Frank Coztansa wrote:
1. Release
2. Nothingman
3. Present Tense
4. Hold On
5. Low Light
6. Come Back
7. Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
145 Minute Rain delay
8. All the Way
9. All Night
10. Do the Evolution
11. Setting Forth (Into the Wild soundtrack)
12. Corduroy
13. Faithfull
14. Mind Your Manners
15. Lightning Bolt
16. State of Love and Trust
17. Wishlist
18. Even Flow
19. Leatherman
20. Eruption (Van Halen)
21. Bugs
22. Why Go
23. Unthought Known
24. Rearviewmirror
Encore
25. Future Days
26. Mother (Pink Floyd)
27. Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone)
28. Porch
29. Wasted Reprise
30. Life Wasted
31. Black
32. Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young)
Bolded songs I have never seen them do live.
Italics songs I have seen only once.
Got to Wrigleyville about 4-415. Had a few beers at Bernie's. Place was crowded, but not packed when we got there. About an hour into our drinking, it was elbows and assholes. It was so crowded inside we opted to stand outside in the heat until we went into the stadium about 7. The merch lines were fucking ridiculous, though I did get 2 shirts during the rain delay (they were sold out of everything except shirts and hoodies by that point
).
I was on the field. Kudos to the 10 Club. I waited in line about 5 minutes for tickets, and ended up in section R row 18. Just a little bit left of the sound board (almost dead in front of Mike McCready), about 100 yards from the stage.
I expected 'Release' as the opener. Typically they do that in Chicago because the song is about his Dad who was from the area. Outside of that though, this setlist really didn't make any fucking sense
. As a longtime Jamhead, typically I can get a feel for what song or what type of song is coming next as the show goes along. This one though there were so many curveballs it was great. Very mellow start to the show, but you could tell the band was in good spirits and even though he us pushing 50, outside of a few screams Eddie's voice was in top form (fuck off, Scorehead).
'Hold On' is a rare one, and 'Lowlight' is always a treat. I don't care much for 'Come Back', so at this point is when I went to stand in the merch line. After 'Small Town" Eddie said there was some "heavy stuff coming in" and that it should only last about 30-45min, but it would take 30min to clear the field. And clear the field they did. We were told to stand on the concourse, but it was so fucking hot and crowded down there I just put a poncho on and sat in the rain. Only had 1 beer. Stops raining, the crowd starts cheering, and ushers are telling us to head back to the field. But the field isn't open yet. Then it starts drizzling again, Frustration is setting in. People are drunk, hot, pissed off, and standing around with no information. Finally after about 45minutes of just standing there, the field opens up, and we head back to our seats.
After 2+ hours of sitting there, I certainly could have done without the Cubbie love, but I figured it was coming so I was prepared for it. I just sat down until they started playing again. Was cool to see Ernie Banks there, but he should not have had the mic. I don't believe that Wrigley is "his house."
Eddie thanks everybody for sticking around, and says that they were going to play until they kicked them off the stage, which ultimately proved to be accurate. With that, the launched into the first part of the set which was really heavy for the most part. Just what the crowd needed. 'Setting Forth' was a short unexpected treat off of Eddie's Into The Wild soundtrack. During the last part of 'Faithfull', Eddie thanks Mike, Stone, & Jeff for letting him join "their band" and having faith in him. He also thanks the crowd for having faith in the band and making the Pearl Jam community something very special. Then came the 2 new songs. I really liked 'Lighting Bolt.' 'Mind Your Manners' I'm just sort of "meh" about.
Mike plays almost the entire 'Even Flow' solo behind his head, and then Eddie says that Theo should sign him because he has 4 testicles. 4 balls and he takes his base. The rest of the band leaves the stage so Mike can play Eruption, and then in perhaps the strangest happening ever at a PJ show Eddie actually broke out the accordion to play 'Bugs.' 'Why Go' and 'RVM' were unbelievably tight. I always love the strobes at the jam out ending of RVM. It was funny. It was pushing 1am, and the band waves and says thanks after RVM, then leaves the stage. At this point, everybody sat down and it got real quiet (for the most part) in the park. Everybody was so damn tired, and knew they were coming out for an encore (typically they do 2 or 3), so nobody was wasting what little energy they had left to cheer for this.
'Future Days' was pretty cool, and 'Mother' was spot on. 'Chloe Dancer' before 'Crown of Thorns' is very rare, so that was cool. Eddie crowd surfs during 'Porch", and while the band is jamming in the middle of the song, he is pushing the lights hanging by the stage so they end up swinging all over the place. A couple of them went out after this actually.
Mike tore it up once again on the 'Black' solo. During the end of the song, Eddie says they have 5 minutes left, that if it was up to them they would play for another hour, but they didn't want to fuck it up for when they come back, or for other artists. So they had to oblige and 'RITFW' was played complete with the baseball lights on at 2am. Awesome fucking end to one killer show.
Not only did you have 40,000 people spilling out of the ballpark, but you had thousands of other drunken idiots crowding the street because all of the bars were now closed. We parked near the North & Clybourn redline stop (had lunch with a couple friends nearby), and we had to walk 2 miles south before we finally found an empty taxi to drive us the rest of the way. Friday I woke up at 5am to play golf with my Dad in the morning, napped for maybe 10 minutes after golf, and ended up crawling back into bed about 4:40am. Closest I have ever come to an all nighter.
If/when Pearl Jam plays Wrigley again, I'll be there.
_________________
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
It's more fun to be a victim
Caller Bob wrote:
There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.