reviews

Sara: pristine3 at aol dot com - Pearl Jam live in Uniondale, NY - 04/30/03

Last Wednesday, the 23rd, I embarked on a journey. It began with my Pearl Jam blackout, none of their music graced my ears from 8:40 last Wednesday night to 2 pm this afternoon. It was hard, but so worth the rewards.

I got to the Coliseum around 2 pm, to be greeted by a 75ish person 10c line, which I could not find Kat (Ames Addiction) on. The windows opened around 3:40, because the tickets needed to be sorted. Once the windows were opened, the line moved so fast and I had my tickets by a little after 4. Section 115, Row C. Not the best seats, but not bad. It was the first level up from the floor, and about 3 sections over from the stage on Mike’s side. It was what I expected being a newcomer to the 10C and quite frankly, I was just happy to be in the venue, seeing a band that I love.

When your tickets say 7:30, you expect that to be when the doors are opening, so imagine my surprise when I returned at 7:40 and heard loud music playing. Sparta. I’ve heard a few of their songs prior to the show and really enjoyed them. I felt bad because I wasn’t really paying attention to their performance, I was too busy checking out the crowd (I’ve never seen so many Pearl Jam fans in a room before) and the soundboard (which was directly in front of me and fascinates me).

Sparta ends at 8:15 and the wait for 9 pm comes. I love the crew, not only because they probably are amazing people, but its so interesting and fun to watch them prepare.
9 pm: the lights go down and everyone rises.

Long Road- complete shock, and incredible happiness, this is one of my favorite PJ songs and I was so surprised to hear it as an opener after some of the prior setlist openers
RVM- what? Second song? Whoa. Complete shock. I have to admit that I pinched myself a few times to make sure I was really there. The whole show seemed so surreal.
Animal- Major thanks to the guys standing next to me, who were not afraid to jump, sing along and air drum, which made me feel comfortable doing all of the above, looking like a crazy woman, but not caring. Everyone around me was doing the 5 against 1 hands. And Mike McCready, that man is a manic. The whole show, he was jumping around, standing on the speakers and waving his arms around to hype up the crowd
Save You- stone was in great form, dancing the whole night and duck-walking. Wonderful live song, totally hypes you up.
Get Right- good song on the record, ok live.
(I believe Ed greets us here, uncorks his wine bottle and chugs half of it)
I Am Mine- beautiful, the mike at the end always gets me
Corduroy- No matter how many times you hear it on bootlegs, Corduroy will never suck. Again, just watching mike play with his head tilted back makes me wish I was a guitar. I think this was the song that Jeff broke a string on (according to my bass playing friend who accompanied me) Jeff changed basses.
Present Tense- “oh my fucking god” exact words out of my mouth. I really should learn to expect the unexpected. It was beautiful. Prior to playing it, Ed mentions that this was a song that Mike wanted them to play tonight
In Hiding- Sara screamed a loud “YYEEAHH!!!” at the first note (I did that a lot throughout the show). Lovely song, beautifully done.
Even Flow- The crowd really went wild with this, as did Mike. The solo seemed extended more than usual, with Stone dancing on the sides, before he comes back in after Mike’s solo
Small Town- Ed asks how many people are from the “big city” and dedicates this song to all of us who aren’t. Wonderful version, by this point the crowd is louder than Ed, which it will continue to do throughout the show
Jeremy- Yellow spotlight on Jeff as he begins. All the arms raised in a V
You Are- The lighting is really nicely done. I love it live, although the crowd wasn’t that big on it
I Am A Patriot- I wasn’t so thrilled with the 2000 version, but the addition of Matt’s drumming makes me love it. “And I ain’t no fucking republican” funnily enough the crowd cheered there.
Blood- Red lights.
Not For You- I love watching Stone go off, whether its playing or dancing. And the “my friends call me (ed inserted a phone number)”
Better Man- For some reason, I was expecting Betterman and then they played it. Hmm… ESP? It seemed as thou there wasn’t going to be a tag, but after an extended outro, Ed began with a few slow ‘Don’t let me down’ leading to a long “don’t let me ddoooowwnnn’
Porch/Crowd chant- no introduction. Wonderful main set ender. I never realized that Stone plays the end. Both Stone and Mike are on fire. The crowd chant is a call and response

Encore 1:
Last Kiss- played to those sitting behind the stage. After hearing the Osaka version and seeing it live, I’m beginning to like it.
Thumbing My Way- ok, so when Riot Act came out, I could not get into this song. I listened to it in my car, on my discman and in my house, no luck. I listened to it on the Dec. 02 bootlegs, nope. Hearing it live? Still does nothing for me.
Crazy Mary- Boom + Mike = stellar
Down- “we’re now going to play some rarities”
Do The Evolution- Ed’s mic dies before the ‘2010 verse”, so he tries to use Stone’s mic, which also isn’t working. So the audience sings for him
Daughter/WMA- Yet another one of the many points that you could not hear Ed over the crowd. WMA tag made it wonderful.
Alive- Stone starts, the crowd just erupts into cheers. It’s amazing to look around and see everyone on their feet, pumping their fists in the air.

Encore 2:
Bushleaguer- Being that Patriot was played, I really wasn’t expecting this. But when I saw the silver jacket, I was pleased. Ed comes out and moonwalks across the stage, gives the mask a taste of his wine, kisses and cradles the mask. Some people ( 10C and other sections) booed as the song ended. Ed began to speak about how we should make sure that we have a voice in government and began asking why people support bush. Is it because of The tax cut? Because he's a regular guy like you and me? A USA chant began. It looked like a few objects were thrown on stage, but I was too far to see what they were. 2 people left who were sitting in front of me, but other than that I didn’t see anyone else leave.
Know Your Rights- Ed is a bit angry here, and the song seems to be a jab at the audience’s dislike of Ed’s Bush comments
Rockin’ In The Free World-nice Jeff jumps, That man must go through so many tambourines. Everytime he smashes them together, they shatter so easily. I think he should do some research about making a super-strong and durable tambourine. It’s a wonderful version of the song. It ends on a sour note, as Ed chants USA USA, mocking the crowd and then throws his mic down in a very frustrated manner
Personally, I think that there was another song that was supposed to be played after this one, as Ed called out for Kilee to hit the lights about half way into the song. And Mike looked like he was ready to continue playing.

Overall, it was a great show to lose my PJ virginity to. Mike and Stone were so on and just blew me away. I’ve come to the conclusion that my new least favorite phrase is ‘hit the lights’. I don’t like seeing the lights come on, it saddens me. I don’t want the show to end It was simply phenomenal to watch the audiences reactions and our ability to over-power Ed’s vocals. Granted the second encore and certain audience member’s reactions killed the positive vibe, I still really enjoyed myself and am happy and proud to be a Pearl Jam fan. And now the wait until July 8th begins…