*** Bonnaroo Fanviews Here 6/14/2008 ***

InThinAir wrote:

Still shaking out the cob webs after what was a really long night but here's some details. So this is my 3rd Bonnaroo and having Pearl Jam there was like having two of my best friends meet for the first time and loving each other. Got up there about 3/4 of the way through BB King's set and started jockeying for position as the anticipation was really starting to build. Jack Johnson came out to an incredibly warm reception and played a killer set. He said at one point "are you guys as excited as I am to see Pearl Jam?" He then brought out Eddie to play a Jack song (Constellations I think). That was an exciting moment because it was our first glimpse of Eddie.

The stage set up is really cool with a big screen behind them with a wave mural and then two big PJ banners on each side of the stage. The lights go out and everyone goes nuts. Hard to Imagine was a great opener and he had the crowd singing instantly. If there was any question that this crowd belonged to PJ it was answered right then. Courdoroy was awesome and then All Night threw some people off but still sounded awesome. Who You Are is a song I've been waiting to hear for a long time. In preparation for this show I hadn't checked the setlists from the previous nights but someone had mentioned they played Who You Are so I had a feeling it was coming. They've reworked the drum intro and they nailed it, absolutely beautiful.

Half Full ripped, Mike did a blistering solo. Before Gone Eddie says that on January 8th, 2001 when Bush took office that gas was 1.56 a gallon and now it's 4.50. He said he wrote this next song when it was at about 2.75 and played Gone. Just mentioning Bush got mixed response from the crowd. Not like the San Francisco crowds I'm used to. Love Reign O'er Me was really solid, Eddie really put it down on this one.

During the first encore the camera man zoomed in on the setlist so we knew what was coming. I saw No More coming up and wondered how it would go with the crowd. Eddie comes out and says "we were talking backstage and you guys really remind us of a crowd at a festival in Amsterdam. All I need now is for you to tell me to go fuck myself in Dutch, Don't worry you'll get your chance in a bit" a reference to No More? I don't know. WMA sounded really, really good. Reworked just enough and it extended out nicely.

For the 2nd Encore he came out alone and told the story of the guy from Body of War. He recently slipped into a coma and Eddie was obviously affected by it, in fact he seemed to be battling a lot of emotion all night. He said I know there's a time and a place to talk about this stuff but I'm pissed!!! He then talked about how the 80,000 people here have the power to change the world. The crowd came around for No More and really made it a nice sing along. Eddie said that if we sang along he'd said Thomas the tape. I had seen Release on the setlist and thought it was really odd to be played so late. Eddie talked about how their friend had lost their Father the day before and he was going to play this for him. The most amazing Release ever with Eddie crying throughout.

To backtrack a second during the 2nd encore break the crowd starting singing Alive on it's own, in fact it sounded like the whole crowd was signing it so Alive was a big hit when they played not to mention that I think Eddie was into bottle of wine number 3 by that point. Yellow Ledbetter and Indifference were on the setlist as the closers but they must have changed it up and went with Watchtower.

All in all the most amazing PJ show I have been to. I was proud to be a PJ fan. The band really, really brought it and I have a feeling will go down in Bonnaroo history as one of their best headliner ever, hands down the best in my book. Sorry for the long review but last night's show was a marathon, not to mention Kanye West finally coming onstage at 4:30 in the morning and playing until the sun came up. Bonnaroo is nuts, absolutely nuts!!!

NY PJ1 wrote:

how was metallica,, ??

being serious for a second

ReleasH wrote:

I am still trying to wrap my head around what I experienced Saturday night. I've seen some great shows, especially the previous PJ shows I've been too, but the guys absolutely killed it at Bonnaroo. Hands down the best show ever!!

I had to work Friday morning so I wasn't able to make the Pit meet up, but was able to get down to Manchester by 3 pm. On Saturday I headed over to What Stage (the main stage) right before BB King started. The line for the front pen areas were already insanely long. I didn't want risk not getting into the pen and ending up super far back in the crowd so I decided to try for the rail just behind the pen on Mike's side. I started working my way up during the end of BB King's set. Worked my way up closer during Jack Johnson's set and was about 5 people back from the rail at the end of Jack Johnson. The wait between Jack and PJ seemed like an eternity, probably because I was so excited and there was no room to sit down. When the guys came out and I heard the first notes of Hard to Imagine, I went nuts. Great opener!! The crowd really joined in on Corduroy. All Night was awesome! And then Why Go! At this point, I felt like we were in for something really special. The guys seemed like they were out there to rock Bonnaroo's brains out. Solid Small Town with good crowd singing, then Down. WHO YOU ARE started and I nearly lost my mind. I knew they had broken it out at WPB, but I never thought I would get to see it live. It was the beginning of an absolutely rockin' group of songs (Severed Hand, 1/2 Full, Animal) that whipped the crowd into a frenzy for Even Flow. At this point I was able to move around an annoying group of tall frat boys and next to some very cool PJ fans 3 people back from the rail. I thought the crowd would be much less responsive to Eddie's Bush comments before Gone, but there weren't too many boos. And then Boom started the opening to Love Reign O'er Me. I was speechless as Eddie launched into an absolutely beautiful version. I feel truly blessed to have seen the guys do this live. They closed out the main set with an freaking awesome Do the Evolution and rearviewmirror.

I was a little bummed the cameraman showed the encore setlist during the break, but I didn't think that it was the real one because of how stacked it was. Little did I know what PJ had in store for us ... WMA was unbelievable!! Great extended version. The crowd really joined in for Betterman and Eddie commented on how huge the crowd was. It seemed like all 100,000 plus people were singing for Black, which was beautiful. Crazy Mary was the best version I've heard from the guys. I was super pumped they started Porch out with the interupted/staccato intro. Porch freaking rocked!

Ed was extremely emotional all night, he seemed at a loss for words a couple times. But I thought his speech before No More was poignant and perfectly timed. The crowd sung the chorus sooo loud. He then dedicated Release to a friend, Luke, whose father had just died. When the opening notes of Release started, I literally got goosebumps down my arms and couldn't stop myself from crying. The awesome guy next to me was crying to. I've waited so long to hear this song and the guys gave us an amazing version. I feel so lucky to have been there. Alive was great, with Mike killing it. I think this is when he came out on stacks at the edge of the stage, though I may not be remembering correctly.

I knew the guys weren't done with us yet and the setlist the camera guy showed had Yellow Ledbetter/Indifference, but I never expected All Along the Watchtower. FREAKING AMAZING!! A great change up from Ledbetter as the closer.

Other thoughts ... Mike seemed totally amped the whole night. His solos were awesome and he was really connecting with the crowd in front of him. Stone was his usual chill self, but I'm happy to see him playing closer into center of the stage (someone else had mentioned this in the WPB fanviews). His haircut is terrible (definitely not "hunky"). Stone's solos were amazing as usual. Jeff was running around so much I had a hard time getting a non-blurry picture! Matt rocked but with shorter solos than I have seen in the past from him. Ed's voice was spot-on and he did a number of interesting, beautiful little variations in tone on some lyrics.

Overall, I feel unbelievably lucky to have been at this amazing show. I couldn't stop smiling afterwards. Pearl Jam not only rocked Bonnaroo; they showed why they are the best band in the world. Seriously, every other band I saw at Bonnaroo (and every other band period) absolutely pales in comparison. I'm so happy there were a ton of awesome PJ fans at the show (I met a ton of cool non-pit people). Bonnaroo '08 will go down in my book as one of the best experiences of my life and the best concert I have ever seen. All of you guys are in for some awesome shows for the rest of tour.

MrSmith wrote:

unbelievable show. Ed was on his A-game. McCready was on crack! Crowd was massive and really into it.

A+++