Your 1st Show & Your Turning Point Show

8/18/00 and 8/18/00

EDIT per request: I was already pretty into them by the time I'd seen them, heard plenty of live stuff to know that they could bring it.

When Ed came out and dedicated Throw Your Arms Around Me to his brother it hit a note with me as I was attending with my little brother. After the official boots came out my bro would sneak into my truck at some point every year on my bday and slip that bootleg in and get that track ready to roll for me as a surprise. Had the pleasure of attending 2 more PJ shows in 03 with him and got to share in the excitement of scoring VFC tickets, for a show he would never attend. He bought a new 12 string acoustic that same day so we went and found a spot on some of our family's wooded land, smoked a j, played and sang some tunes we knew, and just kept talkin about the awesome PJ experience comin up. He died in a car accident about 12 hours later. So glad we had something as awesome as PJ and music in general to bring us together, while he was here.

my first show was after my turning point! waited three years to see them in europe!
1996, zürich. was with a bunch of friends, who were not that much into pj. some of them were scared because of G.A. i told them that pj always starts with a mellow opener such as release. but as eddie went on stage wearing a devils mask and hearing a ruff plugged inn guitar, i knew it would be different. animal,hail hail, once, last exit, stbc followed. ed was skating back on stage for the encore.
2 years later i took a flight to new york to see them again, good choice. loved BOTH evenings. first show msg was great too, wonderful long road version!

Good question. I think I have a pretty interesting PJ show career so far. It was pretty nice to grow up in Seattle and finish High School in 1990 right when this was all happening. We all listened to MLB before there was a PJ, we had Bleach before we knew of Nevermind, so it was an exciting time.

I moved from Seattle to Eugene, OR in 1990 so I missed the best of the best but all of my friends were seeing PJ at RCKNDY, were in the Alive and Evenflow videos, etc. . . I kept hearing about this and decided to move back home to play guitar in a rock band with my friends and start seeing these shows.

My 1st show was 9/5/93 at the Gorge with Blind Melon opening and Neil Young closing. I had a great time there but the audio was crap from where I was sitting, I was far away, and it was just OK. They were just playing songs for their upcoming LP, Five Against One

My 2nd show was the one that turned me. I was able to scalp for $100 (yes I know - I did it too) a ticket for the so called Piss Bottle Men show at the Moore Theatre. I think there were two nights in a row and I was at the 2nd show on 2/6/95. We entered just as they were starting to play Release, and stood in the first row behind the orchestra pit so the heads in front of us were at waist/chest level - a perfect close view. They were in the midst of the Vitalogy tour, it was all local Seattle fan club people for the most part, and Neil Young came out to do Mirror/Merkin Ball songs as an encore. The energy was just insane and although I was a major fan by then this sealed the deal.

Honorable mention shows I have been lucky enough to see also:

ARO.Space - secret club show on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Matt Cameron's first show with the band. That was my 3rd show on 5/7/98. Ed told the story of an LP he had bought that day called Last Kiss and they played it too. He also showed us his new Michael Jordan bong. Read about it here - pretty cool http://www.fivehorizons.com/tour/98/arospace.shtml

Back to back Memorial Stadium shows in Seattle 1998 featuring Mr. Pickles batting practice

Somewhere in there I saw Mad Season play their 1st ever show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle and had a beer at the bar next to McCready

I saw them play Phoenix in 2000 - you may know that from the Long Road on Touring Band. Center stage 5th row

I was there two nights at the Gorge in 2006

I saw the two Key Arena shows in 2009 starting the Backspacer Tour.

And oh yeah, I was in LA when Cornell came out for Hunger Strike.

My biggest regret - I could have gone to Drop in the Park but we had band practice that morning and my buddy insisted we practice instead so we could be as good as PJ. We wound up scrapping practice and walking down to the lake where we could hear the sound of the show across the water. Oh well. I think I've done well otherwise!

Next up - two Ed Benaroya shows this summer.......

It was August 28, 1998 in Camden, NJ. They opened with Release. They had me right then and there.

It was an awesome show and I can honestly say I was high on music/life for a month. It was such a natural euphoric feeling.

And I haven’t missed a local show since. And I’ve traveled thousands of miles to other locations in the meantime.

LOVE THIS BAND!

My first show was in Hyde Park last year. London 2010.

I was living in Wales, and no one would go to the show with me. I was shocked. So I went alone.

I went to London, stood for over eight hours, was squished and exhausted, and had an amazing time.

I loved the DEVO shirt.

Staggering Genius wrote:

My first show was in Hyde Park last year. London 2010.

I was living in Wales, and no one would go to the show with me. I was shocked. So I went alone.

I went to London, stood for over eight hours, was squished and exhausted, and had an amazing time.

I loved the DEVO shirt.

Better late than never!!!!

The first show was Detroit October 7th 2000. The rafters were below me I was so high up there. They played F*ckin' Up. Didn't catch on until 2003 when I hit back-to-back shows in Detroit. First night a buddy and I drove up. Closing encore was Soon Forgot, Baba, and YLB. Been chasing the dragon ever since.

My first show was London 2000 night one - it had been a long time coming - I had been following the band since the Vs. era - but me and my girlfriend of those years (Ten, Vs Vitalogy years!) had failed to see them on a number of occasions - we even had tickets for a festival in Europe in 94 I think it was, because the ticket promoters were claiming PJ were headlining. Those were the days before I knew how to use the Internet - and there was a lot of misinformation about.

Anyway - I got tickets to London nights 1 and 2 in 2000, and I asked if my (now ex) girlfriend wanted to go with me. It was a big deal for both of us, because Pearl Jam had been a big part of our life in those years - kind of symbolic. We were standing for Night 1 and seated for Night 2. I kind of wish we'd been seated for Night 1 too - because as soon as Eddie came on the stage my ex disappeared and forced herself as close to the stage as possible, and I didn't see her for the rest of the night! The old EV crush must have come back strong being in the same room as our rock god!!

My experience was brilliant - I got swept along by Grievance pretty early on, which was a pretty new song at the time, but Ed was really belting it out. But the song I remember getting most hit by as the show got going was GTF - I had this real feeling of being part of a thing bigger than myself - of being amongst friends, kindred spirits really - to see everybody punching the air and singing out at the same points I was - was a tremendous feeling of community. You have to remember my main connection to Pearl Jam had been years of listening to my records, on my own or with my ex - and the songs meant a lot to me - so feeling a part of a crowd who also felt so much connection to the music, was amazing. Another thing in the UK is that since around about 1994 it had been very rare to ever bump into another PJ fan, or meet someone that still liked the band - in fact most people that had heard of or liked Pearl Jam in the early days seemed to think the band had broken up. So again, my main memories, alongside the songs and the experience, which was often breathtaking - was feeling a connection to 'Pearl Jam people' - people like me - who had similar emotions towards the songs. That was the start of something unforgettable.

So those are my feelings about my first show. I don't know about a turning point show, because I had stayed mad passionate about the band through the records since I first liked them - so the live experience just enhanced it - for me Pearl Jam is about the music I listen to in the dark hours in my room really, and not so much about the live experience...... I just need the songs!!