Your Top 3 Moments of Being a Fan

YAKIMATSU · January 4

1. Kansas City 2010 This was back in the will call days. A friend backed out 2 days before the flight, so I went solo again. After checking in to the hotel I made the short walk over to the Sprint Center with no line at will call. I walked down the steps a little bit before returning to the window to confirm that I did indeed have front row. Band of Horses kicked ass and are still my favorite opener. I was right in front of Stone for the entire night. The best part was that it was Smitty's birthday. After singing Happy B-day and slamming a big cake in Smitty's face Ed decided to toss some cake to 2 lucky fans. I was the 2nd lucky fan. His first toss to me came up short between the stage and the rail, but that second toss was beautiful. The best cake I have ever had and still have the pieces from the top. Eating the Ed tossed cake during Alive in the front row will live forever.

2. Soldier Field 1995 It was my first and wow, just wow. I was fortunately checking out the classifieds and was able to snag 2 tickets at cost. No theatrics just kicking ass all night. Finding the bootleg at my college record store a year or two later was the kickstart to join the club. I played that boot out. Everyday People is due btw. Still have the ticket and the 2 t-shirts from that night.

3. Denver 2014 39 songs. I know it says 38 on Live Footsteps, but Mike finishing with the National Anthem should be included. A wonderful long night in the pit. The set was solid all the way through with the standout being first encore closers Leash into RVM. The best part was earlier in the day. My chance encounter with Matt and Boom. We happened to be shopping at a dispensary when Matt and Boom came in. We patiently waited outside and were able to get a pic and chat for a bit. Both were super sweet.

Honorable Mention Las Vegas 2000 10th anniversary show and Crown of Thorns
Wrigley 2013 The anticipation, the rain, Chloe-Crown and the long walk back to the hotel at 3am.
Austin 2023 Birthday show in the pit and Chloe-Crown
St. Louis 1998 The wonderful lady that was on stage signing the whole show while dancing was amazing.

steven87 · January 4

This is a tough one for me cause I’ve been incredibly fortunate over the years. It’s hard for me to limit this to just 3, but here goes:

1. Ed dedicating a song (wishlist) to my newborn daughter at the Earthings show in Newark in ‘22.

2. My dad and I getting to strum Mike’s guitar together at the Apollo, only a few months after he finished chemo for a very rare and aggressive type of cancer.

3. Ed tossing me a tambo during Baba during Philly N1 earlier this year, literally right after they resumed the song following the crowd incident.

But there’s so many more. I’m just incredibly grateful for the countless amazing experiences I’ve had with this band. And looking forward to making more memories later this year!

Hawk123 · January 4

1. Toronto 2011 Night 1 - playing full Chloe/Crown for the first time and then Neil joining for RITFW

2. LA 2009 Night 3 - surprise appearance of Chris Cornell for Hunger Strike.

3. Toronto 2009 - pre show set filling in for Ted Leo

Honourable mention:

Detroit 2014 - Release into Oceans to start the show.

Torontonian · January 4

Similar to @Hawk123 with some personal twist's…

1. Toronto September 11, 2011 Air Canada Centre - Night 1 Uncle Neil RITFW then home next day my Daughter was born at 8:22pm PJ on stage at 8:25pm for Toronto Night 2 (yes I missed the Sept 12th show 😢😉)

2. Toronto May 12, 2016 Air Canada Centre - Binaural in Full and Ed talked about a fundraiser at my local pub in Scarborough and the Guitar they were donating to raise funds for local kids to play music (see photo). I was the only bidder. Kids playing Pearl Jam at the pub and the money raised paid for their instruments. WIN <-> WIN 🤙

3. Toronto August 21, 2009 Molson Amphitheatre - pre-show set filling in for Ted Leo - PJ opened for PJ -> The Needle and the Damage Done Ed solo nuff said

Blessed. ❤️

RoleModelsinBlood31 · January 4

Crowd surfing 20 times when I was 16 in NYC 96, seeing them in OKC with crazy good seats and sneaking in a box of wine for my wife’s first show in 2013, and ACL rail in 2014

smile6680 · January 4

reedrothchild said:

1. The acoustic preset from Boston III 2003. I don't think anyone expected it to be as good as it was. The other two Boston shows that year were also incredible but are all but forgotten for the most part.

2. The first 8 songs from Ottawa 2005. Just absolute heat- still my favorite show attended. Wash>Go>Hail Hail>Animal>Brain of J> Immortality>In Hiding>Don't Gimme No Lip.

3. Great Woods 8/29/00. First show. Mind blown. Hooked ever since.

4. Alone and I've Got Feeling from 9/29/2004- 10 year gap and really thought neither would ever be played again.

5. Hartford 2013- prior to this I was losing interest (though still hitting 2-3 shows/year) as the shows from 2008-2012 were mostly subpar imo. 2013 showed me they could still bring it- and Hartford 2013 had it all for me.

The acoustic set was great. Did you get there early? When they first started there was only a few hundred people in the reserved seat area. Filled up quickly after the first couple songs.

23scidoo · January 4

The friends and the travels
The 2018 mini tour we made..so much fun!!
The first time i saw them..

someonesbrain · January 4

For me, it's not about the (best/most impressive) shows, but the moments/feelings/memories:

(in chronological order, not necessarily in order of importance)

1) Picking up the album "Ten" from a CD rental shop in 1991 and copying it to a cassette tape. I didn't have the funds to buy the cd living as a juvenile in the remains of the former GDR (East Germany). Listening to the tape changed my life.

2) Listening to "Immortality" on heavy rotation for months in 1994 to cope with my best friends suicide while preparing for my A-level-exams/high school graduation exams.

3) The beginning of the 2010 Berlin show. I attended this show with my wife and our son. He was 3.5 years old at the time. It was his first ever concert. We saw a lot of different shows since then. In Berlin 2010, I cried during the first song "Long Road" (... nobody understood, but it was pure joy/luck).

reedrothchild · January 4

smile6680 said:

reedrothchild said:

1. The acoustic preset from Boston III 2003. I don't think anyone expected it to be as good as it was. The other two Boston shows that year were also incredible but are all but forgotten for the most part.

2. The first 8 songs from Ottawa 2005. Just absolute heat- still my favorite show attended. Wash>Go>Hail Hail>Animal>Brain of J> Immortality>In Hiding>Don't Gimme No Lip.

3. Great Woods 8/29/00. First show. Mind blown. Hooked ever since.

4. Alone and I've Got Feeling from 9/29/2004- 10 year gap and really thought neither would ever be played again.

5. Hartford 2013- prior to this I was losing interest (though still hitting 2-3 shows/year) as the shows from 2008-2012 were mostly subpar imo. 2013 showed me they could still bring it- and Hartford 2013 had it all for me.

The acoustic set was great. Did you get there early? When they first started there was only a few hundred people in the reserved seat area. Filled up quickly after the first couple songs.

I did get there early luckily! A couple of my friends didn’t get in until footsteps- they were bummed post show when I told them what they missed!

smile6680 · January 4

someonesbrain said:

For me, it's not about the (best/most impressive) shows, but the moments/feelings/memories:

(in chronological order, not necessarily in order of importance)

1) Picking up the album "Ten" from a CD rental shop in 1991 and copying it to a cassette tape. I didn't have the funds to buy the cd living as a juvenile in the remains of the former GDR (East Germany). Listening to the tape changed my life.

2) Listening to "Immortality" on heavy rotation for months in 1994 to cope with my best friends suicide while preparing for my A-level-exams/high school graduation exams.

3) The beginning of the 2010 Berlin show. I attended this show with my wife and our son. He was 3.5 years old at the time. It was his first ever concert. We saw a lot of different shows since then. In Berlin 2010, I cried during the first song "Long Road" (... nobody understood, but it was pure joy/luck).

I agree. It's a big reason why I wish they would play more places that have/allow tailgating. The fun with friends and meeting people before the concert is what makes the shows memorable for me.

reedrothchild · January 5

smile6680 said:

someonesbrain said:

For me, it's not about the (best/most impressive) shows, but the moments/feelings/memories:

(in chronological order, not necessarily in order of importance)

1) Picking up the album "Ten" from a CD rental shop in 1991 and copying it to a cassette tape. I didn't have the funds to buy the cd living as a juvenile in the remains of the former GDR (East Germany). Listening to the tape changed my life.

2) Listening to "Immortality" on heavy rotation for months in 1994 to cope with my best friends suicide while preparing for my A-level-exams/high school graduation exams.

3) The beginning of the 2010 Berlin show. I attended this show with my wife and our son. He was 3.5 years old at the time. It was his first ever concert. We saw a lot of different shows since then. In Berlin 2010, I cried during the first song "Long Road" (... nobody understood, but it was pure joy/luck).

I agree. It's a big reason why I wish they would play more places that have/allow tailgating. The fun with friends and meeting people before the concert is what makes the shows memorable for me.

This 100%. These days pre and post show meetups with friends are what I remember and value the most!

KN219077 · January 5

Best thread in recent memory

bstoos · January 5

In no particular order:

1) Spending the weekend in Toronto 2011. Saw Two Gallants on Friday night, got engaged Saturday night, Pearl Jam 9/11/11 show Sunday. Long Road opener. All the tags (Modern Girl, It’s OK, etc). Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. Neil Young coming out during RITFW and the loudest roar I’ve ever heard at a sporting event or concert before or since.

2) Bonnaroo 2008 with my dad. I hadn’t seen them in 10 years and didn’t think I was as into them as much. Hard to Imagine opener. WMA full version. Release in the encore. This show reminded me how much I love this band. I always tell people that that Saturday was the best day of music I’ve ever heard: Two Gallants, Against Me!, Gogol Bordello, BB King, Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, Sigur Ros. Every band is one that I absolutely love and, except for BB King, have seen multiple times.

3) Seeing them for the first time in 1996 in Buffalo. It was my first ever concert as a 16 year old kid. We had tickets in the last row and it was the third event in the new arena. I wasn’t a huge fan yet but that was about to change. I can’t say I remember everything that was played. The stage with the lights low and candles burning around it. The crowd going nuts when they came out. Rats was an highlight because I think Vs was the only cassette I had at that point. Eddie pulling up a kid during Porch and trading shirts with him during the long solo section. The kid got to stage dive after. Rushing down to the floor during the encore break, turning around to see my friend face plant while trying to hop over the boards. Blood. Present Tense. I didn’t know how much of a life altering night that would be as it ignited my love for live music and drove a lot of my activities since.

PureandEasy · January 5

1. I have to start with my first show, Camden, NJ August 28,1998. We were lucky to score seats inside the venue as opposed to lawn seating. I wasn’t familiar with their catalog as a whole, but the experience that night changed my life. I have often said I was on a natural high for week. Felt like my feet never touched the ground. And I’m still on this journey 27 years later.

After the first show, I joined the fan club.

2. Scoring 2nd row tickets for the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA for one of Ed’s Into the Wild show. At the end of the show Ed started far left of the stage shaking hands of people in the front row. I spotted him mid stage and was jumping up and down anticipating him reaching us. He gave me a look like, I don’t think I can reach you there, and I nodded with understanding and put my head down for a second. Next thing I know my brother is hitting me on the arm and I look up and there is Ed on, his knees, literally being held up by a stagehand/security person, and he reached out his hand and shook mine and my brothers. We were the only two people in the second row he did that for. I will never forget that. Further evidence the man is just a good guy.

3. The people I have met and shared so many wonderful experiences. I have made lifelong friends through this band. We travel, get together for shows, share good times and bad. We’ve shared many personal losses together, hardships. Some are 3,000 miles away but I know I can depend on them whenever I need them, whether it’s a text at 1:00 in the morning, or a lengthy email. Had it not been for this band, I wouldn’t have these people in my life.

SVRDhand13 · January 5

KN219077 said:

Best thread in recent memory

Why thank you

Spags · January 6

1. The band pretty much being my therapist through the years. I certainly wouldn't have turned out this sane without them (or this mad depending on your perspective).
2. All the moments I've had visiting different countries old and new to me. It really is an incredible adventure being a Pearl Jam fan.
3. A girl at my school leant me the Angel fan club single in 93/94ish, I was already a fan but now I had a club.

andrew68 · January 6

1. In my second year of University, a friend who knew my music taste said, ' You gotta hear this band; this album will blow your mind.' It was TEN. I played it repeatedly for days, months, years, and decades. I was all in, 'Release' and 'Black' ...speechless

2. I was in Ottawa on Mother's Day, 2016, in the pit ( Stone's side at the back) with my wife and two daughters. During the show, Ed stood on a speaker and pointed to my daughter, his shirt, me, and back to her. (We both had Clemente's 21 on, and she had her Cubs Vedder jersey.) At the show's end UP, Ed stopped and..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjwsYt3TGy0&list=FLkKdUt_mEAgl0HgrYczB8yw

3. At the Seattle EB event with my wife. We had just grabbed drinks at the bar just as things were starting; Eddie was walking towards us to get to the stage; as he approached, he stopped, put his hand out and said, 'Hey man, I saw you come in earlier, thank you so much for coming, glad you're here' to which I responded in a shocked, higher than usual pitch 'for you Ed? Anything.' Then my wife and I looked at each other and broke into laughter at the insanity of it. When we left, I held the door for a couple, and the four of us waited for our Uber (s). The dude's name was Stone or something.

100 Pacer · January 6

Love it @andrew68

andrew68 · January 7

100 Pacer said:

Love it @andrew68

julieooliern · January 7

Great story @andrew68 ! Thanks for sharing!

Your Top 3 Moments of Being a Fan

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