*** Pearl Jam Los Angeles, CA Fanviews 5/7/22 ***

Taylor's family was mentioned by name, but he didn't say they were there. Chad Smith from RHCP played tambourine on Cold Day in the Sun. It was a beautiful tribute.

THANK YOU SEA 

I believe songs 12 and 13 were on a list of songs submitted by the rail birds as Ed had given them a piece of paper at 7:30 to solicit ideas as a gesture to thank them for their dedication.  It is a testament to the band's versatility that they played GG without likely having rehearsed it.  

I'm pretty sure that "Unthought Known" was the only song from the fans' list that was played.  The other songs on the list were "Brother," "Severed Hand," "Untitled/MFC," "Fatal," "Tremor Christ," "Breakerfall," "Pilate" (I think), "Marker in the Sand" and "Strangest Tribe."  I might be forgetting one.

This whole thing was rather funny.  When Ed pointed to "Unthought Known" on the list to tell Jeff they were going to play it, Jeff looked at him and said, "Now?!"

It was an incredible evening, albeit a little schizophrenic from the vantage point of the pit because of a few people that caused trouble and derailed things a couple of times.  Three guys tried to rush the front of the pit during "Even Flow" and they got removed, but only after a couple of us had to act as bouncers.  I was not expecting to have to do that tonight.  Then, during "Indifference," another guy who was livestreaming the whole show and getting in everyone else's space with his phone tried to start a fight when a woman (rightfully) complained that he kept bumping her in the head as he reached over her to film.  Between these two incidents, it was a pretty phenomenal experience but during them, it was chaos and really took me out of the show.

The Taylor Hawkins tribute sounded great.  "Glorified G" (this was my 66th show and that was only the third time I've ever seen it played live) and "Leash" were just nailed.  There wasn't much Gigaton tonight, but all three songs were standouts.  It was great to hear "Take the Long Way" for the first time since Ohana.  "Mind Your Manners" was very high energy and a lot of fun.  "Garden" was another highlight.

The most awkward moment of the night was Eddie passionately defending his friend Bill Murray against accusations of inappropriate behavior with a female colleague and then seguing into "Better Man," a song about a woman in an abusive relationship.  I don't know much about the details of the Murray situation-- I'm not sure anyone not directly involved knows exactly what is alleged to have happened-- but this seemed awkward, and I don't think I was the only one who thought so.  According to a friend who was closer to Stone in the pit, Stone was kind of grimacing as Ed was talking about this and making a hand gesture as if to say. "I don't approve of this message."

Between the SD show and two LA shows, average set list is 23 songs which I think will be the new normal going forward. 

They opened with Release! I'm drooling! 

Night 1 was great but Night 2 was the clear winner for me. They were absolutely on fire and I thought the crowd had incredible energy.
 Quick Escape is a rare song that I actually feel sounds better on the album than played live, until last night, they attacked it and it was heavy, so good. Mike was an animal and that continued into Take the Long Way and Evenflow. Then he worked some absolute magic on Immortality. Ed’s voice sounded amazing, the conversation about shorter sets has made me really think about what his voice goes through, I start to lose my voice just trying to belt out Release, he belts it out for over 2 hours on back to back nights - amazing. His little vocal warm up before the encore was funny when he told the crowd “You should all warm up with me in the shower”
I believe in Miracles was so good, if covers are going to be less and less frequent that was a great one to include. Ed started to talk about Covid, Fuck You Covid, I thought this was leading into Alive, and then they drop Leash. C’mon! A-maze-ing!

Perfect set length for Vault 12…..

Unthought Known for the win. I was really hoping they would play this at one of the LA shows, thanks to the person who wrote it on the list! GA felt a bit more crowded and energetic last night. Truly loved both nights equally. Fingers crossed for some PNW shows added. Two shows after so long without seeing them and I am feeling all the post weekend feels! 

Show #19 - Happy to see Wildflowers by Ed for the first time pre-show.  Finally got Release again (freaking DEEP still eludes me).  Then 3 from Yield in a row was killer, leading into my fave from Gigaton, Quick Escape.  The momentum then ended for me with my least fave from Gigaton, Take The Long Way.  Just not a fan of that one, studio or live.  

The highlight of the night was Ed getting emotional about Taylor Hawkins and then Matt singing and playing guitar on Taylor's Foo Fighter's song Cold Day In The Sun.  Awesome.

Loved seeing Glorified G and Leash for only my 2nd time, and seeing I Believe In Miracles again live was nice.  Can't complain about Garden, then seeing Mind Your Manners again was cool, followed by Porch (which unbelievably was my bathroom song as I knew the end was near).

The encore was a crowd pleaser for sure, closing with Indifference...was hoping for RITFW after, but oh well.

An amazing show to cap off a fantastic six show SoCal run for me (Ohana plus these three).  I bought the Patriotic Eagle shirt from last night to help me remember my 21-22 PJ experience for years to come.  I am aging along with the band, so I'm not sure I have another multi city run left in me (especially since it appears I've now maxed out on seeing new stuff...unless there is a new album of course), but I can't wait for show #20 in San Diego (hopefully won't have to wait 9 years again).  Maybe I'll see DEEP there before we all throw in the towel.   

Thank you Pearl Jam.