Your 1st Show & Your Turning Point Show

jubilairesjl

My first show was Noblesville 2003, I was hooked from that point on.

bicyclejoe

First show: 9/92 Drop in the Park at Magnusson Park Seattle
Turning point: 9/93 With Neil Young and Blind Melon at The Gorge, George, Washington. Epic

DURP

I've been a fan since 92. I never got to see them live till this last year. I spent time in the south. When i lived in Louisiana they played in FL when i lived in Ga they played in LA so i never got a chance to see them live. Now i have alot of freedom to travel since im not in the army anymore. And being disabled i have to do something fun every year now.

StillHere

Staggering Genius wrote:

My first show was in Hyde Park last year. London 2010.

I was living in Wales, and no one would go to the show with me. I was shocked. So I went alone.

I went to London, stood for over eight hours, was squished and exhausted, and had an amazing time.

I loved the DEVO shirt.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhh WELCOME!!!! Welcome to the Big Show!!! Great for you!

StillHere

i'm so happy that everyone is sharing these great memories.

some of you have brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.

not because they're sad...but because your stories allow us to FEEL it all over again...

and because, well, that's just what PJ does to me

StillHere

TunnelThroughDenial wrote:

Good question. I think I have a pretty interesting PJ show career so far. It was pretty nice to grow up in Seattle and finish High School in 1990 right when this was all happening. We all listened to MLB before there was a PJ, we had Bleach before we knew of Nevermind, so it was an exciting time.

I moved from Seattle to Eugene, OR in 1990 so I missed the best of the best but all of my friends were seeing PJ at RCKNDY, were in the Alive and Evenflow videos, etc. . . I kept hearing about this and decided to move back home to play guitar in a rock band with my friends and start seeing these shows.

My 1st show was 9/5/93 at the Gorge with Blind Melon opening and Neil Young closing. I had a great time there but the audio was crap from where I was sitting, I was far away, and it was just OK. They were just playing songs for their upcoming LP, Five Against One

My 2nd show was the one that turned me. I was able to scalp for $100 (yes I know - I did it too) a ticket for the so called Piss Bottle Men show at the Moore Theatre. I think there were two nights in a row and I was at the 2nd show on 2/6/95. We entered just as they were starting to play Release, and stood in the first row behind the orchestra pit so the heads in front of us were at waist/chest level - a perfect close view. They were in the midst of the Vitalogy tour, it was all local Seattle fan club people for the most part, and Neil Young came out to do Mirror/Merkin Ball songs as an encore. The energy was just insane and although I was a major fan by then this sealed the deal.

Honorable mention shows I have been lucky enough to see also:

ARO.Space - secret club show on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Matt Cameron's first show with the band. That was my 3rd show on 5/7/98. Ed told the story of an LP he had bought that day called Last Kiss and they played it too. He also showed us his new Michael Jordan bong. Read about it here - pretty cool http://www.fivehorizons.com/tour/98/arospace.shtml

Back to back Memorial Stadium shows in Seattle 1998 featuring Mr. Pickles batting practice

Somewhere in there I saw Mad Season play their 1st ever show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle and had a beer at the bar next to McCready

I saw them play Phoenix in 2000 - you may know that from the Long Road on Touring Band. Center stage 5th row

I was there two nights at the Gorge in 2006

I saw the two Key Arena shows in 2009 starting the Backspacer Tour.

And oh yeah, I was in LA when Cornell came out for Hunger Strike.

My biggest regret - I could have gone to Drop in the Park but we had band practice that morning and my buddy insisted we practice instead so we could be as good as PJ. We wound up scrapping practice and walking down to the lake where we could hear the sound of the show across the water. Oh well. I think I've done well otherwise!

Next up - two Ed Benaroya shows this summer.......

thanks for the link..awesome story...and amusing..thanks for that..i could have pictured myself right there with you....wish we had a photo of the mj bong

jp307677

I was hooked since my first show, Mansfield, MA #1 in 2000. I went to the show last minute and was overwhelmed by how great the band sounded, the energy of the crowd as they sung literally every word to every song, and how when Ed talked it seemed as if we were his old friends. I immediately became obsessed buying every bootleg I could get my hands on as they just started the program.

Since then, some shows have been better than others (likely because the crowd energy and who I'm sitting next to), but I can't ever say my money wasn't well spent or the boys didn't give it their all. Best live band ever. Period.

DeLukin

First Show: Lollapalooza '92 @ Montage Mountain - talk about a set list:
Why Go, Deep, Jeremy, Breath, Even Flow, Alive, Porch/Improv (Sometimes Happens All the Time)/(Tearing)/(We Want Control of Our Bodies), Rockin' in the Free World

Turning Point Show: Philly '05 - hadn't seen the band in YEARS after getting married, starting a career, having kids, etc. The band opened with Wash and Ed's voice literally gave me chills. I was re-hooked instantly.

Eraserhead

Manchester 2000 was my first and my next show, 6 years later, at the Leeds Festival was my turning point. After seeing them for the second time, I knew that I wanted to see them more and more, and to avoid the long waits between UK shows, to travel.

So 2007 comes around, got lucky with a UK show in London and then went to Germany to see them. Now seen them in 10 different countries on 3 continents and never looked back.

curmudgeoness

I'm late to the concert game.

We lived in Seattle in the '90s, '95-'99, to be exact. I listened to KNDD (or jazz on KPLU ), singing "Flashback Lunch" songs to my baby as he sat in his high chair. PJ songs were all over the radio, of course.

My husband was in grad school, and our eldest was a real handful, to put it mildly, so we had no childcare and no money to pay for it, anyway, so concerts were out of the question. I think we went to one concert while we lived in Seattle -- Lloyd Cole and the Negatives at the Crocodile, and that would have been before the baby was born. Anyway, I digress.

I still miss Seattle terribly. We had our PJ cds to play when we felt especially homesick. Eventually, we got the "Live at the Garden" DVD, thought it was pretty cool, but still had no childcare and now no time.

Our first show ended up being Camden 2 2008. I bought the tickets as a surprise anniversary gift for my husband. We were in the last row of the pavilion; it was amazing. Ed came out to do a pre-set song, and I nearly lost my mind with excitement.

So, that first show was the turning point show for us. We had such a great time that when tickets for Mansfield 1 dropped, we grabbed four and took the kids with us. We took them to all four Spectrum shows, too.

It is a busy year for us -- eldest is applying to college -- but we managed to squeeze in three shows. Next time, there will be more, many more.

pjhawks

1st show '98 in Camden. great show, on the lawn. had a great time

turning point show - 10th Anniversary show in Vegas 10/22/2000. Was in Vegas with some friends for a long weekend and didn't even realize they were playing there until about a week before we went. A whole group of us had tickets to some show in vegas for that night but a buddy of mine decided to blow off that show and try to score PJ tickets. went to box office around 5:00 that night and within 30 minutes had seats one section off to the right from the stage. at that point best seats I ever had for a concert. show of course was amazing. from that point been a die hard. 21 shows and counting at this point.

edit: one of the understated reasons for becoming a die hard too was the bootlegs. getting to relieve the moments. it really is a god send. usually concerts you go to are great but after a while you kind of forget some things. with the bootlegs I get to relieve the moments, who I was with, what the weather was like, what the crowd was like, etc. it's like going to the concert over and over and over again. I think the bootlegs play a very underrated part of what has made this fan base so loyal.

crober72

StillHere wrote:

i can never replace what i would have had if i'd been in the right frame of mind from the start..but hey, i've got it now....and that's all i need


and to my son..i have to say thank you...for listening ..and for sharing...and for being there WAY before i was..and for begging me to take him to Pearl Jam shows instead of the Dead and Jerry shows I'd been hauling him to all those years.. ....he taught me a thing or two didn't he? and now i beg HIM to take me to shows ...not really..we just go together...you may have noticed, depending

so..that's my story..not as interesting and full of excitement and drama as a lot are...but it got me here..and that's what's important. today. in my life..i can't imagine my life without pearl jam. they make me laugh, they make me cry..they make me happy.

see you at the show

ed solo in june..pj20 in the fall..and whatever lies in between

thanks for letting me share...i hope you will too

Singled out the specific points that struck home with me...For me, "Ten" struck during my Freshman/Sophmore years of college. I distinctly remember seeing 'Alive' on MTV and dismissing it because it wasn't "alternative" enough. But it grew on me (as did 'Even Flow')...being completely honest, the real turning point for me in terms of live shows is their episode of MTV Unplugged....that sent me to the store to buy the CD (to replace the cassette copy I'd made from a friend's CD) and also lead me to the "Singles" soundtrack for what is still probably my favorite PJ song (SOLAT). "Vs." cemented my standing as a fan...I waited in line for my copy at a midnight sale mainly just because a couple of friends said we should (and I'd had enough beer by that point in the night to part with $20 which wasn't an insignificant amount of money for me at the time). But that album stuck like no other PJ album has, and even today remains my favorite because listening to any song off of that record takes me instantly back to one of the best semesters I can recall from my college days (or sort of recall, as I turned 21 a few days after its release).

Honestly, I lost the thread by the time Vitalogy came out. PJ was SOOOOO omni-present at the time that it was hard to escape their music....and of course also hard to escape the many immitators, which in hindsight probably had more to do with my feeling about PJ/grunge in particular at the time. For the stretch of "Vitalogy", "No Code" and "Yield", I bought each album within a month or two of it's release date, but the days of lining up to buy the new record on the day it was released were long gone.

Fast forward to '06...."Binaural" was an afterthought I copied from my brother-in-law when he was living with us for a bit. Didn't buy "Riot Act" until long after the fact (not until '09, but I'll ramble to that eventually). The same brother-in-law is telling me how much he likes S/T, which is backed up by the reviews I'd read. He goes to both nights of their stop in Chicago and lends me his bootlegs to listen to. Other friends had commented over the years that the best concert they'd ever seen was PJ. In 93/94 that was a show I'd have done anything to see, but from '95 to '05, probably not unless the tickets were cheap. But I liked what I heard on the boots and mentioned casually to my b.i.l. I'd be interested in going the next time they hit Chicago. So he asks if I would like to go to one of the shows in August '09 at the United Center. Not being as familiar with their catalog as I used to be, I start listening to "No Code" through S/T, download "Lost Dogs" and "Riot Act", check out some other bootlegs that I'd accumulated. Then, on 8/24/09, I returned to the fold as a full fledged PJ fan. I can't believe it took me nearly 20 years to see them live, but it was worth the wait.

As great as 8/24 was, though, it was night 1 of PJ20 that really cemented the deal. The setlist that night was the perfect mix of songs I remembered from the early days ('Breath and a Scream', 'SOLAT', 'Rearviewmirror') and the newer songs I'd become almost as fond of...and, of course, the TOTD reunion, which was awesome. This was the night where I really felt like part of a community of fans that loved a band.....and loved the night so much that night 2, while a great show that I enjoyed, paled in comparison to the way I felt leaving Alpine Valley after the first night.

So "Vs." and 9/3/11 are the two points for me that flipped a switch...turned me from just a fan to something more. As I said, it seems weird that the two are so far apart, but I'm glad I rediscovered just how much I love Pearl Jam and their music...and I think in large part I appreciate it more now (including "Backspacer" and "Lightning Bolt") simply because I'm hearing it as good music, and not some commodity with a label attached to it that for a time made it seem cool and then ultimately like something that was "so nineties".

Only read and replied to the first post in this chain, but looking forward to reading through the rest later to see how others have answered. Thanks for starting this one and for tolerating more rambling.

PJ5a1

hooked since '96 (i was 12) first show 2000 jones beach night 2

turning point.... Of the Girl 2000 jones beach night 2 (my first song)

its_ok

Wow, some amazing stories in here! Cool to see people in here that were around back in the early 90s. Im jelous, such memories you guys have

My first PJ memory that I can date is being disappointed in Who you are when it was released as the first single from No Code Now I of course love both the song and the record. Before that I remember trying to catch Black on the radio with my tape recorder and record it so I could listen to it over and over again. Same thing with Even Flow. That time PJ didnt play Sweden where I live, and I was probably too young to afford it anyway.

First show didnt come until Id been a huge fan for a few years, remember how insanley happy I was when they announced that PJ were going to headline the Roskilde festival in 2000. Id never been to a festival before, convinced my friend to join me and we got our tickets. Later PJ also annonouced they were playing Stockholm two days earlier, I got a ticket for it too, but ended up giving it to my sister as I wouldnt be able to catch both the Roskilde show and the Stockholm show.

Roskilde festival 2000 was mud and rain. 18 years old and first festival. It was standing alone (my friend wasnt a crazy fan like me) in line from early afternoon to get up front.. Then standing for hours in front of the orange stage, waiting, seeing Ziggy Marley and Swedish band Kent. PJ went on stage. Remember the bat on stage. Remember Corduroy, Breakerfall, Even Flow, Daughter, Insignificance. Remember being able to lift my feet from the ground without falling. Eventually I couldnt handle the pressure in combination with the exhaustion. Got lifted from my spot in front of the stage by security guards 5-6 songs into the show. Walked disappointed all the way back to watch the rest of the show just benieth one of the big screens. 1-2 more songs and show was over. Stood there listening to Eddie trying to get the crowd to back up. Found out the day after 9 people had died. Still makes me sad thinking about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjBaeBbMWNs

Took until 2006 until I manged to see them again in Barcelona. From then on its been all amazing memories with shows almost every year up until a week ago

davidvanb

First show was at Rec Hall in State College, PA November 1991. Saw them a few times after that, including the Trocadero Philly show where Ed jumped on me from the balcony, but the major turning point was at the Bryce Jordan Center in 2003, also State College. Mind-blowingly good from start to finish.

Side note: Jo, I saw your son at Philly 10/22 and he was rocking out! Well done!

GlttrGrrl

My first show was the turning point for me. November 1991. I was 15.

I had been listening to a lot of hair metal kind of bands. Back in the days before the internet, bands/agents/labels bought and sold and shared each other's mailing lists (as in actual mail through the post office), and somehow I wound up on Pearl Jam's mailing list even though I had never heard of them. I got a flyer in the mail announcing a free show at CBGB's. I liked going to shows. I liked CBGB, and even though the age limit was 16, I never had a problem getting in starting when I was 14. A free show at CBGB? Hell yes. I knew they were touring with RHCP and Smashing Pumpkins, so I figured they must be good. Maybe the RHCP would show up!

You had to call a certain phone number. I don't really know who I spoke with, but it might have been Kelly Curtis. Who knows? He asked me for my name and asked how many people I could bring to the show. "Uhhhhhh...one?" I didn't know who they were, and I didn't know anyone who knew who they were, either. I spent at least a day trying to convince someone...anyone really...to go to the show with me. Even though I grew up in NYC, not a lot of parents were eager to let their 15 year old kids go to shows, even on a Friday night. I finally convinced this totally crazy girl in my grade to go with me.

We got to the club and there was a line of people outside who couldn't get in. I went inside to the person with the list, and they couldn't find my name. I noticed there was a stack of little padded envelopes that they were giving to people on the fan club list, and the envelope with my misspelled name just happened to be at the top. I pointed at it and said, "That's me." The name didn't match my high school ID (the only ID I had), and I said, "It's not going to match because they misspelled my name, but that's me." The girl handed me the little package, stamped our hands and we went in, grabbed a table near the front where a couple of my friends happened to be. They, too, were invited from some random mailing list, and we spent the time before the show trying to figure out which band was on the same label as Pearl Jam and might have given them our contact info. I remember thinking it was Firehouse. I'm not even kidding.

While we were waiting, and ordering drinks (it was a different time...somehow I could always get alcohol at shows back then), I opened the package, and it had postcards that bands used to use to grow their mailing lists. If you liked a band, they encouraged you to give postcards to people for them to send in to get on the band's mailing list. It also had two, untouched tickets to the show inside. They never ripped our tickets! I didn't even know we had tickets until then. Instead of even having the foresight to save it as a souvenir (I still didn't know who Pearl Jam even was), I told my friend to take the tickets and give them to the first two people waiting in line out front. So, if some random person gave you tickets in front of CBGB on November 8, 1991, those were from me

After the band played a few songs, I was literally standing on my chair, rocking out, even though I didn't know a damn word to a single song. After the show, instead of hanging around and trying to meet the band, which was totally my MO at the time, I literally ran to Tower Records, a few blocks away, and bought Ten on cassette. I went back to CBs to hang out, and spent too much time talking to some hot guys in some local hair rock band and some abusive DJ from the local hard rock station. And I never met any of the guys in Pearl Jam. I still kick myself for that. But I was a fan from the very first show. Last night in Charlottesville was my 30th show in almost exactly 22 years, and the band still surprises me. I become a fan anew every single time.

You'd think that my 10C number would be higher since I was on their list & in the 10 Club from the start (I wish I knew where all those old newsletters were!), but when they started charging for fan club membership, I literally could not afford to pay the $5 they asked. I wrote them a scathing letter because I was so offended that they would actually charge me to be a fan. I was a teenager. I was very self-righteous. I was also very poor. I cried over it. I wish I could have the 10C number I would have had if I hadn't been so poor and indignant.

JH6056

GlttrGrrl wrote:

My first show was the turning point for me. November 1991. I was 15.

I had been listening to a lot of hair metal kind of bands. Back in the days before the internet, bands/agents/labels bought and sold and shared each other's mailing lists (as in actual mail through the post office), and somehow I wound up on Pearl Jam's mailing list even though I had never heard of them. I got a flyer in the mail announcing a free show at CBGB's. I liked going to shows. I liked CBGB, and even though the age limit was 16, I never had a problem getting in starting when I was 14. A free show at CBGB? Hell yes. I knew they were touring with RHCP and Smashing Pumpkins, so I figured they must be good. Maybe the RHCP would show up!

You had to call a certain phone number. I don't really know who I spoke with, but it might have been Kelly Curtis. Who knows? He asked me for my name and asked how many people I could bring to the show. "Uhhhhhh...one?" I didn't know who they were, and I didn't know anyone who knew who they were, either. I spent at least a day trying to convince someone...anyone really...to go to the show with me. Even though I grew up in NYC, not a lot of parents were eager to let their 15 year old kids go to shows, even on a Friday night. I finally convinced this totally crazy girl in my grade to go with me.

We got to the club and there was a line of people outside who couldn't get in. I went inside to the person with the list, and they couldn't find my name. I noticed there was a stack of little padded envelopes that they were giving to people on the fan club list, and the envelope with my misspelled name just happened to be at the top. I pointed at it and said, "That's me." The name didn't match my high school ID (the only ID I had), and I said, "It's not going to match because they misspelled my name, but that's me." The girl handed me the little package, stamped our hands and we went in, grabbed a table near the front where a couple of my friends happened to be. They, too, were invited from some random mailing list, and we spent the time before the show trying to figure out which band was on the same label as Pearl Jam and might have given them our contact info. I remember thinking it was Firehouse. I'm not even kidding.

While we were waiting, and ordering drinks (it was a different time...somehow I could always get alcohol at shows back then), I opened the package, and it had postcards that bands used to use to grow their mailing lists. If you liked a band, they encouraged you to give postcards to people for them to send in to get on the band's mailing list. It also had two, untouched tickets to the show inside. They never ripped our tickets! I didn't even know we had tickets until then. Instead of even having the foresight to save it as a souvenir (I still didn't know who Pearl Jam even was), I told my friend to take the tickets and give them to the first two people waiting in line out front. So, if some random person gave you tickets in front of CBGB on November 8, 1991, those were from me

After the band played a few songs, I was literally standing on my chair, rocking out, even though I didn't know a damn word to a single song. After the show, instead of hanging around and trying to meet the band, which was totally my MO at the time, I literally ran to Tower Records, a few blocks away, and bought Ten on cassette. I went back to CBs to hang out, and spent too much time talking to some hot guys in some local hair rock band and some abusive DJ from the local hard rock station. And I never met any of the guys in Pearl Jam. I still kick myself for that. But I was a fan from the very first show. Last night in Charlottesville was my 30th show in almost exactly 22 years, and the band still surprises me. I become a fan anew every single time.

You'd think that my 10C number would be higher since I was on their list & in the 10 Club from the start (I wish I knew where all those old newsletters were!), but when they started charging for fan club membership, I literally could not afford to pay the $5 they asked. I wrote them a scathing letter because I was so offended that they would actually charge me to be a fan. I was a teenager. I was very self-righteous. I was also very poor. I cried over it. I wish I could have the 10C number I would have had if I hadn't been so poor and indignant.

That... Is one AWESOME story! I love how many details you still remember, including talking to the hot local hair band guys instead of looking for PJ. Love it! and your indignance at the $5 is pretty cool too! I'd say the band is very lucky to have such free-thinking fans still passionate about them 22 tears later. Thanks for posting!

GlttrGrrl

Thanks!

nevmiles

Honestly, my first show WAS the show that got me hooked . . . had a blast (Barrie ON, August 22, 1998). I was a "casual" fan before that, but once I saw them live, I became obsessed with getting bootlegs and hearing live stuff etc. and then as soon as I heard they were coming nearby again in 2000, I went to back-to-back shows on that tour and have tried to see them whenever I can since!

axellaire8

My first show was in 1996 in Paris because they don't came in my country. It was so good!!!! People were crazy (so rare in France that I have to precise).
I'll have to wait amsterdam 2012 to see a show like this one!