*** Philadelphia 3 Fanviews Here 10/30/09 ***

Are you kidding me? This brings me back to the Devore show in 2000. I was sick as a dog with a fever, I couldn't stop coughing, I was one day removed from a horrible root canal, and the show was outdoors on a chilly 60-degree night. Oh, and I was going to the show by myself (back in the day when the 10C allowed you to buy only one ticket) because I couldn't afford a second ticket when the tickets originally went on sale.

But there was not a millisecond that went by in which I considered missing the show. And I didn't. And it rocked. And I would still be kicking myself today, many, many shows later, if I had missed it then.

Go to the show! This one's going to be epic...

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Still debating! If it was just a cold I was getting over, I'd definitely not hesitate. But I was so sick a couple days ago, I almost had to go to the hospital.

I am not young, young (31)...but we'll see! I'm sure it WILL be an awesome night.

Enjoy!

Highlights: pretty much everything, but particularly the crowd and the band's reaction to it, In My Tree, Breath, and mamasan in reverse.

My thirteenth show. The first will always be on a pedestal for sentimental reasons, but Friday might become #1b. After Gonna See My Friend and the Fixer I was thinking it may be a more run of the mill show but then Matt kicked in with In My Tree, which is one of my favorites. The span from the start of it through Deep was probably the most unbelievable stretch of a show I had seen: GtF, Tremor Christ, MFC, it was just all unreal. For me Habit and Cropduster brought a bit of a lull, but the rest of the first set (Present Tense!) was phenomenal.

In the encores, the string quartet, with Eddie introducing and thanking each member individually, was nice and Jeremy may have been the best version I have heard. I was on a high from it, but nothing could prepare me for what was next. After my fifth or sixth show I started making a list of the ten favorite songs I hadn't yet heard them play live. Breath has always been number one. Like most of us, I can identify nearly any of their songs within a second. At each show, before every song they play I think about how great it would be to hear the beginning of Breath. When they really went into it, it took me a couple seconds to realize it wasn't just in my head and they were actually playing it. They pulled it off marvelously, and it was well worth the wait. In the end they played four of the songs on that list: Breath (1), Tremor Christ (5), and then two off the new album I added with Force of Nature and Unthought Known. Force of Nature doesn't seem to get a ton of love, but man I like that song so much. Had the band allowed me to come up with the setlist I don't think there is much I would have changed. Reverse mamasan, Hold On, Breath, Tremor Christ, In My Tree, and Present Tense...unbelievable. I couldn't have been more happy.

I attended with show with a friend who was a PJ virgin. He didn't know much beyond the radio songs until I made him a mix CD with a few songs off each album that I am particularly fond of or songs they often play. What was great was that they ended up playing a lot of songs off the list that aren't regulars, such as In My Tree, In Hiding, and Present Tense, plus a few on the CD that are regulars with GtF and DtE. I was also thrilled that he got to hear Alive, as the song has certainly taken on a different meaning and the crowd reacts so well to it.

After the show he said that when Alive ended he assumed the show was over because they would want to close with what is more or less their anthem. But after seeing Sonic Reducer and Baba, he said he understood why they kept going. As soon as EV opened Sonic Reducer by saying "Let's play some punk rock" the crowd when batshit crazy. I like the song and all, but I have never seen the audience react to it they way it did. Unbelievable. I didn't think it was possible, but the energy grew even more for Baba. Our seats were near the top of 204. Not great, but not bad. We were near a corner so we had a pretty good view of the entire audience. A lot of people in our section were pretty lame, but it was as though every other section was on fire the entire night. I've seen some good crowds before, but nothing like what I saw last night. I normally brush off the comments about how [insert your city here] has the best crowd, but it made me believe those from Philadelphia may have a point.

Unfortunately I can't go to Saturday's show and am so envious of those of you who are going. EV said something about how it is unrealistic to play everything in the four nights because they may have to play for six hours, but I have a feeling they are going to come pretty close.

They played Sonic Reducer I would have loved to have seen that on e live

They played so many songs that there wasnt room to list them all! (i think they are missing a few from the final encores)

http://www.pearljam.com/tour/show/first ... ct-30-2009

It is so incredible that so many people had the same overwhelmed feeling that I had last night. The best way to put it into perspective is that at one point I was so in unison with the band and was rocking so hard that I almost blacked out and fell over. Pretty crazy considering I was sober as a judge! I caught myself on the chair in the next row, embraced the moment and just went right back to going nuts. What a show! I really hope the make a DVD of these shows! It made the six and a half hour drive back to NH totally worth the pain that I am in now!

Off He Goes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koM0lthC7ZA

Parting Ways - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxfE_yBPoTI

Hold On - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOy_YcjdaKQ

Tremor Christ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV33o4ATs_s

Evergreen wrote:

Eddie called out Joni from Australia and she was side stage for quite a bit of the show...he talked about her accident in Hawaii. BEST BAND EVER.

Does anyone who went to that show have any photos of video footage of this? Anyone? Please.

This was probably the 8th PJ show for my wife and the 11th or 12th for me. Coming from North Jersey, I was a little worried about heading into a Philly crowd. That being said...not only did I sit next the nicest, coolest people in Section 223, Row 18 - but this was def. one of if not the best PJ shows I have ever seen. The set list was amazing (see Tremor Christ, In Hiding, Breath, Footsteps, Light Years, etc.) and the crowd was probably the best I have ever been among. This was truly such a magic evening that right now, 24 hours later, I am still thinking about it and trying to shake it off. I had to turn down tix tonite with my buddy due to halloween family commitments - turns out he texted me taht he won lottery tix and has 10th row dead center. My only solace is that is going to be hard to match last night...Thank you Eddie, Mike, Stone, Jeff, Matt and Boom. You are such a huge part of my life...and your show made my year!! For those of you who know..you understand. Pearl Jam is a religion and Eddie is the God!

vedled wrote:

Epic show...I almost wanna say better than State College '03. I thought Wed was amazing until last night blew the nuts out of it. A little ticked i'm not there tonight...i thought i had tix for the final Spectrum show until they announced two more. Bastards. Haha. I was in 107 for both shows and yes, I was one of the giants in row 9 (white hat). Sorry for blocking the view...i hate being that guy but it's also great to be able to see without a problem

Which row? I was row 10, seat 8....wonder if you were the one in front of me.

BL282670 wrote:

They played Sonic Reducer I would have loved to have seen that one live

That and Footsteps were definitely my biggest/rarest highlights having seen each only *once* before
(yeah, yeah - Hold On was the biggest unexpected gem for everyone - true)

Then I thought back to the first time I saw Sonic Reducer in '95 in New Orleans and I noticed that the Official PearlJam.com Tour Setlist makes no mention what so ever of the coolest part of that specific version...
Thought I had dreamt it and couldn't find it anywhere - thank God for google and youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roIZ8Doq95c

Sick Memory
R.I.P.

On a separate note - blew away night 2 imho, but I have no idea how they top that - at least not for me, but if they do - I may kill myself for not going tonight (#4)