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Mary Rising Up Above It All - Touching Wrigley Story
I am just re-posting from the Facebook Ten Club page. This is an amazing story that all PJ fans should read about:
From Rob Duncan in Ohio - "i didnt really go into this too much while at the shows/sluggers cause i didnt want to look like a blubbering idiot. so i will here with the protection of a keyboard. lol so here goes...
i was originally in section 205 N1 and wound up walking down to 115 (to the left of home plate) i believe and found an area of about 5 seats or so where no one was. i noticed a woman seated to my left right next to me. i noticed her cause i found it odd that someone was sitting at a PJ show, especially the saturday one as it was panning out to be such a rocking setlist. but thats ok i thought, to each his/her own. so she stood up as i got there and sat down only between songs and encore breaks. so i started to think that maybe something was wrong with her, physically. then i noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was crying quite a bit and was a frail little thing. so after comfortably numb she gets my attention and says her name is mary and that she wants to hear crazy mary. i said wow that was fuckin cool and that i wanted to hear boom do his thing. so i notice her emotions are getting more troubling as the nite is going on. im thinking has she just had too much to drink? broke up with her bf and these are the seats he had? is it just the power of the moment and this is how she reacts? so i cant have another person around me like that seemingly having something going on that is above and beyond the moment, in my estimation. i have to try to do something about it. so i ask her if she is ok. so she says no, absolutely not. which threw me because generally people lie and say that they are. so i asked why. she tells me that she drove here from pennsylvania by herself. that she didnt have a ticket until that day (she bought a single N2 also). bought it outside wrigleyville on saturday. said PJ was her favorite band but never had the money "to buy the damn ticket" get merch (she had a poster and a shirt) or a good car to drive to shows. i said wow i am so fucking happy for you! great story! so then she drops it on me. she told me that she has terminal pancreatic cancer. she also tells me that friday (the day before) was going to be her last treatment. she wasnt doing it anymore. she couldnt take it physically and that she was leaving it to god. my heart sunk. i rubbed her shoulder and started to say something in her ear and she interrupted me and said its ok, theres nothing no one can say to that and apologized for being a downer. so then of course as fate would have it, mike goes into alive. we looked at each other and i could tell she needed a hug. so as alive played there were two people in the middle of a stadium hugging having a powerful moment that cannot be described. all i could think of was that i was hugging a woman that wouldnt be...alive. she grabbed me so hard it shocked me. i didnt think that little thing had that kind of strength. we held each other through the whole song and her grip never loosened. i literally cannot put into to words the power of the emotions that we both felt. after alive was over there was a break and we noticed that we had snotted on one another. haha! so then of course there was laughter through tears. best laughter ever imo! so we said our goodbyes after the show. wished each other well and i said she will hear crazy mary on nite 2 for sure. mary. if youre out there, thank you for the gift of that moment. ill never forget it....for you darling! i cried again with youon n2!"
Rob later went on to ask for a favor on Facebook "since mary gave me something so incredibly touching. i want to tattoo it. there has to be someone out there that is an artist. i want to tattoo this moment. "mary rising up above it all" in it somewhere. PM me with pics if there are any artists out there. you draw it, its going on my body"
If anyone wants to reach out to Rob, his original post is on the "Official Pearl Jam Ten Club Members" page on Facebook.
From Rob Duncan in Ohio - "i didnt really go into this too much while at the shows/sluggers cause i didnt want to look like a blubbering idiot. so i will here with the protection of a keyboard. lol so here goes...
i was originally in section 205 N1 and wound up walking down to 115 (to the left of home plate) i believe and found an area of about 5 seats or so where no one was. i noticed a woman seated to my left right next to me. i noticed her cause i found it odd that someone was sitting at a PJ show, especially the saturday one as it was panning out to be such a rocking setlist. but thats ok i thought, to each his/her own. so she stood up as i got there and sat down only between songs and encore breaks. so i started to think that maybe something was wrong with her, physically. then i noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was crying quite a bit and was a frail little thing. so after comfortably numb she gets my attention and says her name is mary and that she wants to hear crazy mary. i said wow that was fuckin cool and that i wanted to hear boom do his thing. so i notice her emotions are getting more troubling as the nite is going on. im thinking has she just had too much to drink? broke up with her bf and these are the seats he had? is it just the power of the moment and this is how she reacts? so i cant have another person around me like that seemingly having something going on that is above and beyond the moment, in my estimation. i have to try to do something about it. so i ask her if she is ok. so she says no, absolutely not. which threw me because generally people lie and say that they are. so i asked why. she tells me that she drove here from pennsylvania by herself. that she didnt have a ticket until that day (she bought a single N2 also). bought it outside wrigleyville on saturday. said PJ was her favorite band but never had the money "to buy the damn ticket" get merch (she had a poster and a shirt) or a good car to drive to shows. i said wow i am so fucking happy for you! great story! so then she drops it on me. she told me that she has terminal pancreatic cancer. she also tells me that friday (the day before) was going to be her last treatment. she wasnt doing it anymore. she couldnt take it physically and that she was leaving it to god. my heart sunk. i rubbed her shoulder and started to say something in her ear and she interrupted me and said its ok, theres nothing no one can say to that and apologized for being a downer. so then of course as fate would have it, mike goes into alive. we looked at each other and i could tell she needed a hug. so as alive played there were two people in the middle of a stadium hugging having a powerful moment that cannot be described. all i could think of was that i was hugging a woman that wouldnt be...alive. she grabbed me so hard it shocked me. i didnt think that little thing had that kind of strength. we held each other through the whole song and her grip never loosened. i literally cannot put into to words the power of the emotions that we both felt. after alive was over there was a break and we noticed that we had snotted on one another. haha! so then of course there was laughter through tears. best laughter ever imo! so we said our goodbyes after the show. wished each other well and i said she will hear crazy mary on nite 2 for sure. mary. if youre out there, thank you for the gift of that moment. ill never forget it....for you darling! i cried again with youon n2!"
Rob later went on to ask for a favor on Facebook "since mary gave me something so incredibly touching. i want to tattoo it. there has to be someone out there that is an artist. i want to tattoo this moment. "mary rising up above it all" in it somewhere. PM me with pics if there are any artists out there. you draw it, its going on my body"
If anyone wants to reach out to Rob, his original post is on the "Official Pearl Jam Ten Club Members" page on Facebook.
Hartford 10.25.13 | NYC - GCF 09.26.15 | MSG 05.02.16 | Fenway 08.05.16 | Fenway 08.07.16 | Seattle 08.08.18 | Seattle 08.10.18 | Missoula 08.13.18 | Chicago 08.18.18 | Chicago 08.20.18 | Fenway 09.02.18 | Fenway 09.04.18 | MSG 09.11.22
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2009 - Toronto
2010 - Buffalo
2011 - Toronto 1&2
2013 - London, Pittsburgh, Buffalo
2014 - Cincinnati, St. Louis, Detroit
2016 - Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Ottawa, Toronto 1
2018 - Fenway 1&2
2022 - Hamilton, Toronto
2023 - Chicago 1&2
Go, Rob Duncan, and go Mary - long may you run, on each of your paths as long as possible.
OP, thank you. This kind of perspective is always needed.
Nashville-03
Chicago-07
E.V. Milwaukee-08
Chicago 1 & 2-09
Alpine Valley 1 & 2-11
Wrigley-13
St. Paul-14
Milwaukee-14
Denver-22
St. Paul 1 & 2 - 23
~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
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
Pearl Jam isn't just a band that makes music..they are a band that have brought complete strangers together to feel something bigger than we can put into words