I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 17, 2024] Pearl Jam

After Glen left the stage, we didn’t dare move as the pit was now pretty crowded–although to be honest the back of the pit still had a lot of room.  People were pressed up close but there was breathing room.

So we waited a while, chatted more with Greta and Molly and soon enough the lights went down.  The band came out and it stayed mostly dark while they played Long Road.

And it was amazing.  We’ve seen Pearl Jam five times before this and each time was either from a far away spot (or behind the stage).  And this time, we were as close to the band as if they were playing Union Transfer and I got there in plenty of time to be close.

And we were right in front of Eddie.  I assumed that that would be a prime spot, but I think a lot of people preferred to be in front of Mike McCready–he has a lot of contact with the people around him.

It was a little frustrating that they were all silhouetted by light behind them, but it looked really cool.

I didn’t want to take a ton of pictures and videos but of course I did!  And the sound was SO GOOD.  I expected the arena to sound crappy, but we were right in front and we weren’t too close, it was like he was right in front of us singing.  And we could follow every motion Eddie made while singing Low Light.

Then the lights came up and we could see everyone clearly (although Eddie’s face was sill shadowed by the big hat he was wearing).

Unlike Phish, I don’t expect to hear a unique set every time. I mean, there are songs that they pretty much HAVE to play.  Like Why Go.  A song that I really like and which the entire crowd sang along to.

I was a little bummed at how bad my view of Mike was (Pearl Jam fans are tall).  But it was cool watching him solo.

The first really big surprise came when they played Brain of J, a song my wife and I love and which we’ve never seen them play.

Then they moved on to the new songs, React, Respond and Dark Matter which sounded even better than on record because they were so huge.  It was also fun noticing how much Eddie noticed people in the crowd.  He pointed at people, he reacted to what they were doing or wearing.  He was with us.

In the past I’ve been a bit annoyed at how bro-based Pearl Jam fans can be.  And they certainly are (although there are tons of super nice people too).  But I did appreciate that even though people love to sing along, for a song like Given to Fly, they don’t sing the quiet part, but they do scream the rocking part.  The fact that he said went down to Philly had a smoke in a tree was pretty cool.

The crazy thing was that I wanted to see everyone in the band.  But I couldn’t take my eyes off of Eddie.  He was always doing something.  So I could briefly watch Stone Gossard come up to the mic and sing, or watch Jeff Ament play a cool bass line, but I was constantly drawn back to Eddie.  I could watch Matt Cameron on drums because he was right behind Eddie but Boom Gaspar was pretty far off in the corner and wasn’t really on my radar.  And poor Josh Kinghoffer who is an all purpose part of the band was utterly hidden in the back.

But it was easy to watch Mike when he played a lengthy solo including behind his head during Even Flow  They’ve played that every time I’ve seen them and that and D the Evolution I never get tired of hearing.

I was pretty psyched to hear MFC.

Eddie had a book on stage with him–not sure what it was.  But someone in the crowd said that they had just gotten engaged and they asked if Eddie would come sing at their wedding.  He opened his book and asked which day and they said, how about the following day instead.

I had some songs on my “wanna hear” list that I hadn’t seen them play before.  What was interesting was how many songs were first timers for me at this show although none were on my list.  So we got Red Mosquito, a song I never really thought much about but which was really exciting live.

Another funny thing is that Eddie does a lot of the same things live.  And since most fans have listened to live bootlegs a few times they know the incidental sounds and phrases he does live that aren’t on the record.  So people are singing along to the live recordings of the songs rather than the album.  Which is certainly true for Black.

Eddie also busted out a bottle of wine and proceeded to pour it in solo cups to people around the front–now that would be a fun souvenir!  After playing a fantastic version of Breath, they played one more new song, the high energy Running and then headed into the final song of the set.

It was an arena rocking Rearviewmirror and it was outstanding.

They took a short break and then Eddie came out with a guitar.  He told us Tom Petty gave it to him and then proceeded to play I Won’t Back Down.

A Pearl Jam encore is never just a song or two, it’s practically a mini-set.  So they played a great version of Daughter and a ripping Last Exit (this is the kind of song I’m surprised I’d only seen live once before).  Meanwhile Mike had put on a Rocky T-shirt and Jeff had put on a Sixers jersey for the encore, which was fun.

They played a Mother Love Bone song which is actually the second time I’ve seen them do that.  They followed it with another of my favorite live songs from the State of Love and Trust which blew the roof off.

I don’t think any Pearl Jam show doesn’t have Alive in it, and this one did of course.  It’s really amazing to be in front of thousands of people all singing along.  Usually we’ve been in the back among the singers, but being so close to the stage it almost felt like being in the band having everyone sing to you.

And when they put the house lights on, that’s when I remembered that we were part of some 20,000 people and not the 1,200 or so that I’m used to at a club like Union Transfer.  I had forgotten that this was a big arena show–that’s how personal it felt.

But by far the most incredible feeling was when Eddie made eye contact with me.  And not in a “oh he saw me” way.  I was wearing a Kamala shirt that was written in the style of Motorhead. It was a great shirt and relatively rare.  When they put the lights up I saw him look at my shirt, look at me and smile and nod.  It was insane.  And even more insane because Greta saw it and said that Eddie was going to give me a tambourine.  I had forgotten about the tambourines and never even imagined that that was a possibility.  And then that was all I could think about which meant that I barely paid any attention to Baba O’Riley in hopes that he would throw me a tambo.

Long story short–he never did.

And then with the lights up and everyone rocked out, they played a moody Indifference as we all swayed and were delighted we had such an amazing show.

And, while we were waiting for the crowd to disperse, I saw a woman who grabbed a setlist and I was able to get a photo of it!

The whole wonderful experience was topped off with us having an amazingly close parking spot and somehow avoiding all of the Wells Fargo Center traffic and getting home in a reasonable timeframe.

How could you possibly top it?  By coming back two days later and doing it all over again.

 

®

 

		9/7/2024 (Wells Fargo Center Philly)
		Long Road ϖ
		Low Light ∇ (3)
		Why Go ‰ (4)
		Brain of J ∇
		React, Respond ♣
		Dark Matter ♣
		Given to Fly ∇ (4)
		Wreckage ♣
		Even Flow ‰ (6)
		Do the Evolution ∇ (6)
		MFC ∇ (2)
		Red Mosquito Ø
		Won’t Tell ♣
		Black ‰ (with “We Belong Together” tag) (2)
		Breath § (4)
		Running ♣
		Rearviewmirror ≠ (5)
		encore
		I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty cover) (Eddie solo) (2)
		Daughter ≠ (with Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” tag) (3)
		Last Exit ♦ (2)
		Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns(Mother Love Bone cover) (2)
		State of Love and Trust § (4)
		Alive ‰ (6)
		Baba O’Riley (The Who cover) (2)
		Indifference ≠ (2)
		Note:“Alone” was on the setlist but replaced with “Breath”.