next day we left to head back to the states, the border patrol looked at us and said "Pearl jam?"

13. 4/29/14 - Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY - I remember how great the band was playing this night and how the crowd was so into the show. Then bushleaguer happened and it got ugly, people cursing , throwing shit. It was great because it lead to the most intense version of know your right ever. But once Ed got hit with a quarter towards the end of RITFW. He slammed his mic stand down at the end of the song and the band stormed off. I was second row for this whole debacle. It's down on the list because it was painful to see a crowd turn like it did.

14. 10/1/04 - Soveriegn Center, Reading PA - Another VFC tour show, small arena in a small town. Great show, I remember the crowd was really into given to fly and it was the first and only time I heard them play Bleed for Me. It's show I hold close to my heart as I had just lost someone very close to me. To have Ed come out before hand and do Don't Be Shy and Growin up was amazing.

15. 9/9/98 - Continental Arena, East Rutheford, NJ - My first pj show! and the last show I would see of what I thought was 90's era Ed. Strong vocals, the growl was there. Intesne versions of songs, especially Go. Up until this time, it was extremely tough to get tickets. So getting in was a godsend!

I think for the most part you are right. I dated a girl briefly who saw them at Lollapalooza in 1992. She was like 13-14ish. That is the only person I have ever met in person who saw them in that time frame who is in my age bracket (I am 34).

My bro saw them in 92 and 93 but he is 43.

Yeah, I'm also 34 and most of the PJ fans I know first saw them on the Yield tour, although I have one buddy who saw them at the Boston Garden in 1994.

In my case (and I suspect for others my age - depending on the geography), I would have been able to see them in 95-97 if they came anywhere close - but at that age with no car of my own and not much money I couldn't swing an out-of-state show. I suspect a lot of energy was pumped into those Yield tour crowds (and probably even Binaural tour crowds) because there were lots of cohorts of mine who had been salivating for a couple of years to see the band in person, and finally got the chance.

First time I saw them I had just turned 16... 37 now, so it's possible to have seen them in '93 and still be 30-something. The car thing DID make a huge impact on me getting out to concerts, baseball games, and such. Also, at that age, it helps to have parents who don't care what you do or where you go. I would never be that kind of neglectful parent to my 16 year old daughter, though.

Funny how perspective changes.

As a parent I totally agree. It was a different time man. Us Latchkey/Gen Xers got so much leeway. My Dad owned his own business and worked like 60 hour weeks growing up and my Mom worked two jobs. My brother and I grew up fending for ourselves a lot. As long as we were alive it didn't matter what we did. Growing up I had 2 rules....don't get arrested and don't get a girl knocked up. It was ridiculous at times how much freedom I had.

I think having older siblings helps a lot. I took my brother to Portland and Gorge 1 in 2006 when he was 16. I didn't have any older siblings with cars and I lived in places they didn't play for much of the 90s. I mean, I was a superfan by 1996 and the closest place they played was Seattle, at a time when Seattle was a really hard place to get to and an impossible ticket to get. In 1998 and 2000 my life was a dumpster fire and I had no money. Oh, and I was supposed to go to St. Louis 2000, but my ride bailed on me a few days before and I had no way of getting there. I'm still bummed about that.

Which is why I didn't see them until 2003.

dont know if i can really do much of a list but ill see how far i get

1a 6-16-08 Columbia SC - Won the lottery for front row tickets, first show with my Wife, great setlist, band sounded great( even though Ed thought everything was out of tune), shouldnt count but does...i was SUPER into the KOL and they were awesome opening. just an all around wonderful show

1b 10-29-13 Charlottesville VA - Better setlist then Columbia, 10th show with my wife, Equally great performance by the band, great seats but no where near front row, longest show as far as song count, closest show ever to my house lol and just an all around wonderful show.

not really sure how to rank the other 16

I went to my first in '96. Drove up to Charlotte with a couple friends. We had such a good time we went to Charleston for the next one without tickets. Luckily they opened some up that day and we got upper level but close seats at the box office. That show turned out to be even better than the night before & that whole trip is one of my favorite college aged memories.
Other shows that stand out: Maui 2 '98, Birmingham '98, Vegas '00, Seattle 2 '00, Bridge 2 '01, MSG 1 '03, Montreal '05, Ottawa '05, Philly '05, Honolulu '06, Columbia '08, DC '08, Toronto 1 '11, London '13, Worcester 1 '13, Oklahoma City '13.

How was the Maui 2 '98 show? That must have been nuts

I'm with you Bammer. Always surprising to me. I am 44, 1st show Louisville 94, last Denver 14. Always felt like I missed a lot.
My list to come.

God I would have loved to have seen PJ sometime between 94-96. Ugh.

My 95 show was just ridiculous. I've seen better shows but that was the best gig.

The '93, '95, and (to a lesser extent) '96 shows I saw were by FAR the most experiential of the bunch... To me, passion, energy, and angst hold much more value than varied set lists or the flawless performance...

There was also the drummer factor... That was HUGE!

i really wish i could have seen them in the earlier days, my only opportunities were in 94 they played in Miami and the show sold out in like 5 minutes or so. 96 they played Ft Lauderdale and i could never get through on the phone lines, and yet my cousin did and never even let me know he had tickets to the show in 98 i had moved away from Florida and none of the radio stations were really playing PJ and definitely werent announcing concerts that were out of state so i missed out on the Charlotte and Raleigh shows. 2000 was when i finally had regular internet and started learning how to use it, so i finally made it to my first show in Greensboro 00

What show?