First, I must thank Gary Lightbody's voice for leading to the cancellation of Saturday's Snow Patrol show in NYC. Craigslist came through for me and I was able to snag tickets to Pearl Jam's final show of leg 1 @ Meadowlands (at face value, thank you, Kim).
The day began with the EXCLUSIVE Metro D interview with Jeff Ament. Ok, what InMyTree said below was true, I saw him standing in line to buy a magazine at Borders in the Time Warner Center and couldn't pass up the opportunity to give him a what's up. I doubt he's someone who gets recognized often outside of Seattle but he was very cool and we chatted briefly. I shook his hand and he was off.
After a 1.5 hour commute on Thursday, the trip out to the Meadowlands took 15 minutes on Saturday which meant that I got to catch My Morning Jacket. I was very impressed with their set and although I'm not a huge fan of their last album, Z (it's the only one I own), I'll now listen to it with new perspective. They rocked.
The vibe when PJ took the stage on Saturday was unreal. The band was jacked up and the crowd was insane from the first note of Severed Hand. Eddie felt it too and let the crowd know noting that we were much louder than Thursday's audience. Highlights from the first set included Rats (I'm so glad they brought this song back - one of my favorite's on Vs.), an altered version of Garden (it was slightly faster), and an unbelievable closer in Porch. Other highlights included Last Kiss (sung for the crowd behind the stage while the whole stadium clapped in unison), Crazy Mary (which ended with back-and-forth solos from Boom and McCready), Don't Gimme No Lip with Stone on vocals, Hard to Imagine, and Leash (on the final solo, Eddie snuck up behind McCready and put him on his shoulders as he finished the song). McCready ended the show, as he had done in DC, with a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
At the end of the night, it will go down as one of my, if not the, most memorable shows. It's just another reminder of why this is my favorite band and it amazes me that they seem to get better with every tour. Here's to hoping that this buzz never wears off.
Set List:
Pre-set Ed solo: No Surrender (by Bruce Springsteen)
Pre-set Ed w/My Morning Jacket: It Makes No Difference (by The Band)
Set List: Severed Hand, Corduroy, World Wide Suicide, Hail Hail, Animal(power goes out), Love Boat Captain, In Hiding, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Whipping, Gone, Comatose, State Of Love And Trust, Rats, Garden, Inside Job, Porch
1st encore: Short speech with Lorri Davis wife of Damien Echols. West Memphis Three Worldwide Awareness Day, Army Reserve, Hard To Imagine, Last Kiss, Black, Crazy Mary, Last Exit
2nd encore: Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Lukin, Leash, Don't Gimme No Lip, Why Go, Leaving Here, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star Spangled Banner)
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