I didn't want to clutter up the board with all of this but upon arriving home last night, I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to chronicle evrything I could remeber from the incredible experience that was PJ20. I don't want to forget even the smallest of deatils so I am frantically trying to write it all down before it escapes my brain. I've never done anything like this before so hopefully it's not terrible, but I decided to start a blog that will hopefuly serve as a snapshot of the entire weekend. I've got lots of pics and I'm trying to cram in as much detail as possible. My hope is that this will act as a little reminder to those that were there of the awesome time we all had, and for those that weren't there, hopefully this will offer a little window into what it was like to be at this truly unique experience. It's going to take some time for me to get everything up and I am trying to go through in chronological order so hopefully some of you will find this fun or interesting but it is just one person's perspective of a truly amazing weekend and not representative of what anyone else may have experienced. Hope it serves it's purpose and sorry if it ends up sucking. Like I said, I will continue to add to it as I can. Here's the link...
Not bitter..I had a family wedding today...I'm am as hardcore as they come....80 plus shows all over the USA....Hawaii twice.....so iam very hardcore....just saying it wasn't epic setlist wise for me..
Philly 3 and MSG 2 blow this set out of the water[/quote]
Well you WEREN'T there, that's the main thing that irritates me is when people say, the set list didn't look that good to me, Philly 3 and MSG blows this set out of the water??? HELLO you WEREN'T there, I saw the Grateful Dead 169 time and I can tell you without a doubt, that there were SEVERAL great shows that if you look at the set list it looked like just another show, but you wouldn't be able to make the determination UNLESS you were there! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Saturday's set list was awesome. All the complainers should just stay home next time. You just witnessed 1 of 2 shows in the US for PJ20. You were a part of history. Find another band to complain about!!!
I WON THE FREAKIN' LOTTERY FOR NIGHT 1, 2nd row right in front of Mike...so I'm tired of all the 'non-attendants' taking a piss out of Night 1...granted the set didn't flow like we're used to, but it was indeed EPIC...I don't need to review songs, etc but it was worth the trip from Eastern PA and I'm glad I was in the nosebleed Lawn for Night 2, that set was more for the casual fan...
I got a Mike pic and my gf, PearlJGirl2010 got a Jeff pic...we were pretty impressed with we witnessed...that is all...
I met my wife here...you can too! Don't lose hope!
(didn't know that WMA11 just posted--couldn't have planned that if I wanted to!!)
Both nights were awesome, just different from each other...which made it an amazing weekend. Lottery seats aside (which were UNREAL, by the way), I had so much fun jumping around like a crazy person, seeing so many of my PJ friends, discovered some great bands and saw PEARL JAM. no complaints here...I'm just glad I was there :-)
Ah.. Night one.. Row P on Stones side. My 18th PJ show. A couple guys from Italy on one side of us and a couple from Iowa on the other side of us. How cool is that… Heard Who You Are, Push Me, Pull Me, Education, Deep and In The Moonlight all for the first time. Josh Homme was awesome on that song. With hearing Deep I finally Have heard Ten in its entirety live. Chris Cornell sounds like a million bucks live. And the boys covers of Love, Reign O’er Me and Arms Aloft were brilliant. And the cherry on top was hearing Help Help for the 2nd time….
E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14
NOT ONE COMPLAINT...not about the rain... not about the set list..the people there were so nice, felt like we were all friends for years (like 20 yrs).i didn't want it to end.here's to another 20 yrs of amazing inspirational music...love you guys(PJ)
I didn't want to clutter up the board with all of this but upon arriving home last night, I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to chronicle evrything I could remeber from the incredible experience that was PJ20. I don't want to forget even the smallest of deatils so I am frantically trying to write it all down before it escapes my brain. I've never done anything like this before so hopefully it's not terrible, but I decided to start a blog that will hopefuly serve as a snapshot of the entire weekend. I've got lots of pics and I'm trying to cram in as much detail as possible. My hope is that this will act as a little reminder to those that were there of the awesome time we all had, and for those that weren't there, hopefully this will offer a little window into what it was like to be at this truly unique experience. It's going to take some time for me to get everything up and I am trying to go through in chronological order so hopefully some of you will find this fun or interesting but it is just one person's perspective of a truly amazing weekend and not representative of what anyone else may have experienced. Hope it serves it's purpose and sorry if it ends up sucking. Like I said, I will continue to add to it as I can. Here's the link...
Spent part of my lunch time reading your blog. Enjoyed what I have read so far. I like to journal my trips too, but it seems like by the time I get to it, I've forgotten a lot.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Ghandi
I cant beleive that i read... I cant did the travel to Alpine Valley and i suffered a lot to not been there and some people that had the golden oportunity to being there and post complaints??? Whats up with you guys!!! And you call you Pearl Jam fans???? It was a very unusual setlist, that we never will see it again!!! full of rare songs and colaborations!!! I cant wait for the cd and dvd!!! And most, i cant wait for the Pearl Jam show in Mexico!!!! PEARL JAM ROCKS!!!!! HAPPY 20 ANIVERSARY!!! just begin...
I fully agree.. I am just now starting to come down from the high that was PJ20. PJ20!!!!! I feel SO incredibly lucky, blessed, and grateful to have had the opportunity to attend. I was a part of the 20th anniversary festival for my favorite band in the world and I am so proud. Do you know how many people would have killed to be there? I am so grateful.
Thank you so much, Pearl Jam, for one of the greatest, most surreal weekends of my life. I'd drive the 15 hours again in a heartbeat. Met some of the most amazing people from all over the world, and I truly couldn't be happier. It was up to PJ what they wanted to play, and I will never ever complain, because I was lucky enough to be there get to see PJ a thousand miles away for their 20th Anniversary celebration. It doesn't get any better than that.
We spent night 1 towards the front of the Ten Club lawn section and had a wonderful time! I personally LOVED the fact that this night was filled with lesser known songs and wouldn't have changed a thing about it. One of the highlights of the nights for me was In the Moonlight with Josh Homme - beautiful!
like i said on the radio show yesterday...hearing Release blew me away. it was the 1st time that i'd heard it live since my Dad passed away. it was cathartic...it was a release. everything else was just icing on the cake.
I LOVED the set in it's entirety and was thrilled to see Chris Cornell out there! By letting him have a bit of the spotlight, Eddie was really honoring what was the beginning of Pearl Jam; he was humble enough to sing backup and pay homage to all the players that created this phenomenal band.
I didn't want to clutter up the board with all of this but upon arriving home last night, I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to chronicle evrything I could remeber from the incredible experience that was PJ20. I don't want to forget even the smallest of deatils so I am frantically trying to write it all down before it escapes my brain. I've never done anything like this before so hopefully it's not terrible, but I decided to start a blog that will hopefuly serve as a snapshot of the entire weekend. I've got lots of pics and I'm trying to cram in as much detail as possible. My hope is that this will act as a little reminder to those that were there of the awesome time we all had, and for those that weren't there, hopefully this will offer a little window into what it was like to be at this truly unique experience. It's going to take some time for me to get everything up and I am trying to go through in chronological order so hopefully some of you will find this fun or interesting but it is just one person's perspective of a truly amazing weekend and not representative of what anyone else may have experienced. Hope it serves it's purpose and sorry if it ends up sucking. Like I said, I will continue to add to it as I can. Here's the link...
Just been nosing around your blog Heisenberg - wow, great writing, and the whole site looks great - really works as a fitting kind of memento to the occasion. I enjoyed reading about the moustache movement, and the PJ sets especially. Good work!
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After a few days of recouping.... This was my 25th PJ show, and I had a great time. Before the show, we met and talked with some great PJ fans from Australia. I sat pretty much dead-center, a few rows in front of the soundboard. Behind me, were two more native Australians, and next to me was a Canadian. I'm not sure if I had a conversation with another American, other than my friends! The day was spent catching up with friends, and we made our way in to the venue during Mudhoney, and down to our seats for PJ.
I thought the concert was amazing. I really enjoyed Education and in the Moonlight. I usually hate songs on bootlegs with guest singers, so I'll be interested to see if these will be any different. In the moment, I loved them, and that's what I'll choose to remember! Liam Finn made quite an impression on me. Not only did he look like Zach Galifinakis, but he rocked his ass off.
Chris Cornell made the show for me. Stardog Champion was amazing; that was the first time I truly enjoyed the song (I'm not a fan of Andy's Axle Rose-ish voice). The 3 TOTD songs were a perfect fit, and gave Ed a chance to chill for a few minutes and smoke something.
The end of the show seemed abrupt to me; I was not expecting KOTJ to be the last song, but it makes sense if they ran out of time.
It took two hours to get out of the parking lot, but was well worth it!
1998: Alpine night 2
1999: Alpine Tibetan Freedom Concert (ed)
2000: Tampa, Jones Beach x3, Alpine, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincy, Seattle x2
2003: Champaign, St. Louis, Chicago, Alpine, Indy, KC, Council Bluffs, Philly x2
2004: St. Louis
2006: Chicago x 2
2010: Indy
2011: Alpine x 2
like i said on the radio show yesterday...hearing Release blew me away. it was the 1st time that i'd heard it live since my Dad passed away. it was cathartic...it was a release. everything else was just icing on the cake.
thank you, Pearl Jam.
and thanks to the 10C for our great seats!
That was moving, hearing you speak on the radio about that. Must have been very intense for you
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There were fewer people on the shuttle from Des Plaines than I expected and we watched the sky with increasing worry as we neared the venue. I realized we weren't getting dropped off at the front and laughed at the rain in my poncho, thankful that Saturday was my reserved night. woot woot! Didn't win the lottery. Well, I kind of did - look at those goodies that came with the tickets!
One bathroom stop, awesome t-shirt and beer later we found our seats and were DELIGHTED. Much closer than I expected and dead center. Once again, woot woot. On my left and down a few seats sat Dan from Chicago - nice guy who ended up being on our shuttle bus back. On my sister's right was a couple from Denver who just came for the night. Drunk guy from Indiana came in a two seats to my left and puked about 15 minutes before PJ even came on. I felt really bad for him. and his nice brother.
I liked Mudhoney more than I expected. Still don't care for QOTSA (sorry Morgan) but really dug The Strokes.
But none of them compared to the band of the hour. PJ came out and swept me away.
An AWESOME set - no matter what anyone else has been saying. this night alone, 16 new songs for me (this was show #7)! My absolute favorites were: Education, Breath, Help Help, and Deep.
And then Chris Cornell came out. Holy Shit! I never thought I would see any TOTD. Never. Ever. I appreciated the celebration of PJ's roots and, although they didn't play my faves from that album, I am grateful that I got to witness what they did choose to share with us.
Love Reign O'er Me really surprised me. Wasn't a big fan before. I am now! Kick Out the Jams - not really familiar with it, but found it a fun way to end the show.
All in all - A FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC SHOW. One of my absolute favorites, not just PJ, but out of all I've seen.
Took a week to reflect on PJ20 and put down my thoughts. My main conclusion is this night was for the hardcore, lifelong PJ fans who know every song, love the obscure, rarely played tracks. There were 2 songs they hadn't played before, not including ToTD tracks, and 4 others they had played only 10 times or less live. Even the 10 track "Deep" had only been played for the 3rd time since 2003. I really enjoyed hearing songs I wasn't familiar with like "In the Moonlight", and the Temple of the Dog songs with Chris Cornell, but I do agree his time on stage was probably 1 or 2 songs too long. Especially in light of the revelation that 4-5 PJ songs were left off the performance because clearly they ran outta time.
I don't claim to be a hardcore fan, but I definitely think I'm above just a casual fan, and don't need to hear Even Flow on every setlist, but like many people enjoy the songs I know well and can sing. So the night couldn't have started any better than it did with Release. To stand there amongst 35,000 people and hear the passion, energy and spirit of the crowd singing along with Eddie, that was magical, I still get chills when I replay it on youtube. Then Arms Aloft. Well lets just say I think that wasn't a great choice as 2nd song. Especially after they subsequently ripped through DTE and Got Some. Maybe a "Severed Hand" or "Corduroy", while often filling that spot in the setlist would have really revved the crowd up for like 15-20min straight.
There were 5 songs I was really hoping for, ones I either haven't heard or not for a long time, and I got two of them being Breath and RVM. I thought night 1's versions of both were incredible, and better than any version I have on bootleg CDs. The guitar solo in Breath was unreal, McCready never ceases to amaze. Even though RVM is often played, I manage to miss it, and was really glad they opened the 2nd set with it, and thought they nailed it and had everybody pumped up.
The Temple of the Dog/MLB set was definitely cool, but again, maybe 3 songs instead of 4. Cornell was out there for like 25 minutes given the length of the songs, that's alot for a 2 1/2 hr show. But, reflecting back, its not like you are gonna hear Hunger Strike with Eddie/Chris too often, and just that alone was worth the trip from California.
Would have been great if they had timed it a little better, starting late and not finishing all the songs they had intended to play was a little disappointing. Not sure why they didn't schedule better, like starting Mudhoney 45min to 1 hr earlier in the day so that the "curfew" wouldn't be an issue which it clearly was given the abrupt ending of the show with Kick Out the Jams. After Porch they must have been told "5 more minutes" or something as I would think they'd have played Indifference at the end if that wasn't the case. Definitely a bit of a headscratching ending.
Alot of rarities, alot of covers and limited exposure to the main studio albums was what Night 1 entailed. I get it, and I loved it. Was it my ideal set list, did I hear all my favorites? No for sure, but I understand how awesome and rare of a show that was and completely appreciate it, and was so glad I was in attendance. Also loved that the rain stopped in time for the main stage performances and it turned out to be a very nice evening. Met a bunch of cool PJ fans and had a blast.
9/8/98 Newark, NJ, 10/31/00 Mountain View, CA, 10/20/01 Mountain View, CA (Bridge School 15), 7/6/06 Las Vegas, NV, 8/28/09 SF, CA, 10/31/09 Philly, PA, 10/23/10 Mountain View, CA (Bridge School 24), 09/03/11 Alpine Valley, WI, 11/23/13 LA1, 10/20/14 Milwaukee, WI
The rain couldn't stop anyone for the first night of PJ20 show. My first night I was at the lawn and the people around me were as excited as I was for the show to start. We were talking about what song PJ might open the set with, lot's of interesting choices (mine was Wash) but we didn't think Release was going to be the one.
We were all happy when we heard it, Release was just beautiful! It gave me goosebumps.
These were my other hightlights: Setting Forth - Hearing it on the EV solo show was amazing but with PJ WOW! Really great. Not For You - With Julian Cassablancas from the Strokes sounded fantastic when the slow part begins of "all that's sacred" and the rest of the song. In the Moonlight - With Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Brilliant!!! I loved it. (Hope an official bootleg will be available soon) Josh voice just went good in this song. Deep - I can't never get bored of this song live. Help Help - Wow from Riot Act...Not bad live Breath - Simply AMAZING! just hearing everyone sing along felt magical Education - With Liam Finn was great to experience it. Liam had so much energy on stage. Loved the way he and Eddie sounded together. SOLAT - A gem of a song. This is def a crowd favorite. Has so much momentum and had us going crazy at the lawn (specially me)
For the Encore:
I was so happy to finally had the opportunity to experienced TEMPLE OF THE DOG live!!! I had chances to see them but for some reason something always happened and never could make it to those shows. Stardog Champion - Really nice start to what was going to be delivered by Chris Cornell and the gang. Mother love Bone tune will be always be a special one to experience for Andy Wood.
The rest of the TOTD songs I just noticed others being involved. I was too excited and was singing along that can't remember details. Hunger Strike was out of this world!
Porch - is always a goodie to see live. Eddie looked like he wanted to climb something but I guess changed his mind.lol
The second Encore: Kick out the Jams - With Mudhoney!!!! Man what a way to end the first night with a classic!
I had a wonderful night. Met lot's of people from everywhere. The opening bands were spectacular. First time seeing Mudhoney and the Strokes. Really great live. Queens of the Stone Age rocked big time.
I am so grateful that I was lucky enough to score tix during the F5 fiasco and the copy and paste link to get PJ20 tix. I left that night wanting more PJ and TOTD...
This was my favorite of the two nights. It's a great set list. In the Moonlight has been one of my faves for a long time, so I was to glad to hear it played for the 1st time, and I hope it won't be the last, although they nailed it. So many other highlights - In My Tree, Education, Deep... Porch was a scorcher! That whole show was a highlight. The TOTD reunion was great too, the first night anyway. Night 2 started off strong, but then fizzled out... and it started before TOTD came on again, but their set just killed it. Wasn't feeling RITFW at all, in fact I rarely do anymore. Ha, I'm trying not to bitch. It was great to be with so many friends and I had one of the best times of my life, but I just wish the 2nd show could've blown my mind like the 1st one did.
The Strokes were great both nights, but I'm sorry, Julian's vocals did not work on either of the songs he sang on (Not for You night 1, and Red Mosquito was even worse night 2). I've checked them out on YouTube since, and yep, my initial thoughts were right. They're unlistenable to. But I was only a casual Strokes fan before these shows, and I'm more of a fan now. It's strange... I also don't like Ben Harper's duets with Eddie, but Ben Harper by himself is great... it's like that with Julian. But Josh Homme and Eddie sound great together. Maybe it's just me.
All in all, it was well worth driving to Wisconsin from Massachusetts and back with a good friend... the road trip was half the fun. PJ is always a great excuse to hit the road!
This is Tyler. The guy I met from Austin who took his mom to PJ20 hit me up. I want to know what you and your mom thought of the weekend? It was really nice talking with you and I'm glad that our paths crossed.
Everything I expected and more! Like the guy said in the video clip, This was my Woodstock!
+1. That was what I was telling people when I said I was goin to America for a rock concert. I was like 'imagine if you'd had the chance to go to Woodstock?! So yep, sure as hell my Woodstock too!
<hr>
PJ - Auckland 2009; Alpine Valley1&2 2011; Man1, Am'dam1&2, Berlin1&2, Stockholm, Oslo & Copenhagen 2012; LA, Oakland, Portland, Spokane, Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle 2013; Auckland 2014
EV - Canberra, Newcastle & Sydney 1&2 2011
I know some thought it was erratic and there was too much Chris, however, I LOVED it! Although, night two was more fun and like a "typical" PJ show, night one was amazing in it's own special way.
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Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
I can't believe they went both nights of PJ20 without playing Corduroy. At one time, that song was practically Ed's personal mission statement.
for the least they could possibly do
Philly 3 and MSG 2 blow this set out of the water[/quote]
Well you WEREN'T there, that's the main thing that irritates me is when people say, the set list didn't look that good to me, Philly 3 and MSG blows this set out of the water??? HELLO you WEREN'T there, I saw the Grateful Dead 169 time and I can tell you without a doubt, that there were SEVERAL great shows that if you look at the set list it looked like just another show, but you wouldn't be able to make the determination UNLESS you were there! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
4/5,6/9/2003, 9/1/05, 12/7/2005, 7/15,16,18/2006, 8/5/2007
6/24,25/08,6/27/08,6/28/08,6/30/08
9/21,22/2009, 10/4/2009
5/6,7,9/2010, 9/3/2011 9/4/2011, 11/15/2013,
11/16/2013, 12/8/2013, 10/5/2014, 10/12/2014,
4/23, 5/10, 5/12, 8/20, 8/22 2016,
8/8, 8/10, 8/18, 8/20 2018, 5/12, 5/13, 9/20 2022
One of my minor complaints...if only because I don't know that I could ever get tired of hearing that one live.
I got a Mike pic and my gf, PearlJGirl2010 got a Jeff pic...we were pretty impressed with we witnessed...that is all...
Both nights were awesome, just different from each other...which made it an amazing weekend. Lottery seats aside (which were UNREAL, by the way), I had so much fun jumping around like a crazy person, seeing so many of my PJ friends, discovered some great bands and saw PEARL JAM. no complaints here...I'm just glad I was there :-)
Whatever you are, be a good one --Lincoln
https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
Spent part of my lunch time reading your blog. Enjoyed what I have read so far. I like to journal my trips too, but it seems like by the time I get to it, I've forgotten a lot.
I fully agree.. I am just now starting to come down from the high that was PJ20. PJ20!!!!! I feel SO incredibly lucky, blessed, and grateful to have had the opportunity to attend. I was a part of the 20th anniversary festival for my favorite band in the world and I am so proud. Do you know how many people would have killed to be there? I am so grateful.
Thank you so much, Pearl Jam, for one of the greatest, most surreal weekends of my life. I'd drive the 15 hours again in a heartbeat. Met some of the most amazing people from all over the world, and I truly couldn't be happier. It was up to PJ what they wanted to play, and I will never ever complain, because I was lucky enough to be there get to see PJ a thousand miles away for their 20th Anniversary celebration. It doesn't get any better than that.
thank you, Pearl Jam.
and thanks to the 10C for our great seats!
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What an amazing weekend!
I felt gifted.
Just been nosing around your blog Heisenberg - wow, great writing, and the whole site looks great - really works as a fitting kind of memento to the occasion. I enjoyed reading about the moustache movement, and the PJ sets especially. Good work!
Send my credentials to the house of detention
I thought the concert was amazing. I really enjoyed Education and in the Moonlight. I usually hate songs on bootlegs with guest singers, so I'll be interested to see if these will be any different. In the moment, I loved them, and that's what I'll choose to remember! Liam Finn made quite an impression on me. Not only did he look like Zach Galifinakis, but he rocked his ass off.
Chris Cornell made the show for me. Stardog Champion was amazing; that was the first time I truly enjoyed the song (I'm not a fan of Andy's Axle Rose-ish voice). The 3 TOTD songs were a perfect fit, and gave Ed a chance to chill for a few minutes and smoke something.
The end of the show seemed abrupt to me; I was not expecting KOTJ to be the last song, but it makes sense if they ran out of time.
It took two hours to get out of the parking lot, but was well worth it!
1999: Alpine Tibetan Freedom Concert (ed)
2000: Tampa, Jones Beach x3, Alpine, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincy, Seattle x2
2003: Champaign, St. Louis, Chicago, Alpine, Indy, KC, Council Bluffs, Philly x2
2004: St. Louis
2006: Chicago x 2
2010: Indy
2011: Alpine x 2
That was moving, hearing you speak on the radio about that. Must have been very intense for you
Send my credentials to the house of detention
One bathroom stop, awesome t-shirt and beer later we found our seats and were DELIGHTED. Much closer than I expected and dead center. Once again, woot woot. On my left and down a few seats sat Dan from Chicago - nice guy who ended up being on our shuttle bus back. On my sister's right was a couple from Denver who just came for the night. Drunk guy from Indiana came in a two seats to my left and puked about 15 minutes before PJ even came on. I felt really bad for him. and his nice brother.
I liked Mudhoney more than I expected. Still don't care for QOTSA (sorry Morgan) but really dug The Strokes.
But none of them compared to the band of the hour. PJ came out and swept me away.
An AWESOME set - no matter what anyone else has been saying. this night alone, 16 new songs for me (this was show #7)! My absolute favorites were: Education, Breath, Help Help, and Deep.
And then Chris Cornell came out. Holy Shit! I never thought I would see any TOTD. Never. Ever. I appreciated the celebration of PJ's roots and, although they didn't play my faves from that album, I am grateful that I got to witness what they did choose to share with us.
Love Reign O'er Me really surprised me. Wasn't a big fan before. I am now! Kick Out the Jams - not really familiar with it, but found it a fun way to end the show.
All in all - A FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC SHOW. One of my absolute favorites, not just PJ, but out of all I've seen.
artsymcgee.com</a>
My highlights...Temple of the Dog Reunion...a dream come true for me!
Release, In My Tree, Into the Moonlight, Who you Are, Breath & SOLAT!
I don't claim to be a hardcore fan, but I definitely think I'm above just a casual fan, and don't need to hear Even Flow on every setlist, but like many people enjoy the songs I know well and can sing. So the night couldn't have started any better than it did with Release. To stand there amongst 35,000 people and hear the passion, energy and spirit of the crowd singing along with Eddie, that was magical, I still get chills when I replay it on youtube. Then Arms Aloft. Well lets just say I think that wasn't a great choice as 2nd song. Especially after they subsequently ripped through DTE and Got Some. Maybe a "Severed Hand" or "Corduroy", while often filling that spot in the setlist would have really revved the crowd up for like 15-20min straight.
There were 5 songs I was really hoping for, ones I either haven't heard or not for a long time, and I got two of them being Breath and RVM. I thought night 1's versions of both were incredible, and better than any version I have on bootleg CDs. The guitar solo in Breath was unreal, McCready never ceases to amaze. Even though RVM is often played, I manage to miss it, and was really glad they opened the 2nd set with it, and thought they nailed it and had everybody pumped up.
The Temple of the Dog/MLB set was definitely cool, but again, maybe 3 songs instead of 4. Cornell was out there for like 25 minutes given the length of the songs, that's alot for a 2 1/2 hr show. But, reflecting back, its not like you are gonna hear Hunger Strike with Eddie/Chris too often, and just that alone was worth the trip from California.
Would have been great if they had timed it a little better, starting late and not finishing all the songs they had intended to play was a little disappointing. Not sure why they didn't schedule better, like starting Mudhoney 45min to 1 hr earlier in the day so that the "curfew" wouldn't be an issue which it clearly was given the abrupt ending of the show with Kick Out the Jams. After Porch they must have been told "5 more minutes" or something as I would think they'd have played Indifference at the end if that wasn't the case. Definitely a bit of a headscratching ending.
Alot of rarities, alot of covers and limited exposure to the main studio albums was what Night 1 entailed. I get it, and I loved it. Was it my ideal set list, did I hear all my favorites? No for sure, but I understand how awesome and rare of a show that was and completely appreciate it, and was so glad I was in attendance. Also loved that the rain stopped in time for the main stage performances and it turned out to be a very nice evening. Met a bunch of cool PJ fans and had a blast.
We were all happy when we heard it, Release was just beautiful! It gave me goosebumps.
These were my other hightlights:
Setting Forth - Hearing it on the EV solo show was amazing but with PJ WOW! Really great.
Not For You - With Julian Cassablancas from the Strokes sounded fantastic when the slow part begins of "all that's sacred" and the rest of the song.
In the Moonlight - With Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Brilliant!!! I loved it. (Hope an official bootleg will be available soon) Josh voice just went good in this song.
Deep - I can't never get bored of this song live.
Help Help - Wow from Riot Act...Not bad live
Breath - Simply AMAZING! just hearing everyone sing along felt magical
Education - With Liam Finn was great to experience it. Liam had so much energy on stage. Loved the way he and Eddie sounded together.
SOLAT - A gem of a song. This is def a crowd favorite. Has so much momentum and had us going crazy at the lawn (specially me)
For the Encore:
I was so happy to finally had the opportunity to experienced TEMPLE OF THE DOG live!!! I had chances to see them but for some reason something always happened and never could make it to those shows.
Stardog Champion - Really nice start to what was going to be delivered by Chris Cornell and the gang. Mother love Bone tune will be always be a special one to experience for Andy Wood.
The rest of the TOTD songs I just noticed others being involved. I was too excited and was singing along that can't remember details. Hunger Strike was out of this world!
Porch - is always a goodie to see live. Eddie looked like he wanted to climb something but I guess changed his mind.lol
The second Encore:
Kick out the Jams - With Mudhoney!!!! Man what a way to end the first night with a classic!
I had a wonderful night. Met lot's of people from everywhere. The opening bands were spectacular. First time seeing Mudhoney and the Strokes. Really great live. Queens of the Stone Age rocked big time.
I am so grateful that I was lucky enough to score tix during the F5 fiasco and the copy and paste link to get PJ20 tix. I left that night wanting more PJ and TOTD...
The Strokes were great both nights, but I'm sorry, Julian's vocals did not work on either of the songs he sang on (Not for You night 1, and Red Mosquito was even worse night 2). I've checked them out on YouTube since, and yep, my initial thoughts were right. They're unlistenable to. But I was only a casual Strokes fan before these shows, and I'm more of a fan now. It's strange... I also don't like Ben Harper's duets with Eddie, but Ben Harper by himself is great... it's like that with Julian. But Josh Homme and Eddie sound great together. Maybe it's just me.
All in all, it was well worth driving to Wisconsin from Massachusetts and back with a good friend... the road trip was half the fun. PJ is always a great excuse to hit the road!
Here is my review:
IT WAS AWESOME.
PJ - Auckland 2009; Alpine Valley1&2 2011; Man1, Am'dam1&2, Berlin1&2, Stockholm, Oslo & Copenhagen 2012; LA, Oakland, Portland, Spokane, Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle 2013; Auckland 2014
EV - Canberra, Newcastle & Sydney 1&2 2011
Been to 40+ shows ( I know...You dont give a rats ass)
Night 1 Alpine ranks DEAD LAST as far as the shows I have been to.
Dead Last.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Yeah, but you're still looking for the cooler you left your sausage in. :shock:
So, I can understand the disappointment.