I only got back from Scotland the day before yesterday, so I'm already pretty knackered... I can't even listen to music on the journey I'm that excited... I have to just get on with it and try to relax.
Mowgli's heading down from Glasgow and I'm meeting him at the closest large bar to the venue.... an invite posted on the Pearl Jam discussion lists ensures that we're probably going to meet a few new friends too.
At schiphol I'm there so early(Surprise surprise) that I have time to get a shiatsu massage to kill time and chill me out a wee bit. Even though I've travelled as much as I have, this flight is the one that I'm nervous about missing... I am constantly checking and rechecking everything I need... passport, boarding card... well thats it reallly. Mowgli has the tickets.. so I'm relieved of the duty of checking that Pearl Jam is spelled correctly repeatedly in case they are fakes and someone's playing a trick on me.
I arrive in Gatwick with no incident... I'm not feeling to good, all the excitement and adrenaline means I'm not feeling 100%...
I get the £14 train to London from Gatwick... London must have the most expensive airport link in the world... certainly more expensive that the €3.20 from Schiphol to Amsterdam. Maybe I'm just becoming more dutch, but one of my problems with London is that it starts costing you as soon as you set foot in the place.... it costs loads to do nothing. I've said on here before that London is a strange place to be. If I consider it to be the UK, then I really can't handle it, but if I approach it as I approach foreign countries and cities, then it's fine.
I'm sitting on the train making phone calls to Mowgli to pass the time.. He's bouncing up and down somewhere closer to the venue. I just can't wait for this 40 minute train to get to london... there's this apprehension in the pit of my stomach, and I want to get off the train in case something disasterous happens such as me having the timing wrong and Pearl Jam taking to the stage at 3pm..
Finally I come out into the sea of people at London Victoria.... I wish I was back on the train.... this is another bit of London that is frustrating... no matter how early you are for whatever appointment, you find yourself rushing as if you are late for the most important event in your life. The feeling of everyone else just takes you. I have to consciously remind myself that I have no reason to be stressed or in a hurry and try to walk a little slower.
Normally I would mention the music I was listening to... and how it influenced my trips and adventures. This time around it's harder. Pearl Jam are my all time super wonderful die hard best favourite band in the world of all time ever. When I'm boogieing along to something and discovering a city it's often not Pearl Jam. I'm surprised how little they crop up on the blog. Maybe I've preached to people about them for so long that I keep it as my own little thing.
So how do you prepare for a special one off Pearl Jam show in a small club which you were very lucky to get tickets to.. The answer.... You obtain through various means every concert which has been recorded and released by the band(About 200). You put them on your ipod, and you press play. I've been like this for about a week now. There are over 100 versions of Evenflow on my iPod. Just one big Pearl Jam concert. Every version sounds different. There's lots of stuff I hear for the first time, or haven't memorised or whatever..... it's really difficult for me to describe that.
Instead of saying, I step off the underground and "paint it black" kicks in, it becomes, I'm walking down oxford street to a really intimate version of immortality, where there's a real roughness to mike's soloing that just makes the song drip with something that can't be described. It's the best thing I've ever heard..... Nothing else has ever been this good... or thats how it always feels. I never get bored with it, it always surprises me just how good it is.
Every now and again I listen to a band that's so unbelievably good that I wonder whether it's just luck and a set of circumstances that makes me think that Pearl Jam are the greatest thing to ever be recorded. This can happen with Smashing Pumpkins. Иine Inch Nails, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Jane's Addiction. I can kind of see how people could feel the same way about any of those bands, and I wonder if a twist of fate would make me feel the same way about those bands. The clear difference is that each of those bands have got music that I can take or leave, or I don't think is that impressive. For me I've grown with Pearl Jam and it's grown with me. So they can do no wrong. Sometimes it astounds me how closely they reflect my life, or how perfect a song, lyric or musical moment iss for something that really meant something to me.
I see a similar thing with the Beatles. I don't think the beatles are the most influential band of all time. I don;t listen to them that often, and some of there stuff I don't find that impressive, but in terms of growth, you can really imagine being a teenage kid and listening to love me do, and by the 70's your 20 and the Beatles have grown with you and provided you with new soundtracks for your increasingly adult experiences all the way.
When Pearl Jam started, I was about 12. Guitar solos, rocking songs and cheap hooks were all I needed. They were one of several bands who had these hooks. They were the best at it. If they'd kept on like that I would look back on Ten and VS with a glassy eyed look and remember when I was first discovering that music and how good it was. The album after that would have been more of the same and then they would have petered out like every other grunge band. We'd have got bored listening to yet another wailing guitar solo from mike fronted by screaming and wailing from Eddie. Instead they did one of the most amazing things in musical history...(maybe I'm biased)
Having created the fastest selling album of all time in their second album, the next two were guaranteed to be platinum providing you didn't do much wrong. Instead they gave eddie a guitar, and went introverted... suddenly it wasn't wailing guitars and rock anymore... I was forced to understand and appreciate punky lofi experimental music. I remember the first single, lots of friends crowded around a CD player listening to Spin the Black Circle... wondering if the shop had put the wrong disc in the packet. We'd never heard anything like it. We'd just grown up. Pearl Jam had taken us by the hand and provided us with challenging and interesting music just when we needed it. They were so good, that we didn't even know we needed it.
The third album was bizarre at the time... but perfect. Led Zeppelin did the same. Led Zeppelin III was such a departure from the first two albums that everyone was surprised and astounded, but the truth is that if they;d brought out another bluesy rock album like the first two the band would have dwindled. Instead they took over the universe.
It would be wrong to say Pearl Jam took over the universe. Instead they separated the wheat from the chaff and streamlined their fanbase, but above all they created a band that was set up to have some serious longevity.
Although I've avoided talking about Pearl Jam, you'll see that once I get started, I basically can't stop. I'll try to get back to London. This all started cos I felt I should describe what I was listening to.
Anyway.... back to Oxford street... I'm rushing through the crowded streets... beyond excited now. Once I get to the Astoria, it doesn't seem real:
Pearl Jam have toured so little, that they are my holy grail. They've been to scotland twice. Once when I was 11 and they had released one single, and once in 2000 when I saw them for the first and only time. Thats basically once in 15 years. Now I'm a bigger boy. I've travelled more, the world has got a lot smaller. It's much more attainable to go and see them now. I've contemplated a few trips to America in the past few years, but time has always been an object, and I trusted that they would be back..... all in all... a pearl jam concert is a damn rare thing...
We're meeting in a pub called the Royal George which is along charing cross road a little from the Astoria. There are already loads of folk queueing round the Astoria. I'm not really sure why. I think they want to be near the front. I've never really seen the point of queueing for 5 hours to stand at the front of a concert for half an hour before you have to come out for water, a piss or a breather. I'm more of a mover..... low attention span... although it's pearl jam, so boredom shouldn't be problem.
The excitement is such that I'm already worrying about where to stand in 5 hours when they take to the stage. I long for the days when I have seen pearl jam so many times that I can just enjoy it and not worry that I'm not experiencing the full event.
I walk into the royal George... it's been almost two days since I've seen Mowgli, so we hug and then I head off downstairs to get into my kilt. Mowgli is already togged up and has the party going in full swing. We have Pearl jam fans from Germany and Norway and various spots all over the UK. Amazingly(Not) we're the only people who decided that kilts would be good attire for the show.
As soon as I'm in the kilt, the apprehension and fears drain out... I'm here, settled and we can start partying and getting excite among like minded people.
I'm determined that we're not going to drink too much, so after introducing ourselves to everyone we head off for a walk to find some food. We take a walk along Oxford Street to track down some food and also get some scissors to cut out the templates for our fake Pearl jam tatooos(Don;t ask.... we're sad.... and childish). On our way. Mowgli sees a hat shop... We have to head in to find a hat worthy of Jeff Ament, the bassplayer of Pearl jam:
We find a woman's hat that comes close enough for Mowgli's requirements. On buying it we try to get discount for scotsmen, but it doesn't work. The little man in the shop seems somewhat perplexed by the two men in skirts who are high on adrenaline and buying a woman's hat.
It's amazing the amount of looks we get. People are astounded. They seem to have never seen kilts before. Again I have to remember that London is not a country I am from. I forget that very few people passing me on oxford street are British.... so they should be surprised by kilts.... especially kilts worn with converse trainers... vest tops, hats, wristbands and generally as much early nineties seattle grunge getup as possible.
We buy some scissors, some food and a double espresso(as if we needed it) before heading back to the George. By now there's more people and they are starting to get in a party mood... we sit down and fill in some tattoos with a marker pen and some stencils:
After this we draw a large P and J on each of our arse cheeks. we know that we'll be flashing later, so we might as well flash in style.
One of the Norwegians has made little badges with the london underground sign and Pearl Jam on it, so they are getting dished out. There's various Pearl jam bootlegs getting traded and we're drawing tattoos on each other like twelve year old girls experimenting with make up. There's a real "Blue Peter" feel to the whole thing....and all these strangers are coming together. Concerts have lost a lot of their excitement because they are ten a penny now. People are so used to having access to lots of reasonably good bands. It's not special anymore. Pearl jam is! It's got that whole woodstock feeling like we're all involved in something thats really exciting. It's the only the first or second time many of these people have seen Pearl Jam, yet they've been diehard fans for 15 years. It's really hard to describe as I can think of no other comparisons. There are few bands who are as large as Pearl Jam who tour so little(Or appear to). They do very few marketing events on television and in media... so everything seems so special when they do. It's been like that since the start... so to be involved in this event feels amazing.
People are starting to head over to the venue. I'm determined that I'm minimising the time that I'm standing in a queue, so we stick around the bar for a little longer before heading off to Sainsbury's for a bottle of red for the wait:
On the way we head round the back of the Astoria for an explore of what's going on. We can hear the band soundchecking. We're excited but see little reason in trying to work out which muffled songs are emanating from the brickwork. We shout a few hellos to the group of people who are and get an icey response. Pearl Jam has a strange affect on people. Almost all the fans feel so personally touched by the music that they think they are "the" largest pearl jam fan in the world. Everyone else, is just jumping on a bandwagon and doesn't "hear" the music in the same way that they do. For it to be possible for other people to feel the same way would detract from the power of that bond they have with the music. Or so they seem to believe. Clearly this is a group of hardcore pearl jam fans. How I could like them more I'm not really sure, but clearly I'm below these people. You kind of get used to it with Pearl Jam... every time you tell people they're your favourite band, the response is either.
"who are they?"
or
"yeah but you're not as big a fan as me"
It's easing off a little bit as people worry less about defending there credibility at liking such a popular band, but you still have to deal with these people who are so self conscious about not being cool, that they stand silent with a straight face for the whole experience. I'm not that much of a fan... I enjoy myself.... maybe it's against the stereotypes that the media created for grunge fans.... but I kind of thought ignoring the media was the point.... is anyone else confused yet...
...anyway...
Sainsbury's is an event in itself. Everyone is staring at the kilt, and Mowgli is in fool on flirt mode where he's talking to everyone and determined that he's getting smiles out of all the dour commuters who are picking up a ready meal on their way home from the office. At least today was a little bit different.
My this point we are carrying two saltires with us:
It seemed a little strange to fold them up and carry them, so we are wearing them. We now look like some sort of Seattle Grunge tartan army.... Alice in Chains meets the bay city rollers.
....both on drugs.... both a bit glam.... there's really very few differences.
The queue is good fun. It's about an hour to go until doors open and Mowgli is determined that the Scotsmen are providing the caberet. The small road alongside the queue seems to be a popular short cut for taxi drivers to get past oxford street and onto charing cross road. They hadn't expected a huge amount of very excited Pearl jam fans, and they certainly hadn't expected scotsmen to be sticking there arses in any car windows that were open.
I'm amazed as to how pissed off this makes some drivers. I would laugh embarrassedly like most people would. Wishing you were on the same happy trip as the perpetrator and not commuting home from work, but some people get really annoyed. It's quite strange... this of course just spurrs Mowgli on. He'd love to have a scar to show off to his grandchildren from where an aggravated driver stabbed him on the arse while he was entertaining crowds outside the smallest concert Pearl jam have played in Europe since 1992.
I'm trying to remember how long we were in the queue... I have absolutely no idea.. at no time did I want it to go faster... I just spent the whole time lapping up the atmosphere... I wasn't apprehensively waiting to get into the venue for the gig.... this was the gig starting.. The whole day was part of the experience, and every second counted.... we were living for the moment.
We eventually shuffle into the venue. They have a no camera's policy, so the security guards want to check my overnight bag, my jacket and my poster tube... we spend about 10 minutes going through all my stuff...
"Is there a camera in here?"
"No"
"Is there a camera in here?"
"No"
"Is there a camera in here?"
"No"
They seem to allow cameras in Sporrans cos he never asked me if there was one in there. I never lied mum!!!
MON' THE SPORRAN
It's amazing how off putting a man in a skirt with bare genitals is to a big burly security guard trying to do his job.
We get in the venue and run up the stairs to see what the merchandise stall has to offer.
Pearl Jam usually create wonderful posters for their concerts, and I've brought along the poster tube to pick up a souvenier. Unfortunately they only have T-Shirts... They must have been too busy recording new albums to design posters......
I stick my T Shirt in the bag and put my luggage in the cloakroom. We then attract the attention of someone in the balcony to fly our saltire.....
Now that I've ditched my bags and my saltire... I have no luggage other than a cold beer and I'm ready to rock.. Photos taken at this point show my eyes to be bulging with adrenalin. Mowgli I and another guy, decide that we shouldn't rock without warming up, so we have a few stretches, a jogg on the spot and a quick burst of press ups. We are so pumped up that we could break press up records... it;s hilarious.. coupled with the fact that we are wearing wristbands and sweatbands makes it a moment to remember.
As people trickle in, the crowd slowly takes formation and find ourselves standing waiting for the show to start. Although I know that they went on pretty late, I don't remember any boring wait. People were getting restless, but I was just lapping up the atmosphere... looking around.... Mowgli was trying to get the nervous crowd going... starting a few sing songs... he had very little success. I was actually genuinely worried at one point that the audience weren't going to be lively enough... but how niave could I be.... this is the band who I have a bootleg of when they managed to play to a huge stadium in Buenos Aires to 10's of thousands of Argentineans singing for three ours without an energy dip:
"Ole Ole Ole Ole... Purel Jam Purel Jam"
We start this chant.... it;s evident that I'm not the only one who's listened to this concert.... we're not Argentina... but the energy is there... ready to burst out... Maybe it was like my camera battery... I didn't take nay photos before the gig for fear of running out of charge and missing something.
Pearl Jam take to the stage.... that moment between picking up the instruments and playing seems to last forever... I am sucking in everything in a matter of seconds.. when I was young, I used to get excited by any band... looking at the instruments, knowing what type they were etc...With Pearl Jam it's just like that again...I am cataloguing instantly... every single detail.... my brain is charged to super efficiency.
They kick into World Wide Suicide.... the first single from their new album. I know it pretty well now, and it feels like an old friend. Pearl Jam are back with new material and they feel pretty strong... although I've never known Pearl Jam to be particularly weak.....
The whole band is chugging along finding their rhythm. It's great to see a band that have been around for so long feeling so fresh. They're like little kids, and you can tell they are still getting used to some new songs. Ed is his normal straight faced grumpy man of grunge, but we love him for it...
..........Stone is bopping along to the rhythm coupled with the least cool dancing in grunge. ...........
......... a, now sadly, hatless Jeff is in a wee zone, totally owning the back bone of the song and giving a little musically generated smile every now and again......
.......this is powered by Matt on the drums. Matt is one of the best drummers in the world, but he's so understated... he just does the job, except this time round he's handling a fair bit of the back ground vocals...
......only Mike plays to the crowd. He's jumping about... moving a lot coming in close to the crowd while he's playing interesting bits.....
We start chanting "ED-DIE... ED-DIE" then "JEFF, JEFF, JEFF" They're laughing.... before the next song ed says:
"I think we need a toast(holds up his bottle of wine), it's been a long time - a long time comin - so thanks for comin. bout six years or so, so thanks for waitin."
He's a bout to say more and someone screams "FUCK GEORGE BUSH" Ed laughs and says "How did you know I was going to say that?" Ed can be sullen at times(What an understatement), but tonight he seems to be in a great mood. He continues:
"I don't know if you've heard these songs before but that's ok because we haven't played these before."
They kick into Life Wasted... a new cut from the new album. It's similar in power and pace to world wide suicide, so both band and audience get straight back into it... It's good to see mike wailing at the end. New Pearl Jam material with huge wailing mike solo's is a good sign for the future.
Following this, we stick with the new material and get Severed hand... the crowd are comfortable enough with the general feeling of the songs to enjoy them, but the songs are not yet dear to their hearts and soundtracks to their lifes. The other side of this is the intimacy that we have in these songs, and how fresh and new they feel.
Ed talks about being in London and how "you find this little spot of light and realize it's a much better day than you thought, and that's how being in London feels to us." I have no idea what he means... but the crowd seem to appreciate that he appreciates London.
They kick into Unemployable. It was the B-Side to their last single(World wide Suicide), so it's another one that everyone in the crowd has lapped up. You can hear the fans annunciating the lyrics to prove that they've memorised them
They absolutely rattle through the first 4 songs, they've all be new, all of the same pace. Hitting again and again....
The first slow song starts.. I't Gone from the new album. It was the Christmas single, so most people know it pretty well. It's a delicate Ed song. It's about getting in a car and getting out of there like many of his other songs(Rearviewmirror, MFC). I'm starting to get really into it. It starts with a riff that sounds so Pearl Jam that when I hear it, I think it's an old classic just for a second. The delicacy means that you can feel the apprehension in how it's developing live a lot more. It's amazing that after 15 years, Ed can appear apprehensive about presenting a heart felt song to the crowd.
The sound is a little muddy... the new stuff is pretty smooth, churning and linear... but it's hard to pick out mike. I am right at the front in the middle in front of ed.... but the main PA speakers are at the same level as me, so the sound is behind me... It's a little frustrating. I find that I'm watching mike rather than listening to him....
They kick into Evenflow and the crowd goes wild... it's all fine and well seeing the live debut of new material, but both the band and the audience are testing the water as to how it works... Evenflow lets that settle... as we all gape at the fact that we're here and we're getting to see Pearl Jam..
Evenflow is Mike's song... it's his showcase, and I dream of seeing him solo to that song and see if he can outdo himself every night... The only problem is I can't hear mike.... It's at this point that I decide that being front and centre at a Pearl Jam concert at the Astoria is over rated. This said.... the band are incredibly strong as they rattle through evenflow... they never amaze by how much combined energy and power they have. Even though they have played this song at just about every show since 1991.
From here they kick into Sad... a rarity off lost dogs from the Riot Act period. Pearl Jam have so much material that naturally songs become rarities, but in recent years, they manage to get through almost all the songs in their career pretty regularly. Fans have a thing for really rare songs such as "hard to Imagine" and Leash. The Leash one I don't really understand. It;s a good song, but not amazing. People chant for it most nights. Sad is really nice... it's an off cut.. It didn't make the album, basically cos it's a mood on its own thats out on a limb a little. It's wonderful having songs like this.
As they groove down to the pace of I am mine, I am already reversing through the throng. I'm aiming to resurface at mike, but only after I've been for a pee and some water. I try to stick with Mowgli... but the 1000 strong crowd feels like an army, and self preservation becomes my primary concern.
Only 5 songs in and a breather feels so good.... I return refreshed for the end of I am mine and make my way to the front of the mike section. Who needs to queue when you can use the crowd's movement to strategically move through to the front... maybe it helps being a big lad!
They launch into Insignificance, a song I always forget how much I like it. I forget how much I like the binaural album in general. It's really closed and muddy. I love it all... but the songs are not always on the tip of my tongue.
By the time I get down to a reasonable distance from the stage they are launching into another new cut, Army Reserve. The band has really picked up speed and settled in. Either they have cured the sound problems that were annoying me earlier or my diagnosis was right and the sound right at the front was crap. Army reserve is pretty good, it has a differnet pace from the other new stuff but is still reasonably heavy.
After this, Mike and Ed start on Present Tense. If I'm ever asked the impossible question of what my favourite Pearl Jam song is I would probably say Rearviewmirror, Present Tense or Love Boat Captain.... answering the question misses out about 300 songs that are closer then my second favourite to being my favourite. What I'm trying to say, is that I'm pretty happy they are playing Present Tense. They played it in Glasgow(Complete with mistakes):
......This time its the same delicate beauty.....
When Ed starts the opening twangs of Betterman. The crowd go wild.... I keep saying this.... lets face it, the crowd go wild with every song. The difference with Betterman is that it starts quiet... so the screaming at the top of its lungs crowd drowns out ed.... he stops for a good minute and just lets the crowd take over... he has a genuine smile on his face before kicking in again just before the chorus. To this audience, he could strum the opening chords of any Pearl Jam song and no matter how obscure, the crowd will sing it from start to finish in perfect timing.
At the end he says something like "Whoever said you were a bunch of drunk hooligans who can't hold a tune, it wasn't me"
When introduces the next new song as Marker he explains that it's his message to god. He wants to know what he thinks of of everything... "God what do you say?"
He says he's gonna stare up at a point and sing it to god. Unfortunately that point is the bar at the back of the balcony... so he's essentially looking for god in a bar. It's another medium paced new song thats still to settle in its new place in our hearts..
I have squeezed further down to the front... and from here I boogy along to Do the evolution and take in the looks on the faces of the bands and watch them grooving along. The band are on fire. Really fresh. They're reallly enjoying it, and even ed seems to be in good spirits. Most of his comments are jokes. I wave my hat in the air every now and again hoping that a trilby will attract Mowgli. It doesn't work at the moment. He must be in the sea of heads some where around me. From this standpoint I take another few pictures:
Тhe band crack into Why go This is such a rarity live, and the place electrifys... it's like watching history in the making or something. We all know it's coming, but Mike's solo is at blistering speed, and it makes it seem even more so when you can watch him firing away on all cylanders in the flesh. He makes it look so fluid and easy. This provides the end of the set.... but we don't fear... Pearl jam always play multiple encores.
Ed comes back on and gives us Man of the Hour... it's dedicated to Pete Townshend... one of his father figures. I've sure I've heard him dedicate it to Johnny Ramone before... but we listen to it's beuaty while still recovering from the onslaught of Why Go.
By the time they are playing Given To Fly I recognise a wristbanded fist that is in the air and make for a spot even closer to the stage where I know there's some friendly faces. We are now directly in front of mike where he is regularly throwing plecturms in our direction. I'm still trying to find Mowgli. I don't manage to get even close to grabbing a plecturm. I'm not really sure what I'd do with it anyway.
When Elderly Woman comes on, Mowgli appears to bound over excitedly... thats how I remember it. How anyone can "bound" in such a confined space I'm not really sure but adrenaline does funny things to the head. We relay our concert experiences so far to each other in a serious of high pitch screams worthy of either a 12 year old at a Westlife concert or a 90 year old a Daniel O'Donnell concert.
The whole audience screams along to elderly woman... and Mowgli and I share a private joke from prague by singing:
"I just wanna scream AHOJ"
Okay...... we've had Why Go from Ten... so people are visably shocked when Ed starts a slow intro to Porch which kicks into the full song.
Porch. It can;t be described how good this is... It's the same song that all those stage theatrics and memories of the early days were hung on. The song that made Pearl jam such a famous live act..... it's lost little of it;s power and we are getting the treat of having it live!!!!!
In it's long instrumental I'm just in the zone... life can;t get better. The powerhouse of the band are in the same place. Jeff and stone in a little huddle with Matt... holding the groove... living the groove. It's rarity as a live song makes it special for them too.... Mike on the other hand is proving why he may be the best rock guitarist in the world today... off the cuff wonderfully bluesy soloing which stands up to anyone you can name....
And then it's over....... could this have been the end.... they;ve not played Ledbetter yet, but we could hardly complain if they finished with porch after such a good set.
We hope and pray there's more.... I'm blindly getting involved in whatever chant we're singing.... who knows I may have started it.... it's all a bit of blur...
They come back on and we settle a bit... conserving just a little bit of energy for whatever comes next.... Ed tells us it;s gonna be Comatose from the new album. They've played it a few times live now so we know it a little bit and ed tellls us that it has to come near the end cos it's really hard to sing anything after it.
Mike messes up the opening which shows just how new it is.... Ed apologises saying that it was the first one ont he new album that they wrote, but they've not practiced it since they wrote it.
It Rocks!!!!
There's people down the front of the crowd shouting for Leash. Ed says "I thought it was just dirty americans that shouted for that song - you;re better than that"
Mowgli and I decide to have some fun. I squat down, Mowgli stands on my shoulders and I stand up. He lifts the front of his kilt to the band. They all laugh, and look embarrassed. Ed was about to say something, but visibly shocked says... "I was wondering what to write in my postcards tomorrow... but now I know"
Mowgli is quite proud that ed has seen is willy and that he publicly said it was something to write home about.
They keep the pace going... kicking into a Who song ,Leaving here, It's a great song that you don't get to hear live too often. Mowgli actually said he hoped they would play it before the gig. It's an old Who song, so Eddie obviously loves it. He's got a big smile on his face. Our heros are enjoying the moment as much as we are.
Finally the lights go up and they break into Yellow Ledbetter... this means its all over... we have 10 minutes or so of joy to go and then it will be over. I just stand watching mike... Ed is just in such a great mood... looking over at mike ina "that's my boy" way. How he can be so enthusiastic about this song after so many years and so many performances is a testament to the amazingness of this song. This is the point where it finally sinks in that I am here watching Pearl jam unveil new songs in the flesh with little over 1000 other people. I look up at our Saltire... and that seems to sum it up.. There are tears of happiness in my eyes.
Mike seems to be looking up too, cos he knows, or realises that Robert Plant is standing up on the balcony. Mike throws in the riff from Nobody's Fault but mine by Led Zeppelin into the solo as Hommage to one of his many heros of the 70's.....
They finish off and the lights go up. Everyone knows its over... we are all ecstatic, except there's just one last surprise. Ed runs off and gets Stone who's already off in the dressing room doing whatever Stone does after a show. Ed holds up his bottle of wine to the cheers of the crowd. He's showing us how much is left... they're going to stay on for at least three mouthful's more.
what happens next cannot be described..... they have played Porch and Why Go? I would never dream that I would be lucky enough to hear these songs live. They've played a wonderful set..... now they launch into Alive. It;s almost too good to be true. The crowd can't believe it. It's such a rarity to hear this live. Everyone knows it! If time flys by when you're having fun.... the solo starts 0.00003 nano seconds into the song. I honestly can't remember anything else other than a crowd singing at the top of their lungs to a song they're amazed to hear. Ledbetter is almost always the last song... we're still getting over the shock that Ed Vedder and Pearl jam have made a last minute decision to spend more time with us cos they are enjoying our company so much.
The solo starts and we're in familiar territory... we just can't beleive we're getting the chance to see it. Ed is going wild... there's s microphones and microhphone stands flying everywhere, but I'm not really looking, cos Mike's still got a few tricks up his sleeve to impress the ladies... we're getting a solo played behind his head Hendrix styleee. Led Zep... Hendrix... when will this man stop!!!!
Having completed their third encore.... it's over.... we have no voices left.... pearl jam have no surprises left and we are well and truly satisfied... there's a kind of speechlessness to the crowd. Questions about whether people enjoyed it or how good a song was are completely redundant... I don't think people are even asking everyone just kind of shouts at each other about how amazing it was while bursting with energy and memories and moments.... we live for this.... I've kind of been waiting for this my whole life... I saw them once in 2000, but I think it must be this special every night.
We shuffle out of the venue... in absolutely no hurry whatsoever.
Following the concert we sit around outside the royal george completely and utterly shellshocked.... at one point there's some fun when the sterophonics arrive. They were at the gig....and are huge Pearl jam fans... people are crowding round them, but they are more impressed at meeting the scotsmen. Mowgli gets them to say thing in welsh so that he can laugh at their accents....
The rest of the night passes without much incident... we are all full of Pearl jam and satisfied.... a little perma smile will sit on our shellshocked faces for a while yet.....
