First Pearl Jam live experiences.

frazba

Saw them for the first time in 1992 at The Cathouse in Glasgow, I hate to disappoint but, at the time, it didn't strike me as a religious experience. I was living in Edinburgh at the time and seeing bands almost nightly, don't get me wrong, I remember being impressed, but, as a cool and aloof (or so I thought) 22 year old, they didn't tower above the other stuff I was seeing at the time.
I moved to Ireland in '97 (therefore missing them at the aircraft hangar that is the Glasgow SECC in 2000) and at the Point in Dublin the same year (didn't have a car and at the time it was about 5 hours on a bus!!) I next saw them in Dublin in 2006 at the Point and then at the O2, Dublin (The Point, remastered) in 2010 and in Belfast the night after, the Belfast gig remains my favourite, just a great show.
I just wish now I'd realised what I was seeing in '92.

Dirty Mosquito

"The Icebowl" 10/8/2000; as a full band.

Craziest day/night ever! Amazing time!

jck33

January 1995, Constitution Hall, Washington DC, Voters for Choice.
Nothing in my life matches the energy of a PJ crowd and the pure rush of joy from hearing them live. This was the first show of 15 and I can't wait for more. Sat next to two guys who had won their tickets from a radio station. We paid $500 each for ours and it was worth every cent.

veddertown

I wonder how many members here are seeing their first show/shows this summer? What a great feeling, wondering what your first opener will be, doing your first Betterman intro sing-a-long, shouting "hellooooo...." during Small Town, being blown away by the euphoria of Alive right up to it's fist pumping climax, Ledbetter under house lights... Wow, what memories..

traceysimpson

BALLBOY wrote:

Sydney 1995, outdoor show Eastern Ck. After that i was changed forever. Before the first support came out a guy walked out with guitar & no one caught on it was Ed until my mate shouted out "It's Eddie". From then it was total madness. Five things live in my memory from that show,security shitting themsleves when The Meanie's came on & started what i could only describe as biggest seething mass of humanity i have ever seen, the water being thrown(buckets & bottles) on the insane pit for the whole show, Stone destroying his guitar during Blood & some guy made it to the top of the scaffolding in RVM & getting out of the insanity, lying up the back looking at the stars & singing Black like i have never sung it before. Anyone else still around from those days?

Was at the show at the Ent Centre in Sydney the night before....freaking awesome....God I loved the 90's !!!

barger395

My first show was Bridge School, Oct.1 1994. We had been having a great time all day, waiting in total anticipation for PJ to take the stage. they finally do, and Ed sits down on his stool, hunkers over the mic, his hair falling all around...And he starts singing "Walking the Cow" and I distinctly remember asking my buddy, "Is he singing about Walking a Cow or am I just this stoned?" I WAS that stoned, and yes, he was singing "Walking the Cow"...Talk about your UN-anticipated openers!!

Cheers and have a blast at your first show!!
BS

Rozbr

My first experience was in cleveland! May,9th 2010....i'll never forget this date!

They opened with wash.....wow amazing!!!

SVRDhand13

July 23, 2006. I was 20. I had been a fan since I was 5 (literally). Considered myself a die hard since high school. Travelled to The Gorge for my first show ever. Opened with Severed Hand (hence my username). Played a lot off of Vitalogy (my favorite PJ album).

ten-vs-vitalogy

Dublin 1996. I'd been a huge fan since a friend in school played me Jeremy just after Ten came out. My older sister saw them when they supported Neil Young in Slane in '92 but as I was only 13 at the time I couldn't go.

My head nearly blew off when they came out and played Release, I can nearly still feel it. I remember during Animal a girl beside me asked me to calm down and the fact that they played hunger strike and pretty much the whole crowd sang it was full on hairs on the back of your neck moment.

Eddie asked us when they came out for the second encore whether we'd like Leaving Here or Yellow Ledbetter - we chose YL. Part of me feels like that show was yesterday.

stargirl69

frazba wrote:

Saw them for the first time in 1992 at The Cathouse in Glasgow, I hate to disappoint but, at the time, it didn't strike me as a religious experience. I was living in Edinburgh at the time and seeing bands almost nightly, don't get me wrong, I remember being impressed, but, as a cool and aloof (or so I thought) 22 year old, they didn't tower above the other stuff I was seeing at the time.

Very close to my experience at the Cathouse although I was mearly 21 Anything up to 4 or 5 gigs a week in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow to stand out in that volume they had to be really something.They were good but not above anyone else I was seeing at that time.

Saw them again in London twice in 93 and once in 94,93 they were amazing,94 Eddie seemed to have some 'issues' going on,he was wasted on expensive looking red wine.

Never saw them again until 2000 at the SECC,Glasgow,had tickets for Dublin in 2010 on my birthday but I ended up not being able to go.

Will see them again on this tour both Manchester nights.

hrd2imgn

3-10-94 Chicago Stadium

have been hooked since the first note of Release

voodoopug

My first show was St. Louis (Maryland Heights actually) in 2000...first song was Of The Girl. I didn't realize until many years later what a treat it was to hear a performance of "U". I'd catch it a second time several years later in Cleveland!

JOEJOEJOE

December 1991, on a triple bill with RHCPs and Nirvana. Who would have thought that those 3 bands would go on to define the music of the 90s!

Jean Louise Finch

Super excited for you: I get chills just thinking about it. I saw them for the first time in 1998 at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in DC (which was a wild show - lightening strikes, etc). I had been a fan since 1992 but was too young to see them until 98 - and I remember just thinking "this is really happening" again and again. And they opened with Corduroy ("the waiting drove me mad, you're finally here"...) and it just was too perfect as a first lyric to hear. I put a couple of the songs from that set on my PJ video blog, if anyone's interested. Here's that Corduroy, and a pretty kick ass Do the Evolution.

Hugh Freaking Dillon wrote:

First PJ Show: (it was a festival called Sunfest up here near Winnipeg-all Canadian bands, PJ the one non-Canuck-some 50,000 people or something, it was ridiculous)....

Oh, and Hugh Freaking Dillon, Sunfest! I am so jealous. A lot of that show is on YouTube and it looks like it was unbelievably awesome. I put some of that show on my blog, too! Here's Indifference & Sonic Reducer

veddertown

Listening to my first show, Dublin 10 tonight really brought back some great memories of the city and the many people I now call friends who I met there. All those months of anticipation wiped out with one D-chord as Ed strummed the intro to Long Road in near darkness right up to the bittersweet Yellow Ledbetter under full house lights after a rousing set. I wonder how many people going to shows this year are first timers feeling all the same excitement as us who are lucky enough to have seen this great band? I almost envy them for that first song alone. I mean, once you stop believing in Santa Claus there's not much else that gets the butterflies going to that level! Love, anticipating parenthood, um....? :?

Hope everyone gets what they wish for and feel the way I did walking back from the 02....

reesdog

Was 95' in Auckland, NZ for me, under the Supertop at Mt Smart two nights in a row during a sweltering hot summer. Travelled with my mate up from Christchurch and had our minds blown. I think they started with Release or Throw Your Arms around Me originally by Hunters & Collectors. I know they deliberately started the show with a slow song as they were worried about people getting crushed at the front of the stage and the total madness of the crowd. A guy came out before PJ played and told everyone to take 10 steps backwards (fat lot of good that did). When they cranked into the heavy fast numbers, Go, Animal, Blood etc it then became chaos, loved every minute of it. Brought a T-shirt from the gig making my mates back home very jealous, I wore that thing out.

(The version of Blood on the PJ20 soundtrack is from one of these two shows).

jumbojet

Good description. :thumbup:

veddertown wrote:

I wonder how many people going to shows this year are first timers feeling all the same excitement as us who are lucky enough to have seen this great band? I almost envy them for that first song alone. I mean, once you stop believing in Santa Claus there's not much else that gets the butterflies going to that level! Love, anticipating parenthood, um....? :?

Hope everyone gets what they wish for and feel the way I did walking back from the 02....