When Pearl Jam announced that they were doing an east coast tour, I made up my mind to go to four shows (which was all I could pretty much afford). The two shows in Camden, NJ were an obvious pick, but I was stuck for the next pair of shows. I was all about making a road trip to Boston, but when the band announced that they were playing Madsion Square Garden, it became a no brainier on where I was going to go.
So, E (from Evolvor) and I took the train into NYC on Tuesday afternoon. We checked into the hotel and quickly noticed a lot of Pearl Jam fans. We threw our bags in the room and walked for a bit. We ended up stopping at the Hard Rock (I know it’s a chain, but I love looking at the cool stuff they have) for a drink. It was awesome seeing the original doors from Abbey Road Studios, as well as, a bass from one Jeff Ament and the guitar that Kurt Cobain smashed in the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video.
Anyways, we got to MSG and foolishly tried to buy a poster, which had been sold out for bit. I was little disappointed, but it was time for the show. We had seats in the back of the venue, but they weren’t awful and we could see everything on stage. The crowd was amped, very amped. The arena then exploded in applause when the guys hit the stage at 8:45 and opened up with “Hard to Imagine”.
The band delivered an electric main set which included the usual suspects of “Corduroy”, “Even Flow”, “Given to Fly”, some personal favorites of mine like “Faithfull” and “Present Tense”, and tracks resurrected for this tour, like “Who You Are” and “All Night”, which now both included back up vocals from some members of the crew. The band then abruptly ended the main set with “Do The Evolution” and hurried off the stage.
The first encore kicked off with their fantastic cover of “Love Reign O’er Me”, followed by “W.MA.” (which also now includes backing vocals) ad then sped up with “Leash” and “Spin the Black Circle”. Eddie then slowed things down a bit with Boom during “Wasted Reprise” and then band wrapped it up with “Porch”.
The second encore began with the now overplayed “No More” and Eddie delivering a speech somewhere on the lines about not letting politicians taking this country to war. While I agree, most of the crowd drunkfully cheered and agreed but most likely forgot about that the next day at work. OK, back to music. The rest of the encore was pretty predictable, which included, “Crazy Mary”, “Comatose, “I Believe in Miracles” and “Alive”. The best part of the encore was when C.J. Ramone joined the guys for their version of the Ramones tune “I Believe in Miracles.
The best part of the evening was the band coming out for a third encore! They jammed out to the classic “All Along the Watchtower” and concluded the night with “Indifference” at just before 11:30. Very cool.
The show was almost beyond great, but the band didn’t make do on it’s promise to “experiment”, like Eddie told the crowd earlier in the show. The crowd was great, the band was on fire and it was in a classic joint, but if only they dropped a bomb on us, like “No Way”, then it would have been a classic.
Here’s the set list for June 24:
Hard To Imagine, Save You, Why Go, All Night, Corduroy, Faithfull, Small Town, Down, Unemployable, Given To Fly, Who You Are , Whipping, 1/2 Full, Even Flow, Present Tense, Daughter, Do The Evolution
Encore 1: Love Reign O’er Me, W.M.A,, Leash, Spin The Black Circle, Wasted Reprise, Porch
Encore 2: No More, Crazy Mary, Comatose, I Believe In Miracles, Alive
Encore 3: All Along The Watchtower, Indifference
“All Night” from June 24.
Now on to June 25.
I walked a lot, from Madison Square Garden to Central Park and then some, so I was little beat for this show, but I marched on. E had a business meeting in the late afternoon, so I walked around MSG for a bit and noticed a line outside a little after 4. It was the poster line. The staff at MSG then threw out wristbands to the hundreds of people in line, which only gave us a chance of hope for a getting the wristband that secured a poster. Anyways, I picked up my tickets from Ten Club and then jumped back in line. They let small groups in around 5:30 to start buying the posters. By the time it was my chance to get in, the staff just let everyone in and mob of people rushed to the two stands selling posters. It silly and scary. People pushing and shoving their fellow fan for a piece of paper. And, yes, I was denied a poster. Someone could have very easily gotten hurt. This should have been much more organized, but that would require the MSG staff to do some actual work. But, I did meet some real cool fans, so it wasn’t all bad.
OK, enough about the poster debacle.
We went in early to finally check out Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, were played a fast, loud and short set. They were actually pretty good. Our seats this night were in the 100 level and were next to McCready, which was awesome. The crowd was just as amped as night before, maybe even a bit more.
The guys came out at 8:45 and opened up with “Release”. The delivered another electric show, which included the typical songs ,which I won’t repeat, and some very nice choices like “Garden”, “I’m Open”, “Rats”, “Cropduster” and “Marker in the Sand”, which McCready messed up on during the opening of the song, so the they had to restart it. “Go” was a very nice pick to end the main set with. I must say that the band was very enthusiastic, I’ve never seen Mike jump around so much, and they loved every minute of playing at MSG.
The first encore was very cool. I was extremely happy to hear them play “Inside Job”. They then went into “W.M.A.”. “Lukin”, “I Believe in Miracles” (with C.J. Ramone again), Better Man and the always rocking Rearviewmirror.
After such a great first encore I was hungry for more. Then Eddie blew it. He came out and played “No More”, again. I like the song and agree with everything it stands for, but it gets old real fast. The band then came back out and they then turned around and faced the crowd behind the stage for “Last Kiss”. The guys the turned up the heat with “Why Go” and then introduced another guest…Ace Frehley! They jammed out the the KISS tune “Black Diamond”, which had Mike and Matt Cameron on vocals. Man, that was great. After such a cool moment, the guys said goodnight to New York with “Alive” and “Yellow Ledbetter”, which meant time for me to catch a train back to Jersey.
Set list for June 25:
Release, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Corduroy, All Night, Cropduster, Garden, Marker, I’m Open, Wishlist, State Of Love And Trust, Even Flow, Who You Are, Rats, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Go
Encore 1: Inside Job, W.M.A. , Lukin, I Believe in Miracles (w/ C.J. Ramone), Better Man/save It For Later, Rearviewmirror
Encore 2: No More, Last Kiss , Why Go, Black Diamond (w/Matt Cameron & Mike McCready lead vocals with guest guitar player Ace Frehley), Alive, Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner
“Lukin/”Believe in Miracles” from June 25.
All in all, two great shows from America’s great rock ‘n’ roll band, but maybe not worth all the hype, but still a great time. If you’re going to the Hartford of Mansfield shows, have a blast. I wish could be there too, but Pearl Jam already bankrupt me.
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