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Thank you, Pearl Jam, for the world's greatest 21st birthday
I'm having a hard time coming down from the show in Baltimore yesterday, and frankly don't think I will for a while. I'm amazed at how something that was once a dream actually came true last night. And Pearl Jam has no idea just how goddamn happy they have made me.
The past couple years have been filled with some pretty scary darkness for me between a nasty bout with depression and the unexpected passing of my father. Pearl Jam's music has helped me greatly throughout, and has given me strength in moving forward and keeping my head held high. So fortunate to have this band in my life.
When I heard PJ was coming to Baltimore (I go to school in MD, adding to the holy crap-ness of all this coming together) on my birthday, I was freaking out. A million thoughts were running through my head, but I knew I had to be there, and I had to be front row.
Fast forward to 6:45 AM yesterday, 4th person in line, with my "IT'S MY 21ST B'DAY" sign in tow. The waiting was so worthwhile once I touched that rail in front of Jeff.
(To copy a bit from what I wrote in the Bmore set thread):
Now, for the unbelievable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhCAqSwtvdM (<-- THANK YOU FOR FILMING THIS, MIKE!) The band all definitely saw my sign before Ed spoke to me. Ed nodded right when he came out. Mike was super interactive with me, and when he first saw my sign, mouthed Happy Birthday to me. He also told me Happy Birthday again at another point when we made eye contact. Got a pick early on from him--way cool. Lots of smiles after that. Also, funny thing that happened: I'm really short, so the rail covered up most of my shirt. I was wanting to show Mike I was wearing my Team Gleason shirt, so at one point I pulled up my shirt a little and pointed..."Team Gleason" still wasn't high up enough for him to see cause I'm so short, so he gave me a really confused look. Realized this, had to pull the shirt up a tiny bit more and then Mike gave me an "ohhhhh, ok, nice!" sorta look, big smile, and nod.
So encore 1 comes, and since the lights are on, I have my sign up (I didn't want to be victim of "don't you think you oughta lay your sign down" a la Brooklyn 2, so I only held it up occasionally) Eddie points to me and wishes a me a happy 21st birthday. Speechless. Time froze right there...my hero publicly acknowledging me. There were many "oh my god"'s and many "holy fucking shit"'s After that, Mike came over to me and threw me a pin of his that had a neat looking tree on it. That was way cool (also caught it left handed with some of my cat-like reflexes). Knowing that the possibility of wine from Ed on my birthday could actually be a thing, before the show I asked someone nearby if they could grab me an empty cup on their beer run. So glad I did. After Ed wished me a happy birthday, I held up my cup, and he gave me a damn generous 1/2 cup full of his wine. Which, by the way, was delicious! Points to the bottle, which actually had '21' on it (PS: if you were the woman Ed gave the bottle to when he was done with it, and have a picture of it, I'd love to have a copy of a picture!) and said, "Pretty good, huh?" Unbelievable. Also, I bet it was super duper cute to see sweaty, shakey, overly excited, and a bit emotionally confused me on the big screen basically spill wine down the side of my mouth upon first sip. But was cool to get a fist pump after holding my cup up in cheers to the band from Jeff!
Evening wasn't over yet, though: the shout-out/wine thing was probably the greatest moment of my life. But, another extremely meaningful moment happened somewhere around Nothingman that's right up there with everything wine related. Hearing Man of the Hour, a song that holds an intense amount of meaning for me. It was really, really difficult for me. It's strange...hearing Come Back in Hartford on Friday was difficult for me too, I actually broke down a bit and was full-on crying. But for MOTH yesterday, I was just kinda numb and listening, with tears welled up in my eyes. I was so moved and amazed by the song's beauty live, and truly felt my dad was with me. After Man of the Hour, I was shaken up. At one point, somewhere around Nothingman, Ed and I made eye contact, and I mouthed, "Thank you for that last song, thank you so much for Man of the Hour," and he nodded to me. Tears welled up...incredible.
Then, during Porch, Ed made a beeline to me, pointed and smiled to me, and motioned for me to give him my glass. More wine = more happiness
And then grand finale, during RITFW, Ed threw one of his first tambo's to me. My holy grail of concert items: an EV tambourine.
I haven't been able to stop smiling. It's been a while since I've been this genuinely happy. Its moments like these that make all the tough shit you have to go through in life SO worth it. This band has given so much to not only me, but to so many others who use their incredible music as a tool in navigating this crazy life. The band has NO idea the impact these acts made on me and I will never forget 10/27/13. I hope I get to thank each and every band member at some point in the future for the most memorable night ever! Speechless and grateful.
The past couple years have been filled with some pretty scary darkness for me between a nasty bout with depression and the unexpected passing of my father. Pearl Jam's music has helped me greatly throughout, and has given me strength in moving forward and keeping my head held high. So fortunate to have this band in my life.
When I heard PJ was coming to Baltimore (I go to school in MD, adding to the holy crap-ness of all this coming together) on my birthday, I was freaking out. A million thoughts were running through my head, but I knew I had to be there, and I had to be front row.
Fast forward to 6:45 AM yesterday, 4th person in line, with my "IT'S MY 21ST B'DAY" sign in tow. The waiting was so worthwhile once I touched that rail in front of Jeff.
(To copy a bit from what I wrote in the Bmore set thread):
Now, for the unbelievable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhCAqSwtvdM (<-- THANK YOU FOR FILMING THIS, MIKE!) The band all definitely saw my sign before Ed spoke to me. Ed nodded right when he came out. Mike was super interactive with me, and when he first saw my sign, mouthed Happy Birthday to me. He also told me Happy Birthday again at another point when we made eye contact. Got a pick early on from him--way cool. Lots of smiles after that. Also, funny thing that happened: I'm really short, so the rail covered up most of my shirt. I was wanting to show Mike I was wearing my Team Gleason shirt, so at one point I pulled up my shirt a little and pointed..."Team Gleason" still wasn't high up enough for him to see cause I'm so short, so he gave me a really confused look. Realized this, had to pull the shirt up a tiny bit more and then Mike gave me an "ohhhhh, ok, nice!" sorta look, big smile, and nod.
So encore 1 comes, and since the lights are on, I have my sign up (I didn't want to be victim of "don't you think you oughta lay your sign down" a la Brooklyn 2, so I only held it up occasionally) Eddie points to me and wishes a me a happy 21st birthday. Speechless. Time froze right there...my hero publicly acknowledging me. There were many "oh my god"'s and many "holy fucking shit"'s After that, Mike came over to me and threw me a pin of his that had a neat looking tree on it. That was way cool (also caught it left handed with some of my cat-like reflexes). Knowing that the possibility of wine from Ed on my birthday could actually be a thing, before the show I asked someone nearby if they could grab me an empty cup on their beer run. So glad I did. After Ed wished me a happy birthday, I held up my cup, and he gave me a damn generous 1/2 cup full of his wine. Which, by the way, was delicious! Points to the bottle, which actually had '21' on it (PS: if you were the woman Ed gave the bottle to when he was done with it, and have a picture of it, I'd love to have a copy of a picture!) and said, "Pretty good, huh?" Unbelievable. Also, I bet it was super duper cute to see sweaty, shakey, overly excited, and a bit emotionally confused me on the big screen basically spill wine down the side of my mouth upon first sip. But was cool to get a fist pump after holding my cup up in cheers to the band from Jeff!
Evening wasn't over yet, though: the shout-out/wine thing was probably the greatest moment of my life. But, another extremely meaningful moment happened somewhere around Nothingman that's right up there with everything wine related. Hearing Man of the Hour, a song that holds an intense amount of meaning for me. It was really, really difficult for me. It's strange...hearing Come Back in Hartford on Friday was difficult for me too, I actually broke down a bit and was full-on crying. But for MOTH yesterday, I was just kinda numb and listening, with tears welled up in my eyes. I was so moved and amazed by the song's beauty live, and truly felt my dad was with me. After Man of the Hour, I was shaken up. At one point, somewhere around Nothingman, Ed and I made eye contact, and I mouthed, "Thank you for that last song, thank you so much for Man of the Hour," and he nodded to me. Tears welled up...incredible.
Then, during Porch, Ed made a beeline to me, pointed and smiled to me, and motioned for me to give him my glass. More wine = more happiness
And then grand finale, during RITFW, Ed threw one of his first tambo's to me. My holy grail of concert items: an EV tambourine.
I haven't been able to stop smiling. It's been a while since I've been this genuinely happy. Its moments like these that make all the tough shit you have to go through in life SO worth it. This band has given so much to not only me, but to so many others who use their incredible music as a tool in navigating this crazy life. The band has NO idea the impact these acts made on me and I will never forget 10/27/13. I hope I get to thank each and every band member at some point in the future for the most memorable night ever! Speechless and grateful.
"Sometimes you find yourself having to put all your faith in no faith."
~not a dude~
2010: MSGx2
2012: Made In America
2013: Pittsburgh, Brooklynx2, Hartford, Baltimore
2014: Leeds, Milton Keynes, Detroit
2015: Global Citizen Festival
2016: Phillyx2, MSGx2, Fenwayx2
2018: Barcelona, Wrigleyx2
~not a dude~
2010: MSGx2
2012: Made In America
2013: Pittsburgh, Brooklynx2, Hartford, Baltimore
2014: Leeds, Milton Keynes, Detroit
2015: Global Citizen Festival
2016: Phillyx2, MSGx2, Fenwayx2
2018: Barcelona, Wrigleyx2
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Oh, and I have seen pics of that bottle on facebook. It's out there!
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
You definitely deserved all of that!!! Congrats on your birthday and congrats on everything that happened to you at the concert! You'll remember those moments for the rest of your life and they'll be great stories to look back on and tell to people. I'm so glad you had fun
Abrn Hlls '98 - Clarkston 2 '03 - Grd Rpds '06 - Abrn Hlls '06 - Clvd '10 - PJ20 - Berlin 1+2 '12 - Wrigley '13 - Pitt '13- buff '13- Philly 1+2 '13 - Seattle '13
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
2006: Toronto 1 & 2
2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
2010: Buffalo
2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle
2016: Toronto 1 & 2
2022: Hamilton/Toronto
2023: EV Seattle 1&2
6/19/95 Red Rocks
9/11/98 MSG
11/19/12 EV solo Tulsa
7/19/13 Wrigley 10/19/13 Brooklyn 2 10/21/13 Philly 1 10/22/13 Philly 2 10/25/13 Hartford
10/08/14 Tulsa 10/09/14 Lincoln
9/26/15 New York City
4/16/16 Greenville 4/28/16 Philly 1 4/29/16 Philly 2 5/1/16 MSG 1 5/2/16 MSG 2 8/7/16 Fenway 2 8/20/16 Wrigley 1
4/7/17 RRHOF New York City
9/02/18 Fenway 1 9/04/2018 Fenway 2
9/18/21 Asbury Park
9/11/22 New York City
9/14/22 Camden
East Troy, WI - 9.3.11
East Troy, WI - 9.4.11
Atlanta, GA - 9.22.12
Las Vegas, NV - 10.31.12 (EV)
Las Vegas, NV - 11.1.12 (EV)
Chicago, IL - 7.19.13
Dallas, TX - 11.15.13
Oklahoma City, OK - 11.16.13
Seattle, WA - 12.6.13
Lincoln, NE - 10.9.14
Moline, IL - 10.17.14
St. Paul, MN - 10.19.14
Milwaukee, WI - 10.20.14
New York, NY - 5.1.16
New York, NY - 5.2.16
Boston, MA - 8.5.16
Boston, MA - 8.7.16
Chicago, IL - 8.20.16
What Joe said. Except my 30th was with a PJ cover band and the Boston Bruins were in attendance (but i was too drunk to notice
I knew that yesterday was your birthday but didn't put it together that it was you who got the wine until reading the fanview thread this morning. Congrats! I am uber jealous. You aren't gonna ever be able to get a concert as good as last night, but that's not a reason to stop going!
2010: 5/20 NY, 5/21 NY ... 2011: 6/21 EV NY, 9/3 WI, 9/4 WI ... 2012: 9/2 PA, 9/22 GA ... 2013: 10/18 NY, 10/19 NY, 10/21 PA, 10/22 PA, 10/27 MD
2015: 9/23 NY, 9/26 NY ... 2016: 4/28 PA, 4/29 PA, 5/1 NY, 5/2 NY, 6/11 TN, 8/7 MA, 11/4 TOTD PA, 11/5 TOTD PA ... 2018: 8/10 WA ---- http://imgur.com/a/nk0s7
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
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
Experts say if this lasts longer than 4 hours you should consult a doctor. :shock:
Happy happy happy birthday!
And really sorry for the loss of your dad. I don't know what happens after this life is over, but if it's possible for him to be with you, pretty sure it would've been last night. Music is at its most powerful when it connects with us, and you were certainly in the right place at the right time last night for all of it.
NYC 5/21/10; Buffalo 10/12/13; Baltimore 10/27/13
MTL 9/15/05
HRTFD 5/13/06
BOS 5/24/06, 5/25/06
VEGAS 7/6/06
CHI 8/5/07
NJ 6/19/08
NYC 6/25/08
HRTFD 6/27/08
MANSFLD 6/28/08, 6/30/08
E.V. BOS 8/1/08
CHI 8/23/09, 8/24/09
PHILLY 10/30/09, 10/31/09
BOS 5/17/10
CHI 7/19/13
WOOSTA 10/15/13, 10/16/13
HRTFD 10/25/13
BOS 8/5/16, 8/7/16
BOS 9/2/18, 9/4/18
Philly 2-4 '09
Newark '10
MSG 1+2 '10
E.V. Beacon 1+2 '11
Made in America Festival '12
Worcester 1+2 '13
Brooklyn 1+2 '13
Global Citizens Festival '15
MSG 1+2 '16
Fenway Park 1+2 '16
Ohana '17
Home Shows 1+2 '18
Ohana '18
Ohana '19
Sea Hear Now '21
Ohana '21
LA 1+2 '22
Austin 1+2 '23
Ohana '23
i knew was you..
you are an amazing sweet person Sam,you deserve the best!!congrats,love you had a blast!
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
So happy for you Sam. What an awesome 21st birthday!!!! xoxo
Cincinnati, Columbus 2000
Baltimore 2013