*** Philadelphia 4 Fanviews Here 10/31/09 ***

BinFrog

decides2dream wrote:

THANK YOU pearl jam for an amazing memory, a brilliant show.....a great way to celebrate my 30th show....

Nice to meet you in the poster line!

behindtheeyes

phungi wrote:

went to all 4 shows, still recuperating from a 6-day Pearl Jam/Phillies bender...

I have tried hard to understand all the negative talk, which was not my experience at all... this was the most amazing week for me, growing up in Philly, and having attended hundreds of events at the Spectrum over the decades... ending this with 4 amazing concerts from the greatest band alive... it is hard to tease apart the 4 shows, as each had a different personality, and seat location, set lists, crowd intensity, and expectations changed from show-to-show.

for me, Night 3 was epic... I had been at the previous Spectrum show (2003), and nothing had ever approached the madness of MSG (2008 - which was my barometer for the greatest, loudest, most intense crowd/setting/band experience ever) until the 3rd night. This may have been the greatest concert I have ever been to, and my concert-going history started in 1978 in the Spectrum.

So, cut to Night 4... there were expectations (special guests, play until 2, try to play every song in the catalog), there was a definite let-down in crowd intensity from Night 3 (almost like people were waiting around to see what was going to happen, rather than making it happen), and the Phillies definitely played a part (lack of ring-card updates was telling). In this regard, there was sadness that it was all coming to an end, exhaustion from the week, and a bit of stupidity for believing all the hype... I felt a small suck-out compared to Night 3 when they played songs like Jeremy, which were just played the night before.

HOWEVER, this band played 4 nights of what they wanted to play... they combined old/new, popular/obscure, fast/slow, traditional/creative (Devo?!) over 4 nights of madness. I do not think I sat down once (other than encore breaks) and danced and sang my head off... regardless of seat location (226, 102, 105, 203) there were tons of people into the show, and some people just there to see what all the Pearl Jam/ending the Spectrum hype was all about. While I would have "given back" a few repeated songs in exchange for Oceans or Release, every song was: what the band wanted to play, what they wanted us to hear, what made the celebration, and what made this 4-day run so incredible... every show stood on its own, and combined to create a unique 5-day 4-concert historical run.

Thank you- well said! DITTO and AMEN!!

realisthis

Ahh, where to begin... Halloween was the only show of this run I was able to attend and I was kind of hoping the rumors of guests wouldn't be true so I would get more PJ time. The whole vibe of the weekend was a bit crazy, chaotic if you will since the World Series was also going on. But yet, I met a lot of good people this weekend and enjoyed every second of it. My only complaint was that I couldn't get there earlier and meet more of you and go to the fundraiser party. Since I was running late and didn't even get to Philly until around 5 -When I did get to my hotel (Embassy Suites) I met a lot of cool fans there. PJ heads, a wedding, World Series Fans, and Football fans for the Giants v Eagles.

This was such a celebratory night indeed. Everyone was in good spirits and just having a grand old time. Awful to hear about some of the unacceptable male abusive behavior some were talking about in line. Next to me was a cute red head who's a long time fan, first show with her I'm assuming little brother who's first concert EVER was PJ halloween! Way to pick em kid! They rocked out hard like to make even veteran ten clubbers proud! I had friends across the arena, on the floor, in the upper decks, and hail hail the lucky ones.. I'm referring to those friends in the 3rd row! People came from all over for this occasion. Many different accents were to be heard all coming together for the one and only PJ.


Wow! Here's my rundown:

Set 1: Why Go - Intro with in Ed in boxing gloves - "This is it!" was priceless and really got everyone going from the get go. Last Exit - personal fav. and always appreciated! You Are - Very underrated Matt Cameron tune! Amongst the Waves - Finally heard live! Pilate - Nice surprise! Unknown Thought - Again, awesome hearing it live finally! Daughter - I almost never get Daughter's. Needless to say I was stoked! Out of My Mind - Yes, I think we all must have been during this show! I Got Shit - One of my personal fav. rocked f'n hard tonight!! Glorified G - Yes, finally!! Most of the other set 1 tunes I've been seeing at the other shows I've been too.

Encore 1: Awesome set hands down. The new mellow stuff sound freakin awesome especially with the string quartet. Thanks to them as well. They added a nice touch! Now, when I saw Ed with the accordion and heard those first notes I almost lost it. I didn't know if I was dreaming or if I was really in the last night of the Spectrum hearing the band about to play Bugs. Everyone around were like deer caught in headlights just staring and trying to figure out what was about to transpire. Thank you for Bugs PJ!! The smirk on Ament's face was priceless during that song.

Earlier in the night Eddie was wearing a shirt and I couldn't make out what it said until he took off his top shirt and it read Devo. Hmm.. Devo? Encore 2 the bands come on stage dressed as Devo. The full costumes, hats, the whole nine. At first I couldn't really see, so I thought maybe the first special guests have arrived. Then, we all figured out it was PJ!!! Whip It was incredible to see them in full costume hamming it up. Another priceless moment in PJ history. Then, I got my first Crown of freaking Thorns and throw in Sweet Lew!?!?!?

Thank Pearl Jam for always coming through and making every night memorable and realizing which nights to step up a notch and realize how to do that. You guys are truly masters at this. After Night 3, all my setlist guesses were pretty much exhausted as to what you guys could whip out to surprise us and yet that is exactly what you did. Yeah, sure everyone and there mother (and maybe Mike's mom in her Kiss costume) thought it would be cool if you played Bugs on Halloween. But, did you actually? Yes! Did you play fast numbers, slow numbers, hits, B sides, rarities, and evern YL? Of course, you guys are the best!

concertaholicshirt

liven2hit wrote:

As for 10C and there ticket procedure/system... GO F*CK yourselves... I was as far away from everything as possible... 400 level...

Not gonna argue that... I was first row in my 400 level seat, but waaaaaaaayyy in the back. I had only joined a few weeks before in the hopes that they'd add some NYC dates, and said, "Why not?," when they added the extra Philly show on a Saturday. I didn't expect great seats unless I won the lottery, but Sec 406 was brutal. I turned down better seats on the public sale figuring that the fan club seats would be equal or better. Was definitely disappointed with how that worked out. However....

...I could not even give the seats away to scalpers (in order to upgrade). How is it that I bought these tickets BEFORE they were on LIVENATION or whatever, and still, I am MILES AWAY from the stage.

Cost me another $50 per ticket in wheeling dealing to be 15th Row on the side of the stage with a great view :P

AND PS to all the "Senior" 10C members...you are always the least excited and least animated sections at every show. If someone did not know better, they would think that PJ was actually an opening act based on how "sleepy" the first 30-40 rows looked...

That view must have been far away, because that's not what I was seeing from where I was. In addition, while being a concertaholic, I'm no where near a PJ super fan like most here, but the 10C members around me definitely added to the night. Hearing their awe and excitement as the rarities kept coming let me know just how special the night was. One guy was a bit miffed at my photography/video work when I went down closer a few times, but even he was civil about it. Hell... even the Philly fans were decent and weren't abusing me for having on a blatantly Yankees (last Stadium game) shirt. In addition, I tolerate being surrounded by weed, so don't begrudge me texting to get score updates or to rub it in to my friends about how freakin' awesome the show and seats were. All in all, a great night from my perspective.

~~~~~~~~~

Hold On wrote:

...if you had to pick only one Pearl Jam show to see for your entire life, this would be the one.

Definitely came away with that feeling after seeing them for the first time, but I'll risk it by going again

BinFrog

phungi wrote:

While I would have "given back" a few repeated songs in exchange for Oceans or Release, every song was: what the band wanted to play, what they wanted us to hear, what made the celebration, and what made this 4-day run so incredible... every show stood on its own, and combined to create a unique 5-day 4-concert historical run.

My guess about Jeremy repeating is that they loved how it worked the night before w/ the string quartet and decided to do it again because they were videotaping the concert and thought it would be great to include.

gems_n_rhinestones

I cannot stop thinking about Friday and Saturday night's shows. I am sitting here at work and it is finally starting to sink in---WOW!!! I am actually crying!!! Tears of joy of course.....

decides2dream

BinFrog wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

THANK YOU pearl jam for an amazing memory, a brilliant show.....a great way to celebrate my 30th show....

Nice to meet you in the poster line!

you too!
i'll tell ya, philly shows were th first US shows in a loooonnnnggggg time that i met so many new people (known for years on the pit, but never met in real life) and it truly ADDED to the enjoyment of already amazing show memories. it all was just so much FUN and pearl jam really, really delivered!




oh and one more comment about the show - i'm with ed, i was psyched there were no 'special guests'....i went for pearl jam and i wanted EVERY minute chock full of pj goodness and i was NOT disappointed!

greggv19

Awesome time. Got SOAKED walking into the show around 8:15 which sucked because our whole group was drenched the whole time. Other than that the night was great.

Never was a fan of inside job until seeing it live. It sounded MUCH better live than on the cd. Smile and I got shit were also really cool as well as opening with why go and then breaking into last exit. Great time. Hope there is a DVD of this.

BoltOfLightnin'

just wanted to say THANK YOU to the band for the most amazing show(s) i've ever been to! i have the worst head cold and i'm sore from standing and dancing and singing friday & saturday night, but it' was soooo worth it! i love this band!

Stasis

Halloween was one of the best shows I've been to in a long, long time. 40 songs. Unreal. I am thankful I got the chance to drive down from New Hampshire to catch it. The whole night was beyond description. Got comp tix right up the side of the stage which were awesome!!
Now, I'm not sure if Ed was serious about never playing Alive again. What does everyone here think?
I can't think of a better way to say goodbye to the Spectrum..........
I'm a little curious how Ed's face is, that was a NASTY pop to the mouth during Porch, I thought he poped a tooth out.......

xavier mcdaniel

BinFrog wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

THANK YOU pearl jam for an amazing memory, a brilliant show.....a great way to celebrate my 30th show....

Nice to meet you in the poster line!

Nice to meet you in the poster line as well, when is now then, soon, how soon, when...

BinFrog

xavier mcdaniel wrote:

BinFrog wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

THANK YOU pearl jam for an amazing memory, a brilliant show.....a great way to celebrate my 30th show....

Nice to meet you in the poster line!

Nice to meet you in the poster line as well, when is now then, soon, how soon, when...

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO??????????????????

ed66

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to the ten club and pearl jam.We had a great time in philly for 3 days went to friday and saturday shows.Had a great time meeting some ten clubbers.Hitting the lottery for saturdays show was the best trick or treat gift i have ever gotten :shock: .you guys as expected were amazing. i am never disapointed hope to see you in boston next year.

NK10452

I was on the floor (102 20th row, dead center) and everyone was going nuts the whole show -- just like they do at every PJ concert. But, seriously, I've been to 16 shows and I can honestly say that I've never surveyed the crowd or tried to gauge whether or not the crowd was "into it" by some completely subjective and unquantifiable standard I have in my head. Why are people studying the crowd rather than enjoying the show? Seems like those are the people who should probably stay at home while we enjoy ourselves, no?

And for the people who are saying that PJ couldn't feed off the crowd or some other nonsense, are you serious? Did you watch the band AT ALL? You can't possibly make the argument that THEY weren't into it Saturday night.

Learn to love yourselves.

realisthis

Exactly people need to learn how to stop letting expectations run their lives otherwise they will never be happy. A friend of mine called the next day and said " No special guests? What a rip off right?" He wasn't at the show. People need to learn to appreciate what they have and what is given to them - You know, like what a lot of PJ's material is about.

melbourneflower

Some pics from Philly 2, 3 & 4:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/sets/72157622593387711/

Whip it good!!

davidtrios

Lots of great stuff at this show..historical

potnik

Just wanted to add a big thank you to the band and the 10 club for securing us enough tickets for this show. Being in Philly for 14 hours and taking 10 hours total to get there and back home was definitely worth it. The show was everything I could have hoped for, the crowd was good it was nice to experience an East Coast crowd although I think the '06 Gorge shows the crowd was as good.

The songs they played made sense since it seems like they might have been recording it and since it is the last show at the Spectrum you have to play a few of the songs that got you to this point in your career. Smile, Pilate, Inside Job, and of course the first time played songs were all highlights. Was also very excited that they closed it down with Ledbetter and not RITFW, nice to shut the place down with one of yours.

Thanks again, here's to hoping they play somewhere a little closer to Reno in 2010. Won't be able to get away as easy with a baby on the way.

Corduroyboy

melbourneflower wrote:

Some pics from Philly 2, 3 & 4:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/sets/72157622593387711/

Whip it good!!

Wicked photos!!! Awesome, just awesome!! The Devo outfits are so great!

Jwmcc

NK10452 wrote:

I was on the floor (102 20th row, dead center) and everyone was going nuts the whole show -- just like they do at every PJ concert. But, seriously, I've been to 16 shows and I can honestly say that I've never surveyed the crowd or tried to gauge whether or not the crowd was "into it" by some completely subjective and unquantifiable standard I have in my head. Why are people studying the crowd rather than enjoying the show? Seems like those are the people who should probably stay at home while we enjoy ourselves, no?

And for the people who are saying that PJ couldn't feed off the crowd or some other nonsense, are you serious? Did you watch the band AT ALL? You can't possibly make the argument that THEY weren't into it Saturday night.

Learn to love yourselves.

That's funny, my wife and I were in the same section same row.

As for the crowd I sometimes take a look around a few times when the lights are on just to see what it looks like, but could care less whether they're all "into it or not". To be honest it was tough to move around on the floor between the narrow spaces between the folded chairs and the wet floors (which was slippery it seems the second people started to file into the arena, very weird).
Jw