What's your best PJ moment?

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  • Nothingbetter
    Nothingbetter Wichita, KS Posts: 570
    KC '03 - Monsoon and outside venue...everyone soaked but pumped..lights flash on the crowd when RELEASE comes to the chorus and I look over at my (now) wife who didn't grow up on PJ and she has this amazed look on her face..and I see everyone singing in unison. Goosebumps.

    Kissimmee '04 - Honeymoon for wife and I and had spent the day relaxing at the beach...watching Ed dance with Susan Sarandon to "Black"..and was the first time I had heard the song that saved my life live. Tears.

    Atlantic City ' 05 - Won the PJ lottery and got the 2K venue (Borgota) tix for $50 a pop. Was within 15 feet of the stage so got to see every expression from everyone in the band. The closest I've ever been at a PJ concert. Cloud nine.

    Outside of live shows, my fondest memory is cruising the strip here in my home town listening to Ten over and over and over and over and over the entire night....every time we dragged the strip that summer. Luckily, my friends loved PJ too.
    Kansas City 6/12/03 ** Kissimmee 10/9/04 ** Atlantic City 10/1/05 ** Denver 7/2/06 ** Denver 7/3/06 ** Chicago 8/23/09 ** Chicago 8/24/09 ** Kansas City 5/3/10 ** Dallas 11/15/13 ** Oklahoma City 11/16/13 ** St. Louis 10/3/14 ** Tulsa 10/8/14 ** Chicago - Wrigley Field 8/20/16 ** Chicago - Wrigley Field 8/22/16 ** Oklahoma City 9/20/22 ** Ft. Worth 9/15/23 ** Atlanta N2 5/1/25

    EV - St. Louis 7/1/11 ** Tulsa 11/19/12
  • goingtoverona
    goingtoverona Posts: 616
    i have two, the first one that comes to mind was in dallas 2003. i don;t know what it was but stone started that riff to alive and ed yelled out "yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh", it just made me feel so pumped up. also one of the security guards asked if he could take some hi res photos of the band from my spot and he would send copies to me in the mail. the girl i was with was short as fuck so i just stood behind her in her seat.

    second was ed solo in honolulu, i met this really cool girl who got me stoned as hell before the show, and i remember sitting there listening to ed singing in that amazing hawaii theatre thinking " god damn it life is fucking awesome"
    if you think what I believe is stupid, bizarre, ridiculous or outrageous.....it's ok, I think I had a brain tumor when I wrote that.
  • Mitch8415
    Mitch8415 Posts: 227
    I've been a huge fan since the first album, but for years I'd never been to a live show. Something always came up every time they'd come to where I was living or somewhere close enough to drive... it was almost uncanny. I'd be out of town, or I'd have some family obligation, I was dead broke (college), etc.

    On May 16, 2006... I finally went to my first PJ show in Chicago at the United Center. The opener was "Release"... and the first few notes sent chills down my back (and still do when I hear the boot). That's my favorite moment.
    ~ Chicago 5/16/06 ~ Chicago 8/23/09 ~ Chicago 8/24/09 ~
    ~ Kansas City 5/3/10 ~ Alpine Valley 9/3/11 ~ Alpine Valley 9/4/11 ~
    ~ Wrigley Field 7/19/13 ~ Oklahoma City 11/16/13 ~ St. Louis 10/3/14 ~
    ~ Wrigley Field 8/20/16 ~ Wrigley Field 8/18/18 ~ Wrigley Field 8/20/18 ~
    ~ Fenway Park 9/4/18 ~ Denver 9/22/22 ~ Ft. Worth 9/12/23 ~ Wrigley Field 8/29/24 ~
  • BlackCorduroy
    BlackCorduroy Posts: 1,374
    edited March 2010
    seeing them in Seattle this year. I'm a broke college student and couldn't really afford it. But 3 days before the show I decided there was no way I could miss it. PJ in Seattle was always one of my biggest dreams and with the shows being the debut of Backspacer, it seemed too special to pass up. So I made quite the charge on my credit card, scrambled to find a ticket, and took a 48 hour train ride from Chicago. It could not have been more worth it. I could write pages about little stories from that weekend and why it was so special but I'll just say I had the time of my life and fell in love with Seattle.
    Post edited by BlackCorduroy on
  • Lizard
    Lizard So Cal Posts: 12,091
    redsox04 wrote:
    Meeting the band and having some beers backstage in Camden in 06. Then Eddie gave me a tamborine autographed to me. Amazing night.
    That sounds AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    So I'll just lie down and wait for the dream
    Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
  • Divka
    Divka Posts: 200
    Elderly Woman is my favorite song to hear live, because the line "I just want to scream hello/my god it's been too long/never dreamed you'd return/but now here you are, and here I am" because it feels sooooo fitting in the moment of seeing them live. I usually throw my head back and sing my lungs out. In Vegas, July of '06, right after this part of the song, I hear Eddie say "this is all you and that little girl right there," and see him pointing directly in my line of sight. I look behind me thinking, "is there a little girl here or something?" and notice that I'm the only "little girl" he could have been pointing at. I could be mistaken, but I'm fairly certain he saw my empassioned singing and called me out on it. :o And the fact that I have the bootleg and can listen to this moment whenever I want, is too excellent for words.

    Also, drinking out of his wine bottle at another show with everyone else in the front row was pretty effing cool. It was like an odd sort of communion (maybe that's the ex-catholic in me thinking, tho).

    I love this band and their music in a way that no other band could ever match.
    When the stars exploded billions of years ago, they formed everything that is this world. Everything we know is stardust...
  • smobee
    smobee Valparaiso Indiana Posts: 178
    Alpine Valley, 2003.
  • Black73
    Black73 Posts: 1,018
    July '98 - Cox Arena in San Diego. I won radio station tickets from WRIF in Detroit to see Pearl Jam anywhere in continental US, so chose Cali since I'd never been. Standing in line for t-shirts outside the venue before the show, and this middle-aged lady comments on the t-shirt I'm wearing (picture of long-haired Eddie on the back)...she says, "That is the coolest picture of my son I've ever seen."

    In preparation for all the naysayers - and, more importantly, those who would tell me I must have been drunk which I was) - I asked to see her I.D. She chuckles, then obliges: California driver license, Karen Vedder. Naturally I feel like an @$$, so I offer her my shirt - she says Eddie would never forgive her if she took a shirt off a fan's back. We chat for a couple of minutes, I invite my buddy to meet Eddie's mom ("Ma'am, can I see your I.D?" he asks...cue the chuckling), and she tells us that Eddie still drives the same '75 Toyota pickup she helped him buy. It's only at that point I see she has a backstage pass...an idication she MIGHT be someone important. I ask if she can hook us up with an intro to Eddie & the band, but she says she can't bring everyone backstage with her, then politely excuses herself to mingle with the crowd.

    Later on, while inside, we notice her again mingling through the crowd. As the lights go down, she quietly slips backstage, and as quickly as she appeared to us, she disappeared. In a word, unforgettable! I met the subject for "Better Man!"
  • t0mMye
    t0mMye Posts: 821
    First time I popped Ten into my cd player.
    Ten Club # 433608, when I am 80 I will be in the front row!
  • Lone Drawn Meteor
    Lone Drawn Meteor Posts: 1,230
    First time I pooped with Ten in my cd player.
    "If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit." - Mitch Hedberg
  • Roeghmann
    Roeghmann Posts: 969
    The return to Copenhagen in 2007 was a special moment................goosebums
    Run away my son. See it all. Oh see the world.
  • blondieblue227
    blondieblue227 Va, USA Posts: 4,509
    when mike crossed over to my side looked at me and tossed a pick directly at me!

    08 va beach
    *~Pearl Jam will be blasted from speakers until morale improves~*

  • Steve Dunne
    Steve Dunne Posts: 4,965
    It would have to be Boston 1 2008. Went to the show by myself. Met up with the Wishlist crew, and I guess the best part was hanging with new friends who had 1.) given me a 10th row ticket, and 2.) seeing their faces and hearing their stories about being backstage, onstage, sidestage, during the show. Zach's infamous 'melting faces' interview with Mike McCready, and hearing all about it from Nixon (the awesome cameraman). They were in awe. Seeing that, it was special, and I wasn't even a part of it. And anyone in section 2 during the beginning of 'Betterman' will never forget that either.
    I love to turn you on
  • BlackCorduroy
    BlackCorduroy Posts: 1,374
    Steve Dunne wrote:
    It would have to be Boston 1 2008. Went to the show by myself. Met up with the Wishlist crew, and I guess the best part was hanging with new friends who had 1.) given me a 10th row ticket, and 2.) seeing their faces and hearing their stories about being backstage, onstage, sidestage, during the show. Zach's infamous 'melting faces' interview with Mike McCready, and hearing all about it from Nixon (the awesome cameraman). They were in awe. Seeing that, it was special, and I wasn't even a part of it. And anyone in section 2 during the beginning of 'Betterman' will never forget that either.

    That was SUCH a great night and an underrated show in my opinion. Betterman was the greatest fan response I've ever seen...the band didn't even know what to do. I'll never forget that.
  • blondieblue227
    blondieblue227 Va, USA Posts: 4,509
    BlackCorduroy - i never tire of your story. :)


    ed's mom? holy crap!
    *~Pearl Jam will be blasted from speakers until morale improves~*

  • Mookie25
    Mookie25 Seattle Posts: 62
    WOW! This is harder than picking a favorite album or favorite song. I will have to post my top three...
    1. First time I saw PJ live (Toledo, OH 1996)
    2. VIC show
    3. London, ON 2005 (caught Stone’s pick)
    "Said he'll see me on the flip side"

    Toledo 96 ◘ Columbus 00 ◘ Pittsburgh 00 ◘ Cleveland 03 ◘ Pittsburgh 03 ◘ Alpine Valley 03 ◘ Noblesville 03 ◘ Columbus 03 ◘ Toledo 04 VFC ◘ London, ON 05 ◘ Cleveland 06 ◘ Philly I & II 06 ◘ Cincinnati 06 ◘ VIC 07 ◘ MSG II 08 ◘ EV Memphis 09 ◘ Columbus 10 ◘ Cleveland 10 ◘ EV Boston 11 ◘ PJ20 ◘ Wrigley Field 13 ◘ Buffalo 13 ◘ Detroit 14 ◘ Louisville BNB 22 ◘ Noblesville 23 (24)? ◘ Portland 24 ◘ Seattle I & II 24





  • phungi
    phungi Posts: 641
    every time the house lights go down...
    37 PJ Shows, 3 EV Shows, 1134 Total Songs, 24 Different Openers, 9 Different Closers, 252 Unique Songs (never enough)
  • RedMosquito22
    RedMosquito22 Posts: 8,158
    Lollapalooza 1992 at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA. Just getting crushed by the waves of people(was in the front row with my cousin(GTF13 on the message boards). We had to be pulled out and we find ourselves on stage right by Mike(but he was back by the amps) and we slap Eddie's hands as we walk by and come out side stage and chill there for the rest of the set. Unreal.

    Also 1998 night 1 Camden, NJ Row 2. Unreal night.
    Member 164xxx

    8/15/92, 9/28/96, 8/28/98, 8/29/98, 9/18/98, 8/3/00, 8/9/00, 8/10/00, 8/23/00, 8/25/00, 9/1/00, 9/2/00, 4/28/03, 6/18/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 10/1/04, 10/3/05, 6/19/08, 10/27/09, 10/31/09, 5/21/10, 9/3/11, 9/4/11, 10/21/13

    More to Come....
  • Black73
    Black73 Posts: 1,018
    Mookie25 wrote:
    WOW! This is harder than picking a favorite album or favorite song. I will have to post my top three...
    1. First time I saw PJ live (Toledo, OH 1996)
    2. VIC show
    3. London, ON 2005 (caught Stone’s pick)


    Toledo OH 1996 - Savage Hall...that was my first live show too! Did you get your excuse slip from Eddie backstage after the show? Me either!
  • behindtheeyes
    behindtheeyes Posts: 158
    Philly 3 right after Ed said 'now, this is the crowd we've been waiting for'.

    Also:
    Kitchener/London/Hamilton road trip extravaganza w/ a friend who has a kick ass 10c # (thanks, Mike!!)
    We're all different behind the eyes.

    You are U, who you are.

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