*** Kansas City Fanviews Here 5/3/10 ***

I thought the crowd was great, Ed commented that the st Louis crowd has their work cut out for them

indeed wrote:

I won the lottery!!! FRONT ROW! couldn't believe it. Or wished for anything better. My friend caught a big wad of cake that Ed threw to her then she was just holding it and he looked at her smiled, and threw her the towel that he had wiped his face with. Best souviner! Oh yeah, I finally got to drink his wine.

I'm So Jealous!!!

any sports themed shirts?

thunderDAN wrote:

any sports themed shirts?

no.

Wow what a show!!!

I went with a 135xxx member and expected good seats, but damn! We ended up winning the lottery, 1st row right in front of Mike!

We each got 3 picks (all Mike's), drank EV's wine, had some cake and had so much interaction with Mike it was almost too much lol

Great show, great energy from the band which almost equaled the energy from the crowd! Good work KC, see everyone tonight in STL!

dasvidana wrote:

Does all that he touches glow with an aura?

As far as the pick goes, in my eyes, yes, but I can't speak for the cake

AndySlash wrote:

thunderDAN wrote:

any sports themed shirts?

no.

Any new merch this tour or same as last year?

Has anyone mentioned Thomas Young joining Ed on stage for No War? For me, that was the THIS is why I flew in from Seattle (along with just loving the band, shows, and a super opener I hadn't heard before)

*for better or worse, this is what i can remember.

What a beautiful day outside! The weather was absolutely perfect. Ed mentioned this several times early in the show saying he and the band had "enjoyed the city" and that Ed caught a Royals game at Kaufman Stadium the night before calling it "one of the best night's of my life."

Band of Horses took the stage first and singer Ben Bridwell looked little bewildered saying it was the "largest crowed they'd ever played for" and said several times how gracious he was that Pearl Jam was taking them on tour. The band didn't waste any time and started playing several new songs from their forthcoming LP "Infinite Arms." Given the mellow nature of my early "Infinite Arms" LP preview, these new songs come across a bit more forceful live. Before I could digest the new songs BOH ripped into a string of songs off of their debut LP. The entire band looked dialed in with Ben giving a huge "whoooooooo" in between songs acknowledging the size of the crowd. The band looked quite happy to be playing, exchanging smiles and jamming out in small circle on stage before the end of the their set.

I felt like I'd seen a full 2 hour show when BOH finished and was slack jawed thinking that Pearl Jam still had to play! The floor crowded up quickly. Holy shit they had us packed in there like sardines. This was something less than airline economy seating! Ha! Lucky for my wife Ali and I, we had short people in front of us and some friendly fans sitting on either side of us. Just as people were filing in the piano intro started up and the crowd began standing up. The lights went dim and in moments that familiar kick drum intro to "Of The Girl" began. Ed's voice had a crisp vibrato to it, and the band sounded very well rehearsed. Mike's solo during "Of The Girl" had a bit of an extended quality to it, not like normal versions and Ed did some improv vocalization towards the end which gave chills. As the band faded out they quickly jumped into "Animal." The crowd went nuts! That entire floor section seemed to be pogo-ing up and down in time during the first minute. Stone immediately began bobbing his mop around and looked like he was having a blast playing that main riff!

Ed sure played a lot of guitar tonight. His tech was busy setting up his guitars in between songs so any fan worth their weight knew it had to be a handful of songs. However for those lucky enough to see up on stage it became clear which song was coming when Ed grabbed his e-bow to start the intro to WWS! They played that song with so much energy it was as if they just released the song yesterday! 3 songs in and Mike is already running around the damn stage (big surprise right?!). The frantic pace continued without any chatter onto "Got Some." Matt had a huge smile on his face playing this song. His chops were rock solid and they rocked the shit out of this one. Its amazing how this song has evolved live since its debut on Late Night with Conan last year.

Ed addressed the crowd saying how it'd been too long since they'd played in K.C. and like I said earlier mentioned how beautiful the day was, how great the city looked. Keeping his guitar on they played through Unthought Known and told the crowd to "get their voices warmed up" playing Elderly Woman. He quipped he didn't need to warm up because he was "a professional." Ha! MFC was a complete surprise and the band looked pretty comfortable dusting off a 12 year old song! Johnny Guitar had a faster beat to it which was surprising! Gave it punk rock feel. Amongst the Waves was dedicated to Matt's long time drum tech who according to Ed takes care of Matt's "right hand....his left...and I think his right foot?" Ed had the tech stand up and show his wedding ring and told him 'here's to the honeymoon never ending.' Amongst the Waves had more improv vocalizations by Ed which again sets apart the band live unlike any IMO.

EvenFlow was intro'd as a "mixed metaphor" and during the song Jeff, Stone locked in near Matt while Mike set the left side of the stage on fire like usually does during the song. Ed had a bottle of wine and came around and shared it with someone in the front row who looked like they might have also had beer in their cup (nice combo, yuck!). The song was so long and Ed had disappeared on the side of the stage sitting down drinking down his bottle of wine. When he reappeared it was like he'd been gone for an hour (sorry, I am just tired of hearing E-Flo is all). After E-Flo Ed introduced the band and intro'd the next song as one that Jeff had written words and music for and had come to Ed and told him the name of the song was "God's Balls." Ha! Ed said that he wasn't sure about it so the band began thinking of "other round objects that hang from stiff objects" and went off a bit saying "what if god was a woman" but that they came up with God's Key's, God's Eyeballs and then they came back to other objects that dangle and that's where God's Dice came in. Ed flubbed the lyrics on this one and knew it. He did this a few times tonight and when so he'd hack this huge snot ball. Kinda gross. Maybe he felt disgusted with himself? Ha!

Next up was Present Tense with Ed and his white Strat and Mike with his Gibson Flying V. I never get tired of hearing this song. I like how the rest of the band one by one joined them on stage and just ripped a hole in the sound universe with this song! With 3 guitars going at once it had this real aggressive sound to it. Ed's clearly gotten better with his guitar playing over the years. Wishlist was a pleasant surprise but seemed to end rather abruptly without the part where Ed uses his e-bow at the very end. Again this show had Ed playing on a shitload of songs. This continued with Insignificance. The band all huddled together jamming out at the end of this one and I was thinking the main set was over at that point, but then they jumped into DTE and I think the crowd's heads all exploded! The "let's sing in the choir" bit all the house lights were turned on and it was nuts seeing that many people with their hands up singing "hallelujah." Ok, a little creepy actually. Sorry, ha! Ali pointed out during DTE that Stone was looking rather pissed off! I think he looked really into it during the main set until....

First encore. Stools brought out and Ed's got his acoustic. I'm thinking Just Breathe, but nope. Off He Goes. Not sure that I've seen Ed play his acoustic on this one or not. The entire band is sat down playing and right away Stone stands up and goes over to his Vox amp and his leaning over his guitar like he's trying to give himself the heimlich or something! He remained standing the entire song with Mike and Jeff staring at him most of the song. Looked like tech troubles. Afterward the song Stone had a lengthy talk with his tech. Oops!
Just Breathe was next and Stone finally sat down. A beautiful song to hear live that's for sure. No recruited string section (not a surprise), but Matt's harmonies were right on. Man that guy is a hurricane of talent!

Given to Fly was dedicated to some Kansas City Royals baseball player named Willie Miles? Sorry I am not up to snuff on my Royals history (Cardinals fan). The Fixer was dedicated to the crowd and Porch was INSANE. The jamming on this one was intense and had our floor section all pogo-ing in sync once again! Ed acknowledged this a few times with a nod and a look of disbelief a few times in the show. Pretty fun jumping up and down with fellow fans.

The second encore began with a talk about Tomas Young, who came out on stage. He had a giant beard and appeared to be in good health. Ed talked about how he couldn't believe he'd still be talking about the war in 2010 and that the government had 'failed Tomas.' He said Tomas helped write a few lines of No More, which got a rousing participation from the crowd overall. Ed had some improved lines in this one and at the end he and the band all gave Tomas a hug. Very sweet moment. This lead to a bittersweet rendition of Black with Ed singing the "we belong" extended bit at the end. Next up was a funny moment wishing their long time tour manager a happy birthday. A giant cake was brought out, but the fans kept blowing out the candles and suddenly Boom Gaspar leaps down from his B3 perch with a lighter. Imagine a couple techs handling this giant cake with Stone on stage frantically motioning them to hurry up while Boom is freaking out trying to re-light all these blowed out candles! Ha!! Anyway, the cake comes out, we all sing happy birthday with Ed doing a punk "1234 1234 in between lines because Smitty is a "punk rock motherfucker" per Ed. The cake gets smashed in Smitty's face and the band launches into Alive with Ed taking the cake and throwing out chunks into the crowd! He ends up with his fist of blue icing which he then proceeds to smash all over his face. His singing Alive with a shit ton of blue icing on one side of his face! Ha! Getting it all wiped off the crowd had their fists pumping "yeah, yeah, yeah" during Mike's face melting solo. Ed comes out pretty close our section and is fist pumping with the crowd. By this time Stone seems over his little tantrum and is smiling rocking out with Jeff. RITFW was pounding and before it seems they have finished, Ed says "one more?" With the crowd freaking out. He takes a moment to introduce the "main guy in the back" from the U.S. gold winning bobsled team. The guy comes out, shows off his gold medal and then puts it on Ed. Ed says "get this guy a bass" and they all play Yellow Ledbetter with Jeff on a goldtop Gibson. Stone jumps on Matt's drum riser and rocks the shit out of his acoustic, Mike ends the show with Star Spangled Banner. Ed thanks the crowd and says St.Louis will have their work cut out for them! He tells the crowd "let's do it again next year!." Earlier in the show he mentioned something about the band not coming back through the midwest again for some time, maybe ever again (Ali says she heard this too, but we can't quite remember). So not sure if it's next year or never again.....anyways, what a great show! Lots of energy! The band just seemed to rattle off one after the other like a machine gun jukebox of sorts. Looking foward to St.Louis! Man my neck, shoulders, legs are all sore! Woooooot!!