Our Hamilton show story (aka. Brain of J.)
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Posts: 120
I decided to take my younger brother to Hamilton to see Pearl Jam for his 20th birthday. This is our story of how we got Pearl Jam to fulfill our song request for Brain of J.
Before we took the drive down the QEW from Toronto, we decided that we were going to draw, on two separate bristol boards, "Brain" and "of J!", and maybe have some fun holding them up at the concert. Absolute best case, we figured, would be if one of the band members acknowledged our signs. That would be sweet.
We were sitting in row 10, section 105, which turned out to be side/rear stage and front row, right up against the rail, and almost directly over top of where the band entered and exited during the encore breaks. It couldn't have been better.
At first, we were a little disappointed when we saw Mike working the crowd on the opposite side of the stage for much of the night, while Stone, the band member closest to us, didn't acknowledge the crowd on our side much at all.
Eddie soon walked over to wave to the crowd near us. His gaze went up and over us, though, missing our signs. No dice.
During the solo in Even Flow, Eddie went over to our side of the stage to have a smoke and some wine. My brother and I held our signs up. Eddie ambled over, and appeared to read them. He then held up a single finger to us, as if to say, "I got it, but we'll see."
Our grip on reality began to slip ever so slightly after that moment. Neither of us remembered the rest of the Even Flow solo. We were just so happy and grateful that the band at least saw our signs. We spend the rest of the song staring at Eddie.
At the end of the main set, when the lights went on and the band exited the stage, we held our signs up to chest-level once again. The band members walked underneath us one by one, and none of them looked up. We thought that was the end of our fun. We would only get one more legitimate chance: when the band walked off for the second encore break. And that was even more far-fetched. There's no way Pearl Jam would play Brain of J. in the second encore.
As the band finished the final song before the second encore break, we readied our signs again, but this time, we yelled to each band member as they walked off the stage. Stone and Matt went by hastily without looking up.
Next in line was Jeff. We both screamed his name as loud as we could. And to our surprise, he looked up and saw us. He read the signs, smiled and laughed. Then he shrugged, and held his hands up slightly as if to say, "I don't know if that's going to happen, guys, but we'll see!".
We were ecstatic. Jeff not only took the time to read our signs and acknowledge them, but he seemed to be having some fun as well! He could have just kept walking, or not even given us a second thought.
I gave my brother a bit of a hug and wished him a happy birthday. We were going home happy. Reality slipped a little further.
We dropped our posters to the ground, thinking, "They clearly saw them, and it was a good try!". But nothing could prepare us for what was about to happen.
Our eyes were fixated on the walkway leading backstage almost directly beneath us. As the band ran back out, we noticed that Jeff's hand was behind his head, and his head was tilted slightly around. And he was giving a thumbs-up!
That could have meant anything, though, we thought. It must have been directed towards the crowd as a whole, and not at us. After all, he didn't look directly back. He kept on running towards the stage. We left the signs where they lay at our feet.
The band assumed their positions, and the house lights turned on. Mike briefly strummed a D power chord.
He did the same thing right before Pearl Jam played Brain of J. in Toronto back in 2009.
And I knew it was coming.
I instinctively clutched my brother's arm, started to tremble, and said, "Oh fuck, they're gonna do it!" He turned to me and said, "There is no way, no way..."
That was when Eddie stood up to the microphone and said something to the effect of:
"Alright, so, we have a request over this way." He motioned toward us with his hand.
From then on, it was like an out-of-body experience. That's the only way I can describe it. The signs... the signs! Get the signs! I remember scrambling frantically to grab the signs off the floor, but I grabbed the wrong one. Eddie continued, buying us time to get organized:
"Let's see the signs..."
Finally, we got the signs in the right order, and we held them up. By hazy recollection, my bro held "Brain" as high as he could, while I only held "of J!" up to my chest, but everyone must have seen them, because the crowd started to cheer and applaud.
"What do they say?"
And then, Pearl Jam lit into Brain of J.!
We both absolutely lost it. It was surreal, like a dream. Eddie intensely stared us down for the entire first verse, fixated on us. I must have screamed myself hoarse and danced like a fool, but I don't remember much more.
As the band was exiting at the end of the show, we put the signs on the railing again, and called to Jeff as he was walking backstage. I gave him a thumbs-up and thanked him, my bro did the same, and he smiled and gestured back.
In the hour-and-a-half mission getting back on the 403 to Toronto, we couldn't stop talking about it, and hammered out the chain of events.
The evening ended at Apache Burgers in Toronto's west end. I had a bottle of water and an iced tea, and my bro had a poutine and a vanilla milkshake.
We will never forget that night. And we will say this: it's always worth the drive to Hamilton to see a show! Thanks, Jeff, for being such a fine human being, and cheers to Pearl Jam!
This might not seem like that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but to us... it was fucking awesome!
tl:dr They played our request!
Before we took the drive down the QEW from Toronto, we decided that we were going to draw, on two separate bristol boards, "Brain" and "of J!", and maybe have some fun holding them up at the concert. Absolute best case, we figured, would be if one of the band members acknowledged our signs. That would be sweet.
We were sitting in row 10, section 105, which turned out to be side/rear stage and front row, right up against the rail, and almost directly over top of where the band entered and exited during the encore breaks. It couldn't have been better.
At first, we were a little disappointed when we saw Mike working the crowd on the opposite side of the stage for much of the night, while Stone, the band member closest to us, didn't acknowledge the crowd on our side much at all.
Eddie soon walked over to wave to the crowd near us. His gaze went up and over us, though, missing our signs. No dice.
During the solo in Even Flow, Eddie went over to our side of the stage to have a smoke and some wine. My brother and I held our signs up. Eddie ambled over, and appeared to read them. He then held up a single finger to us, as if to say, "I got it, but we'll see."
Our grip on reality began to slip ever so slightly after that moment. Neither of us remembered the rest of the Even Flow solo. We were just so happy and grateful that the band at least saw our signs. We spend the rest of the song staring at Eddie.
At the end of the main set, when the lights went on and the band exited the stage, we held our signs up to chest-level once again. The band members walked underneath us one by one, and none of them looked up. We thought that was the end of our fun. We would only get one more legitimate chance: when the band walked off for the second encore break. And that was even more far-fetched. There's no way Pearl Jam would play Brain of J. in the second encore.
As the band finished the final song before the second encore break, we readied our signs again, but this time, we yelled to each band member as they walked off the stage. Stone and Matt went by hastily without looking up.
Next in line was Jeff. We both screamed his name as loud as we could. And to our surprise, he looked up and saw us. He read the signs, smiled and laughed. Then he shrugged, and held his hands up slightly as if to say, "I don't know if that's going to happen, guys, but we'll see!".
We were ecstatic. Jeff not only took the time to read our signs and acknowledge them, but he seemed to be having some fun as well! He could have just kept walking, or not even given us a second thought.
I gave my brother a bit of a hug and wished him a happy birthday. We were going home happy. Reality slipped a little further.
We dropped our posters to the ground, thinking, "They clearly saw them, and it was a good try!". But nothing could prepare us for what was about to happen.
Our eyes were fixated on the walkway leading backstage almost directly beneath us. As the band ran back out, we noticed that Jeff's hand was behind his head, and his head was tilted slightly around. And he was giving a thumbs-up!
That could have meant anything, though, we thought. It must have been directed towards the crowd as a whole, and not at us. After all, he didn't look directly back. He kept on running towards the stage. We left the signs where they lay at our feet.
The band assumed their positions, and the house lights turned on. Mike briefly strummed a D power chord.
He did the same thing right before Pearl Jam played Brain of J. in Toronto back in 2009.
And I knew it was coming.
I instinctively clutched my brother's arm, started to tremble, and said, "Oh fuck, they're gonna do it!" He turned to me and said, "There is no way, no way..."
That was when Eddie stood up to the microphone and said something to the effect of:
"Alright, so, we have a request over this way." He motioned toward us with his hand.
From then on, it was like an out-of-body experience. That's the only way I can describe it. The signs... the signs! Get the signs! I remember scrambling frantically to grab the signs off the floor, but I grabbed the wrong one. Eddie continued, buying us time to get organized:
"Let's see the signs..."
Finally, we got the signs in the right order, and we held them up. By hazy recollection, my bro held "Brain" as high as he could, while I only held "of J!" up to my chest, but everyone must have seen them, because the crowd started to cheer and applaud.
"What do they say?"
And then, Pearl Jam lit into Brain of J.!
We both absolutely lost it. It was surreal, like a dream. Eddie intensely stared us down for the entire first verse, fixated on us. I must have screamed myself hoarse and danced like a fool, but I don't remember much more.
As the band was exiting at the end of the show, we put the signs on the railing again, and called to Jeff as he was walking backstage. I gave him a thumbs-up and thanked him, my bro did the same, and he smiled and gestured back.
In the hour-and-a-half mission getting back on the 403 to Toronto, we couldn't stop talking about it, and hammered out the chain of events.
The evening ended at Apache Burgers in Toronto's west end. I had a bottle of water and an iced tea, and my bro had a poutine and a vanilla milkshake.
We will never forget that night. And we will say this: it's always worth the drive to Hamilton to see a show! Thanks, Jeff, for being such a fine human being, and cheers to Pearl Jam!
This might not seem like that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but to us... it was fucking awesome!
tl:dr They played our request!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Good on ya, I enjoyed your seeing your request fulfilled.
Toronto / Sept 21/96 -Barrie/aug 22/98- Auburn Hills, /oct 07 /00
Grand Rapids /oct 03/04 -London/sept 12/05-Hamilton /sept 13/05
Toronto/sept 19/05 -Toronto/ may 09/06 - Toronto/aug 21/09- Hamilton /sept 15 /11
They rocked the shit out of it too.
Thanks for your efforts to get it played...Im glad you two brothers got to experince that together....something you will remember together until your old and grey!
Thanks guys
Eddie Vedder Solo Tour Albany NY June 9, 2009
Pearl Jam Toronto Aug 21, 2009
Pearl Jam Chicago Aug 23, 2009
Pearl Jam Chicago Aug 24, 2009
Pearl Jam Buffalo May 10, 2010
Pearl Jam New York MSG1 May 20, 2010
Pearl Jam New York MSG2 May 21, 2010
Go Cards Go!
that's awesome! thanks for sharing!!
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
Montreal 10/04/00
Toronto 10/05/00
Toronto 06/28/03
Kitchener 09/11/05
Ottawa 09/16/05
Toronto 08/21/09
Toronto 09/11/11
Ottawa 09/14/11
Buffalo 10/12/13
Ottawa 05/08/16
Chicago 08/20/18
Ottawa 09/03/22
Nashville 09/16/22
Glad you got to share that with your brother too.
Oh and btw, awesome 1st post!
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
2025: Pittsburgh 5/16+5/18
I noticed your sign, as well as the sign for Smile. I was happy when Eddie acknowledged there was a sign in the audience, because I figured they'd be playing one of the two.
Brain of J was definitely a highlight.
Nice story.
Regal Theater, 1994--most amazing night ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxwFNihd2w
So cool!!!
I was going to make a sign for Harvest Moon (as they covered this the last time they played Hamilton) but didn't have time.
This band really does make our rock & roll dreams come true.