The first notes of
‘Release’ were
being played and everyone was going mental. Then they shone a light
on Eddie and the crowd cheered even more. The lighters were lighten
(?), it was beautiful, and so emotional… That song was the perfect
way to start the concert… Eddie was unbelievable, especially with
those low notes and the high ones and the long ones. After ‘Release’
they went into ‘Hail, Hail’,
and Jeff began doing that little dance that he did throughout the entire
concert - the one that’s like the running man! The entire crowd was
singing and bobbing their heads, I wish I could have moshed to that song!
I don’t think that the crowd was going to sit at all during this show!
There were some awesome things too - the mirror ball shon and sparkled
and lit up the crowd, and then the silhouettes of the band were on the
huge white sheet. It was awesome. There were also a lot of
beachballs and balloons and frisbees being tossed around - Grateful Dead
much? ‘Last Exit’ began
and it was just amazing, I love that song, Jack was really pounding the
crap out of his drums during this one! Next came
‘Tremor Christ’
and both Eva and I shrieked when they began with the guitar part, after
all, it’s Eva’s favourite song off of Vitalogy! We sang our hearts
out and danced… It was awesome. ‘In
My Tree’ was so amazing live, it’s a really
powerful song and Jeff does such a good job on it… The funniest thing
was that during this song someone down in the pit threw a sneaker at Eddie,
but he caught it and the crowd went crazy! Eddie is such a performer,
he really knows how to get a crowd going (thank God he didn’t encourage
us to rush the stage!). Next came an obvious crowd favourite,
‘Corduroy’… The chorus was sung by everyone
there… The lyrics are so great, and the way Eddie sang it gave me
chills! Eddie introduced the next song as one that sounds a lot like
a Neil Young song off of ‘Mirrorball’, and they went into ‘Red
Mosquito’. He even said ‘See, we’ve
got friends who are Canadian’ yeah that’s for sure!!! They then went
into another favourite, ‘Animal’,
and you could hear everyone singing "1-2-3-4 5 against 1!" It was
great… By then the hairs on my neck were standing up! Eddie
even said ‘this Bud’s for you’… Between songs. The crowd went
absolutely crazy when the first few chords of ‘Jeremy’
echoed throughout the Gardens. Everyone,
and I mean everyone, sang their hearts out on this one… It was so
awesome. After, they went into ‘Habit’,
the pit went nuts and Eva and I sang our little hearts out! Eddiesaid
"Speaking as a guy who has taken pucks in the face"! Pearl Jam almost
managed to fool the entire crowd then. It sounded as though they
were beginning to play ‘Present Tense’, but then they stopped and began
‘Immortality’,
and Eddie sang out ‘Vacate is the word…’ WOW! I nearly freaked
out and I screamed so loud when the next song was ‘Even
Flow’! But the bad thing was Eddie forgot
the words and he even started to laugh about it on stage! It was
still great though! I was singing my heart out and dancing.
The next song was hysterical for a couple of reasons. The first was
that this guy Leon sang this song accoustically and spoken word in our
caf (long story), and the second was for what Eddie said about it.
He decided to incorporate Tie Domi into the song. See what happened
was Tie Domi had told a local sports scribe that criticized Pearl Jam and
he was bad-mouthing them for tying up the Gardens. So Eddie called
Domi a ‘fucking asshole’ and told the crowd not to listen to jerks like
him but to like what you want to and not let anyone say otherwise. (NOTE:
I found out later that I totally mixed that up - apologies) Basically
he told us it was okay to like him!!!
Eddie
singing to the masses in the crap seats
(he's
looking in the direction I was sitting in!)
So then they played
‘Not For You’ and they did in fact manage
to get Domi’s name into the song! The next song was ‘Daughter’,
and Jeff was playing that really cool bass where he has to sit down…
And the band managed to segway from ‘Daughter’ to ‘Can
You See The Real Me’ by The Who… I think
it was after this song that Eddie lead the crowd in this singalong type
thing - hey would sing something like ooh oooooh ooh oooooooooh! (NOTE:
It was after 'Blood', not 'Daughter) And the crowd would repeat it.
He did it a few times and then decided to hold the last note and the crowd
went berserk! It was so cool! And of course I didn’t recognize
one of the songs that I’ve been listening to forever, ‘Lukin’!
They played it, and of course it was over in about a minute! It got
the crowd going though! Another crowd favourite was played…
‘Rearviewmirror’ with it’s ‘saw things so
much clearer’ ending really really got everyone up and moving! It
was fantastic! The next song was ‘Alive’
and everyone sang along with Eddie, it was so unbelievable, I can’t even
begin to describe it! Or how I felt! It was so surreal.
Then they broke into ‘Blood’ and
Eddie vented and screamed and yelled through the whole thing ‘IT’S!
MY! BLOOOOOOOOD!’ Wow! Then Eddie said goodnight, yeah
right like we were going to let them get away so fast! They turned
the lights back on. The crowd continued to cheer and clap and whistle
and stomp their feet, until the lights went out again and Pearl Jam, led
by Stone and Jack, made their way back to the stage… The crowd was
really going insane by then! And to make matters even more amazing,
Eddie told us that ‘Toledo can wait!’ They played ‘Who
You Are’ and the lighters came out again.
It was really beautiful… Although the song isn’t that uplifting.
Then I didn’t recognize the next song, but when I finally did both Eva
and I started to sing like crazy! It was
‘I Got Id’, and it was unbelievable!
That song really is powerful. Then Eddie broke into
‘Leaving Here’ on guitar and Eva and I went
nuts (yet again!) The funny thing, again, was that Eddie forgot the
words so he sand the 2nd verse twice in a row!!! It was funny, and
it was good to see Eddie smiling and laughing at himself. After,
Eddie said goodnight to the crowd once again… But this time they
went off, and came back on really quickly. The lights were on.
Eddie asked the people in charge of lighting to leave it on, saying
"we’re just hangin’ out here"! This really drove the crowd nuts!
And what’s more, their final song was ‘Yellow
Ledbetter’, we just stood there swaying back
and forth, since it was impossible to sing along with Eddie!
Eva then noticed that
Rick the Temp (A MuchMusic VJ) was sitting exactly four rows below us!
We didn’t get a chance to talk to him though! ‘Yellow Ledbetter’
ended and we headed off after what was the most unbelievable concert I
have ever been to. We headed out to College Street, where traffic
was already at a stand still because of all the people coming out.
It was funny, we were walking in the middle of the street next to buses
and cars!
A few more events occurred
that night, but none that are relevant enough to include in this page of
the journal, so I took them out.. All I know is that experiencing
Pearl Jam for the first time was almost monumental for me. It made
me hungry for more. That's why this summer is going to be incredible. |
