Reflection on the Pearl Jam Chicago Weekend

ehbacon

I got back home in Green Bay late last night/early this morning after a long car ride home. What an amazing week it was.

I didn't want to post anything in the fanviews until i could really have time to reflect on everything that just happened. Now I've had a day back home so I think I can sum up my thoughts well enough here.

So I'll start out at a week before my birthday in January. Like all of you, I knew something big was coming, some announcement. I was checking the forums and twitter every half hour to get any updates, and then they scheduled the announcement. I remember I was sitting in my Engineering Design class when i saw the tour announcement. Scrolling through the dates my heart started to sink, because all the shows i saw were more than 1000 miles away from me. Then just before I gave up hope, I read the last two dates. Two nights at Wrigley Field in Chicago, August 20th-22nd. Was a fantastic feeling reading that.

Fast forward 8 months. It's about 10 days before the shows. For weeks already it's all I could think about, thinking of how it seemed so close but yet so far away. So at 10 days before night 1, I start to check the weather. Bull fucking shit, it's gonna rain. For 8 days I would check every hour when weather.com updated to see if it had changed, and for 8 days it continuously said it would rain. Then I woke up on Thursday morning, checked the weather again and it said it would by clear for the shows. Huge relief.

So now flash forward to Saturday morning. I had finally gotten to the day I had been waiting for for 8 months. Still in Green Bay heading to cross country practice, it's at an absolute down pour. That morning I had to run 5.5 miles in the pouring rain, just being glad that the rain would be over by 5. When i'm done my run and showered, my dad and I ate lunch and went on our way for Chicago. We made it through the first half of yield on the way there. Then comes 5 PM and it is still raining. Thankfully our prayers were answered when, like an act of god, two hours before the show the skies cleared up.

I didn't know how long the lines would be at will call, so we went straight there just in case. Apparently, there's only ever like 2 people in the A-Bo line

Section 430, Row 1, Seat 6. Great seats right above first base, fantastic view of the stage. When we got to our seats there was still about an hour or more left before the show. So I got to walk around the stadium and meet some fellow members of the PJ family. As I was walking back I was happy to watch the Gleason trailer appear on the screens next to the stage.

Night 1:

Starting out with Low Light. Although i was hoping for Hard to Imagine, looking back there was no better way to start the Wrigley shows off. Then they start Release. WOW. Couldn't believe what I was witnessing, so many emotions going through my head.

I knew it was on when they kicked in to Do The Evolution, my second favorite off of Yield. Then Last Exit. I'm not embarrassed to say that I completely went ape shit when I heard Matt kick in that drum intro. I was 100% convinced we were gonna hear Vitalogy that night! Then the break after the first song, my fingers were cross I would get STBC next, but instead we got Lightning Bolt. Now, I love Lightning Bolt, but that might be the only time ever I was disappointing to hear it lol. Then Sad! Read that they played it in soundcheck, didn't believe it. Was stunned! Great song, and they completely nailed it.

The dedication to Gord before Light Years sent chills through my entire body. Then into I Got ID, another amazing moment. I for some reason had a strong feeling that Long Road would come next, but instead they took a very different route with MY; which they absolutely shredded.

Then Masters Of War. This is without a doubt the most intense moment I've ever witnessed at any concert in my life (I've been to a fair share). Mike ripping his strings off sent me into awe.

Then started the sing along. Daughter with the WMA tag into Jeremy, into Better Man. 45k people singing along to 3 great songs in a row, what a way to end the first set!

Bee Girl to start the first was awesome. Then the proposal into I Believe In Miracles acoustic! What an incredible rendition of that song! And then Let Me Sleep - a song that meant a lot to me last winter - was really special to hear.

Steve Gleason. I wasn't fortunate enough to get to see Gleason in the theater (I'll be seeing it the day it comes out on BluRay), but I know the story and how powerful his presence and opening to Inside Job was.

Mike again absolutely ripped on Comfortably Numb. And Interstellar Overdrive to Corduroy was absolutely rocking.

Go to open encore 2 was awesome, I was hoping to get that one and thought I'd have to wait until night 2. Black was as always fantastic. Then the sing along to Alive was great.

3rd encore was like a dream. The show ended at 3:17 minutes, what a marathon.

Leaving the area was odd, we drove up to Addison (i think) and there was a cop there a million fans crossing the street. The cop kept waving us forward while stopping nobody, as if she wanted us to run right over these people in front of us. We finally pulled up and my dad said something like "It would be a lot easier if you stopped these people" to which she responded with "(unintelligible shouting) you try to stop 'em jackass!" lmao that was a stranger part of the trip, we're still laughing about it today.

Sunday was a fun day, went to a place called Kayak Chicago (great place, atmosphere and people) and rented some kayaks to take around the Chicago River, had dinner at a Giordano's and then crashed.

Monday was also a great day. Woke up and got my run in (running 5 miles in the city is hell), and went off to Six Flags. Spent about 4 hours there and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the show.

ehbacon

Night 2:

Got there early again taking the subway this time. Got my tickets with basically no wait again, getting the same section as the first show (430) and row 7 seat 2. Was really hyped about the tweet that they'd be starting at 7:45 I guess I was one of few who saw it, since by 7:45 the crowd was nowhere near ready for the show to start. I got to sit next to a very nice couple, the young woman had a Gleason Saint's shirt which I thought was very cool. Dude in front of us was blowing pot smoke into my face throughout the show, and I have asthma. Didn't really think about it though until after the show, I was so into it.

Oceans to start was cool, my dad's first PJ concert was in East Rutherford 98, which started with Oceans as well which made it all the more special. Footsteps to follow was a huge shocker to me, and then into Off He Goes and an early Better Man appearance, great way to start a show.

Corduroy through Animal were all blistering, me and most of my section were bouncing off the walls for these songs. Then they started into Given To Fly and I lost it. Was so happy to get to hear my favorite song in such a special place, on such a beautiful night.

Then Ed started in with the Immagine in Cornice intro to Immortality and I swear the show could've ended right there and I'd have gone home thrilled.

Getting to hear a rarity like BRY was also cool, but was surprised with Rodman's appearance, thought for sure they would've cut ties by now. Deep and Jeremy were a good Ten 1-2 punch.

i am Mine was also really cool to hear, but it's one of the rare PJ songs I like better on record than live. Of The Earth was great but you could start to see the part of the crowd that were casual fans were losing energy.

Then Lukin kicked in and shit was bouncing again! Was great to hear Lukin, since they haven't played it as much as they did on the 14 Fall tour. Then stopping it to kickout the douch fan was very cool. I was concerned on how it would affect the crowd's energy but it didn't seem to hurt much if at all. MYM after that was greatly timed. Rearviewmirror to end the set was absolutely killer.

Throw Your Arms Around Me was so great, I had for some reason had they're version of the song stuck in my head during the day, so it was pretty funny hearing it at the show.

Then Ed introduced MOTH by dedicating it to Layne Staley, and man I just had chills everywhere. That was the moment of the weekend for me. The only problem was this idiot beer vendor yelling in the middle of it, as if everyone couldn't already see him. Didn't bother me much though, what a fantastic performance of the song.

I've always like Last Kiss, it was my favorite song when I was 5 years old haha. My dad loves it so we were definitely happy to hear it. Seemed like the diehards lost energy after it though, which is a shame. The rest of the encore was smoking though so they quickly were back into.

We got to hear Stone sing! I think I was the only one in my entire section singing along to Don't Gimme No Lip, had a blast.

So happy I got to hear Blood too, because realistically I don't know how long they will still be playing that song live.

Crazy Mary to start the 2nd encore was epic. Boom went crazy during that solo, I think Mike was thinking about joining in but then realized that Boom had taken over the song haha.

Alive was great live always, the sing along was great in my section. RITFW was also great, in the words of my dad "a bold and blazing rendition".

As the lights when on I am not afraid to say I shed a tear. Just didn't want it to be over. I've Got a Feeling after YLB was great, I was hanging onto every note, hoping it never ended.

I thought they might come out again with all the chanting. We stayed in our seats for about a half hour until they kicked us out, in a dazed state. Don't be sad it's over, be happy that it happened I thought on the way out.

I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of ten clubbers on a late subway ride on the way back, and had a very nice conversation with them.

Tuesday was the last day of the trip. Went to Giordano's for lunch again and then headed kayaking again. From there we hit US Cellular Field to watch my Phillies get destroyed by the Sox. Headed home after it got to 9-0 haha.



Fantastic vacation, one I will never forget. Hope everyone had as great of a time as I did, see you next time

EB218946

awesome brother! Thanks for sharing your experiences at Wrigley.

iwasatpj20

I had a fun time for the Wrigley weekend. It was fun getting away from work and seeing my favorite band since I was about 12 years old.

I arrived in Chicago on Thursday night and checked into my Airbnb then met up with friends for deep dish pizza. It was great seeing my friends from Houston in Chicago and spending time with them.

I did not enjoy being in another merchandise line, but the people there were very kind and made the time go by quick. It was fun exploring the city of Chicago and finding the small restaurants with awesome food and coffee.

The two concerts were amazing. I did not expect to hear Masters of War again at Wrigley, that was amazing. I just had a fun time rocking out with many fans and friends at the shows. Now I'm in post PJ show/tour depression waiting for the next show. Thank you to the fans, my friends old and new, city of Chicago, and the band playing two amazing concerts that made the weekend fun.

Great first post to start this thread, good read.