Your Top 3 Moments of Being a Fan

Merkin Baller · January 3

JimmyV said:

Weston1283 said:

1) Philly Night 2, 2016

2) Having where I was at in life in regards to free time match up perfectly with the barnburner era of 2013-2016, allowing me to see many, many shows during this time

3) Telluride 2016, purely based on venue

4) The months of hype and buzz leading up to the Wrigley 2013 show along with being excited for the new album/single (MYM and LB)

Wrigley 2013 was such an experience. The buzz and excitement leading up to it, like you pointed out, was incredible. And then the opening sing-along during Release was unreal. So special.

It really was; coming back out from the rain delay & playing from midnight to 2AM also made the night something special... there'll always be the question of what could have been, but all things considered, it was still an amazing night and weekend in Chicago.

Get_Right · January 3

Tough to narrow it down but here goes
1. Randall's N2 with Epic records hospitality passes.
2. Meeting Mike at Borgata 2
3. Getting a pic from Eddie at the REM HOF induction ceremony.

Many, many, honorable mentions, but the list would have to include all of you fans that are kind, generous, and help keep this thing going.

LC · January 3

1. Attending all 3 nights - Mansfield 2003. Specifically, the moment early in night 1 (7/2/03) where Ed indicates they will be playing 3 nights without repeating a song. Talk about a dream scenario for any fan. Easy way to hear (most) every song in their catalog up to that point. The acoustic pre-set on 7/11 was obviously elite. The acoustic set is my 'go-to' bootleg in the last 22 years and immediately puts me back in that place when I listen. One song that wasn't played in those 3 nights....

2. Leash in Boston 5/25/06. This was massive at that time. Leash had not been played for 11 years and there was growing crowd demand and questions on when that song might get played again. The arena erupted when it kicked in.

3. Kissimmee, FL 10/8/04 - The first time I legitimately traveled to go see a Pearl Jam show. Traveled with a small group of 4 friends that still attend shows together to this day. Watched the Red Sox beat the Angels in the ALDS (big year, 2004) at a local establishment in the afternoon....then went to a tiny arena to see the best band in the world. Great time.

A huge "moment" for me was also when the band made the decision to release bootlegs of all their shows starting in 2000. Listening to their bootlegs (through NUGS now) has honestly become part of my lifestyle. Everyone has the great sense of excitement and anticipation for a Pearl Jam show and I've leveraged that feeling into crushing my daily morning runs by listening to a random bootleg.

BSully · January 3

I've never got to meet any of them or anything cool like that, but still lots of great experiences.

1. First time ever seeing them live. Aug. 17th, 1998. I was way back in the lawn at Deer Creek with my cousin and friend and it was a surreal moment to see them for the first time.

2. St. Louis Sept. 18, 2022. My 10th show and finally GA. Was around a great group of people all night (about 5 or 6 people deep). It was an amazing setlist and I was able to finish both Ten and Vs. at this show.

3. Bringing my son with me to his first PJ show this past year at Indy. Black was always my favorite song and Vitalogy was my favorite album so I got to experience the best version of Black I've heard and 6 songs from Vitalogy along with my son... it was great.

BSully · January 3

The Cincy show in 2006 is also a great one if I'm doing more than 3... floor/aisle seats about 20 rows back... great evening!
First time I remember standing in line outside waiting for will call to open to get my tickets.

F Me In The Brain · January 3

1) the friends I've made through this band and community. Some are lifelong friends, now, and are far more important to me than the music.

2) b2b shows at Berkeley and Indio in 93 on the Vs. Tour. First times seeing live and F Me In The Brain!

3) Philly shows 2016. Big meet up of some of the board Degenerates and it was my favorite 2 shows since the first two because of that.

SR91748 · January 3

1.) Great memories of first listens of Vs., Yield, Riot Act, and Dark Matter (maybe that's four there, but first and early listens of albums are favorite moments, as I also associate those listens with moments in time in my life. And not to take away anything from the other great albums--these first listens just stand out in my memory.)

2.) Mad Season at Benaroya and Mike's Sonic Evolution was special for me. Aside from being great music, it was a bit of a celebration of life and all the whole era, which I lived my 20s in the Seattle area in. We forge on.

3.) Philly 4 with my brother. Drove up from DC. His first PJ concert. Devo, the Spectrum closeout, Halloween, the works.

ponytd · January 3

Too many to list for me too but I'll give it a shot

First show Murfreesboro 94. It was a Saturday and we had to go to school a half day to make up a snow day. They sold extra tix that morning and my dad got me 1. He drove me to the show and dropped me off and picked me up afterwards since I wasn't sure where to park and he had gone to college at MTSU. He passed away 2 years ago next week, but always supported me going to as many shows as possible and he made it possible for me to go to my first. Thanks Dad

Third Man record show - Lucky enough to get to go to that and was right at Eddies feet. When they came out, he set his cup down and said something like "I'm gonna set this here so try not to knock this over and don't let anybody else knock it over either" lol

PJ20 - I had seen them several times before, but that was the start of my buddy and I going to see them as many as we could. Met a lot of great people there and had a great couple of days

Honorable mention:
Wrigley 2013 (and ran into Mike twice that morning and talked to us. Always super nice and welcoming)
Philly 10 show in 2016
Charlotte 96 my first road trip to see a show

HailHailVitalogy · January 3

Can I throw one more out there? 2005

On this forum we all saw pictures of the band warming up before the Gorge. We got our first look of the return of long hair Eddie 😆 Then later that year, when we all first heard Buenos Aires 1 on bootleg…we all couldn’t believe the crowd we were hearing. Singing the guitar parts.

Johnny Abruzzo · January 3

First show - won lottery and got 2nd row, saw Faithfull and Immortality
Long Road 2013 - a few months after my aunt passed away way too young - a public school teacher
Ten in 2016

Not going to think about it much more.

pjhawks · January 3

1 - Closing the Spectrum - the whole vibe was great. the Confetti at the end being was really cool

2 - Sea Hear Now - not the best show or anything, but first big event I went to after Covid lockdowns. Was a special moment being on that beach, back to a normal life with my favorite band, beautiful night, great vibe all around. special night.

3 - Ten show. the moment Even Flow started figuring this was it. Incredible show. will be almost impossible to surpass that night.

honorable mentions: getting tix to 10th anniversary show at about 5:30 that night having been in vegas for annual vegas trip with the boys and buddy and i decided to try for tix at box office. great seats 1 section over from stage. great show

same buddy and I tried the same thing for Borgata I, did some gambling went to box office around 5:30-6:00 and got tickets

Philly spectrum 2003 - incredibly loud crowd. Until 2016 with Ten show and VS Show in Greenville was my favorite show for a long time.

Fenway and Wrigley first times were pretty cool. Some pretty cool little moments here and there are shows but too many to mention.

Loujoe · January 3

That 10 show was something. All those heavy hitters in order. If I wasn't there, I'd think meh. Was there, and it blew my socks off!

just_one · January 3

1. Barcelona 2024 night 2 (july 08th)
Future days was our wedding song when we got married in 2014. From there we saw them so many times but never heard the song. After 4 consecutive cancellations (vienna 2022, london 2024 and berlin x2 2024) after night one i thought about writing ten club about our history the song and what it meant to us. They didnt played but during smile , eddie wrote us this message. We lost out shit right there ❤️

2. Lisbon 2006 night 1&2 (september 4th and 5th)

First time seeing them , i remember wanting them to open with wasted reprise and life wasted and thats what they opened night one. The rest is history i discovered the band of my life , i remember being at the stands in the end of the 2nd night and thinking nothing would ever top those 2 shows and for a long long time everytime i went to see shows at that arena (pavilhao atlântico now meo arena) i would think of those 2 pearl jam nights.also due to being there night one, my now wife was there also and we started talking about the show and get to know each other more and more...we are happilly married today❤️

3. Eddie vedder solo at meo arena 2019(june 19th)
Amazing night and he got 3rd row right in front of eddie. Never saw ed so close before, it was like a dream. Also amazing setlist , off he goes, immortality,drifting,im open, trouble and i couldnt believe he actually played this PARTING WAYS❤️

pjhawks · January 3

Loujoe said:

That 10 show was something. All those heavy hitters in order. If I wasn't there, I'd think meh. Was there, and it blew my socks off!

and an incredible Release. Ed was almost in tears during the introduction. very powerful. Then Ed's speech after Release about the building , the banner and even a Springsteen impression.

Spunkie · January 3

HailHailVitalogy said:

Can I throw one more out there? 2005

On this forum we all saw pictures of the band warming up before the Gorge. We got our first look of the return of long hair Eddie 😆 Then later that year, when we all first heard Buenos Aires 1 on bootleg…we all couldn’t believe the crowd we were hearing. Singing the guitar parts.

Sweet!!!!

That reminds me one poster here mentioned how someone was air guitaring the harp at Ohana!

SVRDhand13 · January 3

Loujoe said:

That 10 show was something. All those heavy hitters in order. If I wasn't there, I'd think meh. Was there, and it blew my socks off!

That's the funny thing about setlists... most are better than they are on paper when actually in the building!

Spunkie · January 3

F Me In The Brain said:

1) the friends I've made through this band and community. Some are lifelong friends, now, and are far more important to me than the music.

rrivers · January 3

LC said:

1. Attending all 3 nights - Mansfield 2003. Specifically, the moment early in night 1 (7/2/03) where Ed indicates they will be playing 3 nights without repeating a song. Talk about a dream scenario for any fan. Easy way to hear (most) every song in their catalog up to that point. The acoustic pre-set on 7/11 was obviously elite. The acoustic set is my 'go-to' bootleg in the last 22 years and immediately puts me back in that place when I listen. One song that wasn't played in those 3 nights....

2. Leash in Boston 5/25/06. This was massive at that time. Leash had not been played for 11 years and there was growing crowd demand and questions on when that song might get played again. The arena erupted when it kicked in.

3. Kissimmee, FL 10/8/04 - The first time I legitimately traveled to go see a Pearl Jam show. Traveled with a small group of 4 friends that still attend shows together to this day. Watched the Red Sox beat the Angels in the ALDS (big year, 2004) at a local establishment in the afternoon....then went to a tiny arena to see the best band in the world. Great time.

A huge "moment" for me was also when the band made the decision to release bootlegs of all their shows starting in 2000. Listening to their bootlegs (through NUGS now) has honestly become part of my lifestyle. Everyone has the great sense of excitement and anticipation for a Pearl Jam show and I've leveraged that feeling into crushing my daily morning runs by listening to a random bootleg.

The point about the the bootlegs is a really good one. I'm pretty sure the first one I bought was Katowice night 2. I remember going into a store and seeing a whole display of all of those which had been released that day. I picked this one because, if I remember right, it had State of Love and Trust. I can remember a precise moment when I was turning into my apartment complex and I think it was on Light Years and just thinking how great they sounded. I think of this moment quite a bit when listening to boots about how spoiled we are now and that, while I wouldn't change it, how awesome it would be to hear them live with fresh ears again.

eeriepadave · January 3

1. Closing of the Spectrum on Halloween.

2. The Ten Show in philly
3. Hearing Hunger Strike for the first time at MSG in '10 w/Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses

iammine16 · January 4

1. Quebec City 2016 - The whole experience in Quebec was magical. Walked in after doors were open, walked right up to row 2 on Mike’s side. The show itself was spectacular (Stone wrote the setlist). 35 songs! Got to strum Mike’s Les Paul during Alive, ended up with a few of his picks as well. The next day walking around old Quebec on a beautiful sunny day, got to have a solid 10 minute conversation with Mike. He was just as nice and gracious as people have mentioned before. Loved that show!

2. The Seattle Home Shows 2018 - Had such a blast in Seattle for 3 nights. Getting to see the Mopop exhibit before the public was awesome. Met a lot of great people, including one person who remains a great friend that I talk to regularly. Everywhere we went it was all Pearl Jam. The shows them self were fantastic, night 2 was an all timer!

3. Vancouver 2024 - These shows were pretty heavy for me. I honestly thought the Seattle 2018 shows may be my last. I was supposed to go to Ohana for my 40th Birthday in 2020 (we all know what happened there). And then life happened. We had a son in 2021, so time and money were very limited. And then I lost my Dad December 2023. It crushed and turned me upside down. When the rumour of PJ starting their Dark Matter tour in my home city, I was cautiously stoked. And then it became a reality. When Wash started the first show, I had chills, disbelief I was seeing them again. I was a mess when they played Setting Sun for the first time. Tears were streaming down my face while I thought about my Dad (he saw the band twice, he was a fan). Night 2 felt like more of a celebration. I am so fortunate to have this band in my life!

Honerable mentions:

Vancouver 2013 - band was on fire, marathon show!

Hunger Strike w/ Chris Cornell - Bridge School 2014

Pemberton 2016 - listen to the bootleg, trust me!

Your Top 3 Moments of Being a Fan

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