1998
February 3, 1998 - Yield
tracklist: Brain Of J., Faithfull, No Way, Given To Fly, Wishlist, Pilate, ●, MFC, Low Light, In Hiding, Push Me Pull Me (*), All Those Yesterdays
Pearl Jam release their fifth studio album, Yield, through Epic Records. Produced by Pearl Jam & Brendan O'Brien. Mixed by Brendan O'Brien & Nick DiDia (*).
February 20, 1998 - Alexander & Baldwin Amphitheater @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center - Maui, HI, USA
attendance: 5 000 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
soundcheck: Long Road, Off He Goes, Red Mosquito, Corduroy, Wishlist, MFC, Oceans, Jeremy, Alive
setlist: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Faithfull, Red Mosquito, Wishlist, Even Flow, MFC, Improv, Habit, Better Man, Jeremy, Given To Fly, Daughter, Black, In Hiding, Do The Evolution, Last Exit
encore: Once, Smile, Yellow Ledbetter
An awful pit and not the best crowd either, going wild with "Corduroy" as the unusual opener, and breaking the barrier during "Red Mosquito". Eddie asks the crowd to step back and references the (ineffective) "Mariah Carey barricade". "Wishlist" includes modified lyrics: "I wish I was a 40-foot wave, breaking off the north shore". Eddie smashes down his microphone and stand at one point, seemingly annoyed that he was flubbing lyrics. "In Hiding" is wonderful live! After the band huddles around Jack, Eddie comments that he "... just wanted tonight to be perfect...", applauds the crowd and they launch into "Do The Evolution". Mike is awesome, giving a fantastic solo during "Even Flow" and bringing out the flying-V Gibson during "Do The Evolution" and "Last Exit". A super encore, with "Once" as an always pleasing surprise, followed by instrument switching (and Jeff's nice solo) during "Smile". A 10pm curfew resulted in a too soon end to the show.
February 21, 1998 - Alexander & Baldwin Amphitheater @ Maui Arts & Cultural Center - Maui, HI, USA
attendance: 5 000 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
setlist: Do The Evolution, Animal, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Dissident, Faithfull, In My Tree, Wishlist, Off He Goes, Corduroy, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Daughter/(Noise Of Carpet), MFC, Lukin, Immortality, Alive
encore: I Got Id, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Around The Bend, State Of Love And Trust
The crowd tonight is more "friendly" moshy, and the band is totally into it and so is the crowd. From the slamming version of "Do The Evolution" leading to "Animal" to the final, awesome "State Of Love And Trust", this show is perfection. Eddie is in a "great, great" mode and Mike is totally out of control, his eyes closed and face turned upward during "In My Tree". Jeff plays part of the show without a hat, when it is blown off by the wind.
South Pacific Tour - 1998
South Pacific tour in support of Yield, with two shows in New Zealand and 11 shows in Australia.
February 26, 1998 - Queens Wharf Event Centre - Wellington, New Zealand
opening act: Shudder to Think
soundcheck: Hail Hail, Elderly Woman..., Off He Goes, Faithfull, Who You Are, In Hiding, Long Road, Pilate, Go, Mankind
setlist: Long Road, Brain Of J., Do The Evolution, Animal, Dissident, Faithfull, Even Flow, Corduroy, Lukin, Wishlist, Given To Fly, Hail Hail, In Hiding, Jeremy, Daughter, MFC, Immortality, Alive
encore: Who You Are, Once, Last Exit, Better Man, Yellow Ledbetter
The familiar tribal drums (from "The Color Red" song) lead into the show's opening. Eddie introduces "Faithfull" as a song off their new album, "Give Way" (which is what yield signs are referenced as in New Zealand and Australia), and says it is about his relationship with his surfboard. Eddie's chat about "Lukin" includes how he loves drinking New Zealand's Steinlager beer with Matt Lukin. "Daughter" is dedicated to a New Zealand girl who had written a letter about how she was a big fan but couldn't attend the shows because of her parents. Jack is enthusiastically applauded after his excellent drumming effort at the jamming end of "Immortality". Eddie rides a skateboard onstage when returning for the encore and the band steps to the sidelines for Mike's "Yellow Ledbetter" solo.
February 28, 1998 - Ericsson Stadium - Auckland, New Zealand
attendance: 20 000
opening act: Shudder to Think
soundcheck: Sometimes, Not For You, All Those Yesterdays, Tremor Christ, In My Tree, Habit, Given To Fly
setlist: Sometimes, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Animal, Faithfull, Even Flow, I Got Id, Wishlist, Corduroy, Jeremy, Daughter/(I Hope I Never), MFC, Habit, Given To Fly, State Of Love And Trust, Off He Goes, Black, Alive
encore: Do The Evolution, Better Man, Yellow Ledbetter
The tribal drums lead to the show opener. "Brain Of J." is started but Eddie stops the song to check on the hectic crowd, coaching "Okay, for all you moshpit virgins out there, if someone falls, you pick 'em up". The band then picks up where they stopped and finish the song. Eddie strums the first few bars of "I Got You", stopping and leading into "I Got Shit". The "Daughter" outro includes a bit of "I Hope I Never", a Split Enz tune. "Habit" features a new start... something like, "I stayed up all night, smoked cigarettes. I have nothing to regret", and Eddie adds "speaking as someone who has experienced both North and South Piha" (Piha is a beach). As Mike is ending the "Alive" solo, Eddie climbs high on the scaffolding and waving to the crowd. He recalls how he nearly drowned on his last New Zealand trip and now wears a lifejacket when surfing. (In fact, he donned the yellow lifejacket that Stone handed him onstage). A flawless, extended "Yellow Ledbetter" end this near perfect show.
March 2, 1998 - Melbourne Park - Melbourne, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Long Road, Do The Evolution, Animal, Hail Hail, Dissident, Even Flow, Faithfull, MFC, Corduroy, Wishlist, Jeremy, Daughter/(Trouble), Given To Fly, Last Exit, Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror, Not For You, Black, Alive
encore 1: Brain Of J., Better Man, Smile
encore 2: Rockin' In The Free World
A crowd pleasing setlist with stagediving (uncommon in Australia now) occurring during "Corduroy" and "Jeremy". Craig Wedren, the lead singer from Shudder to Think, helps out on the "hallelujah" vocals on "Do The Evolution". Problems with the "Wishlist" lyrics seemingly continue to plague Eddie. During "Alive", with the audience singing rather than Eddie, he pulls a fan onstage from the intense pit. Eddie dances with the fan, gives him what appears to be his stage pass, the fan thanks the whole band (including a kiss to Mike's cheek) and pushes the stage pass into the face of the security people before heading off stage. The "Rockin' In The Free World" encore is prefaced by Eddie saying that they won't do another song until everyone raises their middle fingers on the count of three and shouts "Shudder to Think" in their "perfect Aussie diction". Apparently this was done as a reference to openers, Shudder to Think, who encourage the crowd to do this.
March 3, 1998 - Melbourne Park - Melbourne, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Sometimes, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Faithfull, Animal, Red Mosquito, Corduroy, Wishlist, Once, Jeremy, (Daughter), Given To Fly, Daughter/(Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2), Trouble (Eddie solo), Better Man, MFC, Improv, Habit, Even Flow, Do The Evolution
encore: Hail Hail, State Of Love And Trust, Black, Alive
Pearl Jam is in a great space... relaxed, looking like they are enjoying being there with great interplay with each other. Jeff is laid back and not jumping or bouncing around a lot, but concentrating on the music all night. Eddie's voice is good, he seems happy and talks with the crowd and hands out various items up front quite a lot. Mike again is on fire all night, awesome beyond words. He is amazing on "Corduroy", the show highlight, with Eddie doing Pete Townshend jumps and playing guitar on the floor! Stone begins a false start to "Daughter" (Jeff has the wrong bass!), followed by Eddie making an aside that Jeff, Stone and Mike are going to use the "paper, scissors, rock" method to decide what to play next; they do, much to everyone's amusement, and Eddie then says, "Michael won... we're gonna play his one first" leading to "Given To Fly". After "Daughter", Eddie notes, "Good singing!". Mark "Smitty" Smith brings out a stool for Eddie, and he is spotlighted in the darkened venue. It looks amazing and he says, "Darth Vader would say, 'Impressive!'". This leads to Eddie's lovely solo of "Trouble", a Cat Stevens ballad. After "MFC", an improv is played with lyrics along the lines of "people try to settle me down, try to tell me what to do... my good friend, get outta my room", that leads to "Habit". Someone jumps on stage during "Black" to touch/shake hands and Eddie speaks briefly with the fan before continuing. "Alive" is a pleaser, complete with Eddie throwing the microphone around like a lasso, a la Roger Daltrey.
March 5, 1998 - Melbourne Park - Melbourne, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Release, Brain Of J., Animal, Faithfull, In My Tree, I Got Id, (Beds Are Burning), Corduroy, Wishlist, Even Flow, Spin The Black Circle, Daughter/(Pebbles), Given To Fly, Hail Hail, MFC, (Crazy Mary), Elderly Woman..., Off He Goes, State Of Love And Trust, Do The Evolution, Alive
encore 1: Go, Black, Rearviewmirror, Immortality
encore 2: Indifference, Porch
The show was broadcast on the radio throughout Australia, and on the internet in real time on JJJ. As is typically the case, the shows get better on second or third nights, and Pearl Jam's third show in Melbourne is tremendous. Eddie slips in a tribute to the late Michael Hutchence (of INXS) during "In My Tree" ("I'm so high I hold just one breath, give it to INXS, just like my innocence"). Some guitar chords from Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" lead to a wonderful version of "Corduroy", which includes the little stop/start thing during the bridge towards the end. Eddie's wonderful baritone comes through on "Wishlist" and the "Camaro" line is changed to "I wish I was the full moon shining off your bulldozer's hood", plus "I wish I was the sound, of 50 million hands upraised for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan", and "I wish I was lucky man... well I guess that I am... I wish I could share with my friends, oh how many things that I have". "Even Flow" is again awesome, featuring really extended soloing from Mike. Very prolific and a manic version of "Spin The Black Circle" (dedicated to "... all those who work at Triple J and the guys who work at PBS"). The "Daughter" tag ("poor little girl screaming traffic in her hair...) is a Shudder to Think song titled "Pebbles". A couple of verses from "Crazy Mary" lead to "Elderly Woman...". "Porch" leads off as the slower version (like Bridge School Benefit '96), but later speeds into the more familiar, rocked out version.
March 7, 1998 - Thebarton Oval - Adelaide, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: MFC, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Animal, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Jeremy, Corduroy, Wishlist, Lukin, I Got Id, Even Flow, Daughter/(Hunger Strike), Given To Fly, Improv, Habit, Elderly Woman..., Nothingman, State Of Love And Trust, Alive
encore 1: Go, Once, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Last Exit
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
A splendid outdoor show, Eddie drinking Coopers (South Australian beer), throughout the show. Kicking versions of "Do The Evolution", "I Got Id" and "Even Flow". A cool "Daughter" tag, with Eddie singing, "I don't, I don't, I don't, I dont, I don't, I don't, mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadence...", from "Hunger Strike". Just before "Habit", Eddie starts singing "Lemonade... Powerade... Adelaide", and everyone cheers. After "Habit", Eddie has a very tongue-in-cheek chat about Oasis: "So I just wanna state for the record that... ah... I don't know if I'm speaking for everybody but... we love Liam Gallager. I mean honestly... I'll tell you what. I was walking around last night and I ended up playing pool with a couple of you, you're out there I know. Had a great time... had quite few of those things... Coopers (or) whatever they are... Onya, mate! And it was just going great. I was making friends left and right... then I was getting free beer, it was just quite a night. But then some asshole asked me to take a picture... and I just headbutted the fucker right in the head... and it felt fucking great GREAT. It was awesome... I tell ya... it's pretty cool this rock star thing... I like it a lot". (Liam had recently been charged with headbutting a fan in Brisbane after the fan asked for a photo). "Nothingman" is a surprise, with Eddie introducing it saying, "OK, we're gonna try one that I don't think we've tried yet on tour, so we'll see what happens... you got the ears for it I think". Before the second encore Eddie comes out by himself and starts playing the drums. A cool lead-in to "Last Exit" by Eddie: "... you guys have been tough. I know because I... we've all been there, and it's not easy to be in a crowd like this... and for you to go through this and be so good to one other and everyone has survived, and to listen to our music. It's something we will take back with us... in our suit cases and various bags. You know when we first started the moon was right there. Now it's over there. It's good to know the world is still turning regardless of what us fucked up humans are doing to it. But tonight is an example of something good so anyways, thanks for sharing it with us and being part of it... it really makes us feel good... this is our Last Exit". Again, everyone gives Mike the stage during his "Yellow Ledbetter" solo. At the conclusion, Eddie says, "All right, I'm buying drinks for everybody... see ya at the pub!". A great show, with Pearl Jam's general level of merriment, happiness, interaction and musicianship. Still just a handful of Yield tunes on the setlist.
March 9, 1998 - Sydney Entertainment Centre - Sydney, Australia
attendance: 12 000 (sold out)
opening act: Shudder to Think
soundcheck: Who You Are, Pilate, In Hiding, Leaving Here, Mankind, Footsteps, Dead Man
setlist: Long Road, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Do The Evolution, Faithfull, (Interstellar Overdrive), Corduroy, Wishlist, MFC, Even Flow, Animal, Daughter/(Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2), Given To Fly, Jeremy, Dead Man, Better Man, Rearviewmirror
encore: Happy Birthday, Who You Are, Go, Once, Leaving Here
A show full of surprises! Before "Corduroy", Pearl Jam play a bit of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive". The song would later be played frequently as an intro to "Corduroy". After "Jeremy", Eddie sits down on a chair and begins talking about how during one of the notes (in "Jeremy"), he kind of "blacks out" for a second: "You know, when you hold your breath until you think you're going to pass out... then you keep holding it". He finishes by saying that then he woke up "with a bunch of guys in Sydney..." (getting a big roar from the crowd). Then, "Now, we're gonna do something that's gonna set this show apart from all the others. This song is the b-side from "Off He Goes" (not-as-big-as-before roar) and it's called 'Dead Man'...". The whole stage is dark, except for a little light around where Eddie is seated. During the quiet interlude in "Rearviewmirror", Eddie tells the band to keep playing while everyone holds their breath; "1... 2... 3!". The whole place stands there for as long as they could holding their breath, with Eddie standing dead still for the longest time with a blue light shining on him. With Jeff's birthday tomorrow, Eddie picks up a banner from the crowd which reads: "Happy Birthday Jeff", which Jeff wears like a cape while seated mid-stage. A member of the road crew brings out a cake and Eddie leads the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday". Eddie throws the cake (cream pie) straight in Jeff's face! Jeff throws it back into Eddie's, Eddie to Mike's and Stone's, and then Jack stuffs the pie into his own face! Lastly, Eddie takes a shot at one of the members of the audience who is riding on someone's shoulders and HITS HIM IN THE FACE with the crowd roaring in amazement!
March 11, 1998 - Sydney Entertainment Centre - Sydney, Australia
attendance: 12 000 (sold out)
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Oceans, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, In Hiding, Do The Evolution, (Beds Are Burning), Corduroy, Wishlist, MFC, Daughter/(Push Me Pull Me), Even Flow, Mankind, Elderly Woman..., Lukin, Not For You, Black, Porch
encore: Given To Fly, Better Man, Immortality, Smile, Rockin' In The Free World
An incredibly fast version of "Hail, Hail" with Stone commenting, "Good, God... that was fast!". "In Hiding" finally returns to a setlist and a "Push Me Pull Me" improv for a "Daughter" outro! "Mankind" finally surfaces (Stone's Australian singing debut, with Pearl Jam anyway). When the crowd cheers at the end, he cracks, "They love me... they really love me!". At the end of "Porch", Eddie reaches out to the pit and pulls a guy on stage. He lifts Eddie up on his shoulders and spins him around and around. Eddie proceeds to do the same to this fellow! Jack shines during his great drum solo at the end of "Immortality". At the end of "Smile", Eddie gives his harmonica to former world champion surfer and local Sydney resident, Tom Carroll, who is watching at side stage. Eddie says near the show's end that they have to stop as he has to get up early to surf the next day. Some great guitar solos by Stone at this show.
March 12, 1998 - Sydney Entertainment Centre - Sydney, Australia
attendance: 12 000 (sold out)
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Sometimes, Do The Evolution, Animal, Hail Hail, Dissident, Faithfull, Even Flow, (The Real Me), I Got Id, Corduroy, MFC, Improv, Habit, Daughter/(Candle In The Wind)/(W.M.A.), Nothingman, Given To Fly, Spin The Black Circle, (Sin City), Wishlist, Whipping, Rearviewmirror
encore 1: Go, State Of Love And Trust, Brain Of J., Better Man/(Save It For Later)
encore 2: Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie solo), Alive
Pearl Jam's final Sydney appearance, a full moon... what would you expect other than a great show, incredible setlist and awesome encore! The crowd is really into the show and the band really looking like they are having a good time. The guys all come out wearing wigs; Eddie with a big, blonde one. He says that they all got their hair done at the hotel salon and got a "5-for-1 deal..." in the same place as Elton, referring to Elton John being in the country with Billy Joel. One line from "The Real Me" is a lead-in to "I Got Id". After "I Got Id", they lose the wigs. The "Habit" intro is a little "birthday to Beth" improv and "Habit" rips. Pearl Jam includes a bit of Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" and "W.M.A." in the "Daughter" jam. During "Given To Fly", Eddie leaves the mic during the bridge and does a cool pirouette with the crowd roaring in appreciation. He shows his dancing prowess again during "Spin The Black Circle". He says, "Go ahead and play somebody; I'll catch my breath first..." and the band plays a cool little jam on "Sin City" (AC/CD song). Before "Rearviewmirror", Eddie says, "We pack really light... but we're all taking home little suitcases of memories after this stay here in Australia". A stunning version of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is performed by Eddie alone at the top of the second encore, prefaced with his comment: "This one is just between you and me". The guys join Eddie for a fantastic "Alive", with the house lights up and Pearl Jam simply GOING for it. Wow!
March 14, 1998 - Brisbane Entertainment Centre - Brisbane, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Do The Evolution, Faithfull, Wishlist, Corduroy, In My Tree, Alive, Nothingman, Brain Of J., Given To Fly, Daughter, MFC, (I'm Open), I Got Id, Immortality, Black, Even Flow, Porch
encore: Footsteps, Leaving Here, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Spin The Black Circle, Rockin' In The Free World
Extremely tight security makes taping difficult. An incredible show with the band in spectacular form. The crowd in the front begins "surfing" the chairs in the seated area back over their heads. Eddie tells how he was sitting under a tree in Brisbane's Botanical Gardens watching the full moon (the night before) and heard a strange noise, that he had practiced the sound, and takes a mouthful of water and gurgles out a noise, coughs and says something like, "I hear they are native around here". (This may have been a possum noise and we've heard other speculations). At the end of "Daughter" when Eddie can't seem to think of what to say, he proceeds to lead the crowd in a chant, answer/response style. "Even Flow" is a big highlight, with Mike's outstanding solo (being rather detached the rest of the night) while Eddie goes to the back of the stage and starts breakdancing! Eddie brings someone on stage to play Mike's part on "Leaving Here", with Eddie ending the song with a Townshend jump, quickly following with "Better Man". Eddie drinks and then tips beer on the crowd during "Rockin' In The Free World".
March 15, 1998 - Brisbane Entertainment Centre - Brisbane, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Long Road, Go, Do The Evolution, Brain Of J., In Hiding, Alive, Last Exit, Wishlist, Corduroy, MFC, Nothingman, Even Flow, Jeremy, Given To Fly, Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie solo), Off He Goes, Improv, Habit, Rearviewmirror
encore 1: Mankind, Hail Hail, Not For You, Better Man, Blood
encore 2: Indifference, Rockin' In The Free World
Eddie beautifully sings "Throw Your Arms Around Me" for "... the one I love", adding "... it's the best Australian song ever written". The "Habit" bit is sung as "speakin' as speakin' as speakin' as ME!". Stone goes off absolutely 100%, having a great time (along with the crowd) on "Mankind". "Rockin' In The Free World" is a highlight, with Jeff bouncing from side to the other and someone getting on stage and playing Eddie's guitar. The band seems in a very partying mood. Eddie says that it feels like they are going to another part of the world (going to Perth) and that he will miss the Brisbane crowd. Rob Machado (San Diego surfer and musician) helps out on "Rockin' In The Free World".
March 19, 1998 - Perth Entertainment Centre - Perth, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
soundcheck: Animal, Rearviewmirror, Hail Hail, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
setlist: Sometimes, Do The Evolution, Animal, Hail Hail, Dissident, Faithfull, Even Flow, I Got Id, Corduroy, MFC, Improv, Habit/(If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out), Daughter, Nothingman, Given To Fly, Leatherman, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist
encore: Once, Alive, Better Man, Immortality, Black, Baba O'Riley
This "command" performance does not disappoint! During Shudder to Think's set, Eddie takes the stage wearing a mask and helps out singing a bit ("Where did mum go?"). After "Do The Evolution", Eddie congratulates Perth on having the initiative to pull together a petition (14 000 signatures were collected to get Pearl Jam to play Perth!) and he says, "With a positive attitude, you can do anything". The "Habit" "speaking as a..." segment is sung with a few line from Cat Stevens' "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out". The "Daughter" outro was a repeated line, "I feel it; I feel it..." with Eddie saying at the end, "Well, I do!". During "Alive", Eddie pulls someone from the crowd and does a ballroom dance and then spins him (similar to Melbourne). "Leatherman" is played for the first time, at the request of a fan who had spoken with Stone before the show and then took a sign to the show, which Eddie spots. He says, "... we haven't ever played this song, and we're probably never going to again, so here goes". Excellent!
March 20, 1998 - Perth Entertainment Centre - Perth, Australia
opening act: Shudder to Think
setlist: Long Road, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Animal, Pilate, Lukin, Corduroy, In My Tree/(Magic Bus), Wishlist, Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Hail Hail, Daughter/(Pebbles), Off He Goes, Elderly Woman..., (Hunger Strike), Not For You, Faithfull, Alive
encore 1: Given To Fly, Go, State Of Love And Trust, Smile, Even Flow
encore 2: I Am A Patriot (Eddie solo), Better Man, Yellow Ledbetter
Jack Irons last show with the band. Pearl Jam's sound engineer Brett Eliason stated: "We went and did Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia with Jack. When we came back home, Jack wasn't in a position to carry on. He made that decision more or less by himself. He can be a really great drummer but he had difficulty on tour putting out the energy for the length of shows they were doing". "Pilate" is played live for the first time. "Magic Bus" by The Who is included in "In My Tree". "I Am A Patriot" is played solo by Eddie.
May 1, 1998 - Ed Sullivan Theater - New York City, NY, USA (Late Show with David Letterman)
setlist: Wishlist
Pearl Jam make their second appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman and their first outing with Matt Cameron drumming. A "sweet" and carefully rehearsed "Wishlist" with Mike again sporting bleached locks and a Goodness shirt. Eddie's voice sounds wonderful and each guitarist gets a small "solo". The song seems to fade at the end of Eddie's solo, but a drum-driven reprise wraps up the song in a different fashion.
May 7, 1998 - ARO.space - Seattle, WA, USA
opening act: Shawn Smith
setlist: (Interstellar Overdrive), Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Off He Goes, MFC, Improv, Habit, Wishlist, Faithfull, Hail Hail, Mankind, Leatherman, Leaving Here
encore: Last Kiss
Matt Cameron's first full show with Pearl Jam is a surprise gig at the venue formerly known as Moe's, with the band billed as Harvey Dent and the Caped Crusaders. Pearl Jam open the show with a shortened version of "Interstellar Overdrive". The band is visibly nervous until "Habit", at which point they totally kick in, laughing amongst themselves, making jokes. "MFC" and "Habit" are total standouts, as well as Stone's tambourine playing during "Leatherman" and Eddie's hilarious backing vocals during "Mankind". Matt, Jeff and Eddie return for the encore and Eddie tells a little story, displaying a single. He tells us he bought the single for 99 cents the day before and stayed up all night listening to and learning, "Last Kiss", a Wayne Cochran-written, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers-popularized song. They proceeds to play a wonderful rendition of the song. Amazing show!
June 14, 1998 - RFK Stadium - Washington, DC, USA (Tibetan Freedom Concert)
attendance: 60 000+ (sold out)
setlist: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Even Flow, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Wishlist, Better Man/(Save It For Later)
Several of the bands scheduled for the first day of this large benefit show were rescheduled to this day, pushing back Pearl Jam's scheduled start time. Toward the end of "Hail, Hail", Mike is smashing his guitar onto the stage with his tech flying out of the wings to try to save it, Mike sees him coming but smashes it anyway! Eddie comments, "You do know this is a nonviolent concert, don't you!?". As he is introducing "Brain Of J.", someone in the crowd throws an object that knocks a drink out of Eddie's hands and onto his shirt, with Eddie's cool response: "Thank you!". Before "Even Flow", there seems to be a discussion about what to play and Eddie likens it to countries having troubles making decisions about issues. "This song is about me, it's about you, it's about everyone" is the intro to "Do The Evolution", which ripped along until the middle when everyone got off rhythm for a second. Eddie changes the "fortunate as me" line in "Wishlist" to "fortunate as us all" and the reprise verse is tacked onto the ending. The set ends early after "Better Man", ("I dedicate this to the abusive relationship between us and our government..."). The "Save It For Later" tag is outstanding! Red Hot Chili Peppers take the stage unannounced using Pearl Jam's equipment. Flea comments: "We'd like to thank Pearl Jam for letting us have a little bit of their set".
Summer Tour - 1998
Summer of 1998 tour in North America. This first leg of the tour focused on the West Coast of the United States and the Midwest.
June 20, 1998 - Washington-Grizzly Stadium - Missoula, MT, USA
attendance: 22 000 (sold out)
opening act: Goodness
soundcheck: Off He Goes, Hail Hail, Faithfull, Present Tense, In Hiding, Better Man, Pilate, Yellow Ledbetter, MFC, Jeremy
setlist: Corduroy, Animal, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., In Hiding, Jeremy, Do The Evolution, Pilate, Even Flow, Daughter, Improv, MFC, Wishlist, Present Tense, Habit, Given To Fly, Immortality, Alive
encore 1: Better Man, Black, State Of Love And Trust, Once
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
This show sold out within a week, making it the biggest concert audience in the state's history. Scalped tickets were marked up to $30 from the original $25. Mike takes the stage and plays with Goodness before Pearl Jam's set. "This is a great place to start a tour", Eddie tells the crowd of 22 000 people packed into the stadium. "I think we'll make it a usual thing". A half-hour into the set, young men began hurling their bodies over the rails and across the floor, starting into the thick crowd to elude security guard[s] as cheers swelled from the stands. Eddie introduced "Pilate", a rarely played new song by Jeff, by saying, "I believe this next song was actually born in Montana, I might be wrong". There isn't a particular "Daughter" tag, although Eddie takes the opportunity to acknowledge the many fans gathered on the large M on the hill outside the stadium: "Can you hear me? If you can, stand up and jump around" and they do while the crowd inside cheers! "MFC" kicks ass! At the start of the first encore, Eddie brings a fan (Wayne) on stage who had brought a sign requesting "Better Man". Eddie: "Give him a hand and then a moment of silence". Wayne says, "I want to say thank you to the band... Who else would do this? Pearl Jam is the best". He then pulls out a ring and asks a woman named Kelly to marry him. "He spent so much money on the ring, she's sitting in the very back row", Eddie says. He wishes them good luck and then the band launches into, "Better Man". At the start of the second encore, Jeff thanks his mom and dad and the promoter and Eddie thanks Matt for drumming.
June 21, 1998 - The Canyons - Salt Lake City, UT, USA
attendance: 10 000 (sold out)
opening act: Goodness
setlist: Release, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Tremor Christ, Corduroy, MFC, Off He Goes, Alive, Given To Fly, All Those Yesterdays, Daughter, Even Flow, Footsteps, I Got Id, Rearviewmirror
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Go, Wishlist, Better Man/(Save It For Later)
encore 2: Leaving Here
A very different setlist from the previous night! A few references are made to the recent Jazz/Bulls games: “Hey, tough luck on that basketball game by the way". During "Alive", a fan (named Jake) throws a Utah Jazz jersey onstage. Eddie blows his nose in it and throws it back in the crowd. "All Those Yesterdays" (making a live debut here) is for those at the top who are hurting each other. During "Rearviewmirror", a roadie takes the stage in a bird mask with sunglasses. Before the first encore, Eddie came out, jumps OVER the amps and then jumps on a roadie's back. Eddie starts saying, "There are a lot of people in this town named Norman, N as in Nancy, Norman". He then asks one roadie what his name is: "James". He asks another one and gets another answer. "See, I don't know, I just heard that this town was full of Normans". (For those who may not know, Salt Lake City is where the headquarters of the Mormon religion is). Then he says, "Dennis Rodman told me to tell you all to fuck off", and then the band plays "Do The Evolution". During "Go", when Eddie sings, "Don't go on me", he turns his back on the audience and pretends to open his fly and pee! (Okay, now we KNOW he was hanging out with Rodman last night). An awesome show with the band in very high spirits and playing incredibly well. On the setlist but not played: "Black" and "Smile".
June 23, 1998 - Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre - Denver, CO, USA
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Red Mosquito, Sometimes, Dissident, Oceans, Whipping, Animal
setlist: Long Road, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Dissident, Given To Fly, MFC, Habit, In Hiding, Even Flow, Daughter/(Monkey Gone To Heaven), Pilate, Off He Goes, I Got Id, Do The Evolution, Alive, Black
encore 1: Wishlist, Rearviewmirror, Better Man, Leaving Here
encore 2: I Am A Patriot (Eddie solo)
A bad sound system makes Eddie's vocals somewhat hard to hear, but the band turns in a great performance. Eddie comments on his altitude sickness the last time the band played Denver before "Given To Fly": "We're a mile high... and I might add that there is nothing wrong with being a little bit higher too!". At his vocal part in the middle of "Habit", Eddie encourages the crowd to enjoy life, "... life has many detours, take them, enjoy them, but just don't get stuck in the mud...". Pearl Jam tag the Pixies "Monkey Gone To Heaven" (in honor of Frank Black opening) in "Daughter": "If man is 5, then the devil is 6, then God is 7, this monkey's gone to heaven". Jeff seems to enjoy "Pilate", smiling throughout. Eddie leads in to "Alive": "Usually we just go into this song, but tonight I just want to mention something... because there have been some difficulties in my life, with parental figures and a father in particular, and apparently I'm not terribly unique, because a lot of people can relate to these things. I thought tonight we'd sing this song in tribute to the uh, for reasons, there's reasons which I'm not going to tell you, but hopefully this applies in your life. There are definitely good fathers out there for sure, like really good fathers so uh were kind of celebrating Fathers Day a few days late". He changes a line to "... what you thought was your father, was really a great guy". At the end of "Black", Eddie adds "we can be much more than this". Before "Wishlist", Eddie mentions something about how the last time they played this venue was in 1992 with Soundgarden (Lollapalooza Festival). Eddie's solo during "Wishlist" had technical problems, and Jeff is hit in the eye by something thrown by a member of the audience (we won't say fan) during "Rearviewmirror". At the end of "Better Man", Eddie tells the audience that he understands that everyone got charged an extra 50 cents for parking, and "that's wrong, that's just wrong" and comments that the band is donating $8 500 to Gateway Battered Women's Shelter in Denver. After "Leaving Here", the band has pretty much left the stage for the night, but Eddie returns with a guitar, noting some fans near the front with a cardboard sign spray painted "Patriot Please". Quoting The Rolling Stones (somewhat), he says, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find a sympathetic singer who gives a fuck". He says he's a sucker and that an artist who cares just might do it, he doesn't know if he can remember the words, but he'd try, and goes into a FANTASTIC version of "I Am A Patriot".
June 24, 1998 - Rushmore Plaza Civic Center - Rapid City, SD, USA
attendance: 10 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Nothingman, Indifference, Pilate x 2, Present Tense, Leatherman, Last Exit, I Got You, Rich In A Ditch
setlist: Do The Evolution, Animal, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Given To Fly, Jeremy, Faithfull, Corduroy, MFC, Not For You, Even Flow, Daughter/(I've Been Tired)/(Three Little Birds), Nothingman, Leatherman, Better Man, Immortality, Improv, Go, Alive
encore: Hail Hail, State Of Love And Trust, Black, Wishlist, Rearviewmirror
The band is relaxed and in good spirits, even though they all seem to experience numerous technical problems. "Daughter" is graced by a Pixies song as a tag titled, "I've Been Tired", which references Lou Reed: "I wanna be a singer like Lou Reed... I like Lou Reed... Why don't you tell me one of your biggest fears? Losing my penis to a whore with disease... Excuse me please?". Before the "man trilogy", Eddie announces, "We're gonna do something this band has never attempted before... play three songs in a row with 'man' in the title!". After some chat about "cowtippers", an improv (featuring the lyrics "corner store" and "where do we go from here?" follows "Immortality". Eddie makes jokes about Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument and Bill Gates. All in all, an energetic and powerful show, along the lines of the Utah one last Sunday.
June 26, 1998 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre - East Troy, WI, USA
attendance: 35 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: All Those Yesterdays, Leatherman, Sometimes, Tremor Christ, Red Mosquito, Off He Goes, Smile, Mankind, Brain Of J.
setlist: Do The Evolution, Animal, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Given To Fly, In Hiding, Corduroy, Wishlist, Lukin, Even Flow, Daughter/(Stuff And Nonsense), Dissident, MFC, Better Man, Red Mosquito, Black
encore 1: Hail Hail, Mankind, I Got Id/(Cinnamon Girl), Rearviewmirror, Alive
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter/(Machine Gun)
The band is in a great mood, laughing, joking and smiling (especially Eddie). "Last Exit" is botched and Eddie says, "Fuck that song... let's get to the next". A series of technical problems are evidenced, both in Eddie's and Mike's sound. Eddie says "hello" to his brother in the crowd before "Daughter". Before "Red Mosquito", he notes that Alpine Valley is the last place Stevie Ray Vaughn ever played (SRV died in a helicopter crash after the show). After destroying a tambourine, Eddie tries to give it to a female show attendee but a struggle ensues and Eddie says, "Give it to the girl" (He makes sure that she gets a second one at the end of "Alive"). Eddie says, "Once upon a time, we made a record with Neil Young. It took about six days, and we played, but Neil did all of the singing and stuff. We wrote and Neil helped out to make a couple songs to make a single... and uh, all that proves is that in six days Neil can write 12 songs and we can only write two. This one's called "I Got Shit". A wild "Alive", with Eddie hitting himself in the mouth with the microphone, anointing the crowd with wine and proceeds to the end of a video screen and points to it as if displaying Matt. He runs back to the mic and adds an improv (something about "sometime..."). The song ends with Jeff bouncing a superball off the stage which he'd been toying with earlier. "Yellow Ledbetter" is also for Stevie Ray Vaughn and toward the end, Mike tosses in a bit of Jimi Hendrix' "Machine Gun". The whole band watches Mike solo with Jeff standing behind his amp stack where he's hung a sign from the audience that says "smile". Although "Leatherman" appears on the setlist (after "Better Man"), it isn't played.
June 27, 1998 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre - East Troy, WI, USA
attendance: 35 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Faithfull, All Those Yesterdays, Brain Of J.
setlist: Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Tremor Christ, Given To Fly, Jeremy, Faithfull, Nothingman, Improv, MFC, Habit, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Once, All Those Yesterdays, Go, Immortality
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Leatherman, Better Man/(Rearviewmirror), Wishlist, Alive
encore 2: Smile
Mike smashes his guitar after "Brain Of J". Eddie performs the "back and forth" dance during "Last Exit". "Faithfull" is introduced as "a song about being careful with your trust". The improv after "Nothingman" is mostly Eddie with Matt and Jeff playing along. Tonight's "Habit" line is "speaking as someone who's never worn a piece of orange styrofoam on his head" (Ed goes on to explain that the cheesehead comment wasn't an insult and how he has a cheesehead hat at home and how he finds it "to be quite comfortable actually. Makes me look cool and I get chicks"). "Better Man" features two lines from "Rearviewmirror" ("saw things... clearer, clearer"). Eddie chats about how Dennis Flemion from The Frogs wrote a page in Eddie's journal and it became "Smile", leading to that song and a spotlight is shined on Dennis, who is side stage. Wonderful setlist and performance.
June 29, 1998 - United Center - Chicago, IL, USA
attendance: 20 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Last Exit, Porch x 2, Hail Hail, MFC, Present Tense, Baba O'Riley, Substitute
setlist: Long Road, Do The Evolution, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Go, Dissident, Even Flow, Given To Fly, Corduroy, Rearviewmirror, In Hiding, Jeremy, Daughter/(Ray Of Light)/(Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2), Nothingman, MFC, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Alive
encore 1: (Walking On Sunshine), Wishlist, Better Man/(Save It For Later), State Of Love And Trust, Black, Last Exit
encore 2: Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
Very tight, the first half hour just BURNS, until "Dissident". "Corduroy" is notable as the version appearing on the Live On Two Legs album. "Rearviewmirror" has a cool jam and strobes at the climax. Eddie closes a sweet "In Hiding" with "that's Stone's song... this is Jeff's", leading to "Jeremy". The "Daughter" tag, "Ray Of Light" is a Madonna song ("She's got herself a universe, and she feels... like she just got home"). Before playing "Nothingman", Eddie states, "It's not about anyone I know... it's completely made up...". Before "Off He Goes", Eddie takes a sip and claims he's drinking Gatorade so that he can "be like Mike". He talks about the places they have played in Chicago... Chicago Stadium, Soldier Field, United Center... and says, "The only one left is Wrigley Field. Of course it'll be a day show... and we'll play two". Mike runs around the stage in huge circles throughout "Present Tense". When Pearl Jam returns for the encore, Matt starts drumming, and Stone sings one line of "Walking On Sunshine", by Katrina and the Waves. One of the longest, most powerful "Save It For Later" tags follows "Better Man". Mike's solo at the end of "Black" is incredible. Jeff imitates Pete Townshend at the end of "Baba O'Riley", machine gunning the audience, as the place goes completely nuts! Eddie tosses his red Gibson SG and smashes the headstock at the end of "Baba O'Riley". Eddie wears a Bulls jersey, #3 (that says "Vedder" on the back) that he says Rodman gave him, and he wasn't there but he'd give him a tape of the show.
June 30, 1998 - Target Center - Minneapolis, MN, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Leatherman, Oceans, Pilate, Not For You, Leaving Here, Go
setlist: Sometimes, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Faithfull, Even Flow, Corduroy, I Got Id, Pilate, Daughter/(Noise Of Carpet), MFC, Lukin, Wishlist, Mankind, All Those Yesterdays, Black, Alive
encore: Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Leatherman, Better Man, Leaving Here, (My Generation Blues)/Porch
Eddie dedicates the show to Frank Black after the first few songs. Right before "Corduroy", he says, "I'm very aware I'm standing where Charles is standing", (a reference to Frank Black whose real name is Charles Thompson). After the "Noise Of Carpet" tag in "Daughter", Eddie does a good three minutes of chants similar to Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn with the band playing the closing "Daughter" riff. Someone is holding up a sign after "Wishlist" that says "Stone Stone Stone" on one side and something about Mankind on the other. Eddie points at him and says, "This one's for you fucker... Stone's gonna sing one". Stone makes a joking protest saying, "Oh, I couldn't", and they play "Mankind". During "All Those Yesterdays", they start the first verse, Stone's guitar cuts out after Eddie sings "Don't you want to rest?" and Eddie says, "Obviously, yes" and tells Stone "take your time, we'll hang", nodding to the audience. Then the crowd goes nuts out of enthusiasm, screaming for five minutes, and Eddie says, "We should fuck up more often... I'd hate to be in here with you fuckers when you're in the finals". The band seems to draw positive energy from the crowd at this magical point. Extended solo for Mike in "Even Flow" and also for "Black", but not as extended as Chicago. At the encore, Eddie says he was thinking "Chicago, Chicago" the whole tour and didn't give this show a thought and that the crowd really surprised him. For "Better Man", he starts singing the second verse, stops, the crowd keeps on singing and he jokes about it. "Porch" appears for the first time on this tour, with a unique slow segue from "My Generation Blues" (which can be found on The Who's The Kids Are Alright soundtrack double vinyl) into "Porch", the three or four lines of "Porch" sung to the bluesy tone of "My Generation Blues". Surprisingly, Eddie plays guitar during "Porch". Jeff and Stone applaud a super crowd!
July 2, 1998 - Riverport Amphitheatre - Maryland Heights (St. Louis), MO, USA
attendance: 20 000 (sold out)
opening act: The Murder City Devils
soundcheck: Who You Are, Spin The Black Circle, In My Tree, Hail Hail, Elderly Woman...
setlist: Oceans, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Spin The Black Circle, Tremor Christ, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Corduroy, MFC, Wishlist, Nothingman, Improv, Habit, Even Flow, Daughter/(Institutionalized), Immortality, Black, Alive
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Jeremy, I Got Id, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Fuckin' Up
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Excellent show with the opening songs totally rocked out. The band looks really happy and playing great. "Oceans" is a beautiful opener and "In Hiding" is one of the finest versions played. "Nothingman" is introduced as a song about a man who "not only couldn't change the world... he couldn't even take care of himself". "Institutionalized", the tag in "Daughter", is a Suicidal Tendencies song ("I'm not crazy, you're the one who's crazy... institution"). "Fuckin' Up" is a total surprise! Great crowd.
July 3, 1998 - Sandstone Amphitheater - Bonner Springs, KS, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening act: The Murder City Devils
soundcheck: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Dissident, Faithfull, Jeremy, I Got Id, MFC, Wishlist, Last Exit, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Daughter/(The Whole Of The Moon), Footsteps, Alive, Go
encore: Nothingman, Better Man, Do The Evolution, Smile, Rockin' In The Free World
A very hot and sweaty show (at least they were smart tonight and all wore shorts!). During the first few songs, the sweat is literally pouring off of Stone and Eddie's faces. After "Jeremy", Eddie comments on how they haven't been here in a while: "We weren't touring anyway... it's not like we were seeing other people... we've been saving ourselves for you". "MFC" is so intense that Eddie breaks a string and then proceeds to finish the song banging the neck of his guitar against the mic stand. The "Daughter" tag consists of Eddie cupping his hands around his mouth to create a megaphone effect, singing "the shades go down" and moving his hands in and out to make some very weird and wonderful noises, followed by a short "The Whole Of The Moon", by The Waterboys. Then he points at the moon, and mentions that this is the last time for a while they'll see "that thing" on this tour. "That thing moves us like the tides...". The intro to "Footsteps" mentions the fact that the song was written before Eddie was in the band and that Matt Cameron actually played on the first recording, and then Eddie requests applause for Matt. He also mentions that he is not that anxious to be getting to Texas quickly, complete with a dead-on impersonation of a Texas drawl. He later goes into an interesting rant about creation and religion before "Smile", which ended with the statement: "What I want to know is, how many days did it take for man to create god?". A frantic "Rockin' In The Free World", with an awesome solo by Mike, ends the set. On the setlist but not played: "Pilate" and "Off He Goes".
July 5, 1998 - Reunion Arena - Dallas, TX, USA
attendance: 17 000 (sold out)
opening act: The Murder City Devils
soundcheck: Hard To Imagine, MFC, Last Exit, Faithfull, (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Off He Goes
setlist: Sometimes, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Given To Fly, In Hiding, (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Go, MFC, Wishlist, Rearviewmirror, Pilate, Alive, Spin The Black Circle, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Daughter/(Mother)/(Monkey Gone To Heaven), Mankind, Do The Evolution
encore: Jeremy, Immortality, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Sonic Reducer
NBA star Dennis Rodman makes an appearance during "Hail, Hail" and is in attendance for much of the show, smiling and occasionally singing. Eddie sits in his lap for "Wishlist", and Eddie and Rodman take turns pouring wine in each other's mouths. With audience seating behind the stage, Pearl Jam turns and faces the back, playing to them during "Rearviewmirror". During "Alive", Eddie gets on Rodman's shoulders. Eventually, Pearl Jam convinces Rodman to just watch and sit on the stool that Jeff uses while he's playing the stand up bass. Later, he is kicked off the stage before "Off He Goes" when Jeff needs his stool for the stand up bass, although before he leaves, he adds chorus backing vocals to "Spin The Black Cirlce" via Stone's mic. The "Daughter" tag, "Mother", is a John Lennon song ("Mother you had me, but I never had you"). During the first encore, Eddie announces "This song is a B-side, I'm sure no one here has ever heard", then goes into "Jeremy". "Better Man" is dedicated to "a special person in my life who knows who he is". Right before a phenomenal version of "Sonic Reducer" (with opening act The Murder City Devils), Eddie says he "admired Rodman for what he's done and where he came from". Eddie takes to all four corners of the stage to wave to fans. On the last corner, Rodman grabs Eddie again and runs him around the stage. The band is, again, in good form. Depending on who you talk to, Rodman either detracted or enhanced the show.
July 7, 1998 - Tingley Coliseum - Albuquerque, NM, USA
opening act: Spacehog
soundcheck: Fuckin' Up, I Got Id, Hail Hail
setlist: Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Corduroy, Rearviewmirror, Given To Fly, Dissident, Spin The Black Circle, Faithfull, Alive, MFC, Habit, Wishlist, (Crazy Mary), Nothingman, Jeremy, Do The Evolution, Better Man, Black
encore: Last Exit, Even Flow, Daughter, Fuckin' Up, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
An incredibly hot venue with the crowd going NUTS with the first note of the show. Stone has many guitar problems all night. "Rearviewmirror" features a cool band jam with Eddie soloing with some strange harmonics and effects. During "Spin The Black Circle", he puts a tambourine on top of his mic stand, slapping it to make it spin while belting out, "spin... spin". "MFC" is introduced as, "... sometimes you have to get away. This song is about getting away to somewhere". The "Habit" line is "speaking as someone from Pedro". Stone has guitar problems, which is why they play an improv of "Crazy Mary". In praise of the amazing energy, after "Do The Evolution", Eddie tells the crowd that they are the best they've seen on the whole tour. He jumps down into the crowd under Stone during "Black", greeting fans for a long time before returning to the stage. During "Fuckin' Up", the house lights come on! The band didn't seem to care and Eddie raised both middle fingers to the lights. During "Rockin' In The Freew World", Mike makes a hugh circle around the whole stage and Eddie bashes a hole in the stage with the mic stand, wood chips flying, with the stand getting stuck at one point. "Yellow Ledbetter" is played by request for some fans with a HUGE banner (probably 20 people wide) down front. Eddie exits at the end of the show, big smile on his face, via the hole he's chopped in the stage.
July 8, 1998 - Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Phoenix, AZ, USA
attendance: 14 000 (sold out)
opening act: Spacehog
soundcheck: Corduroy, Do The Evolution, Lukin, Spin The Black Circle, Elderly Woman..., I Got You
setlist: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Tremor Christ, In Hiding, Even Flow, Given To Fly, Leatherman, Wishlist, Jeremy, Spin The Black Circle, Daughter/(W.M.A.)/(MLK), I Got Id, Elderly Woman..., Rearviewmirror, Black, Better Man/(Save It For Later)
encore: Go, Do The Evolution, Alive, Immortality, Leaving Here
Matt breaks a stick during "Hail, Hail". Mike does an awesome "Even Flow" solo. After "Given To Fly", Eddie introduces "Leatherman" as "a b-side to that song (GTF) so some of you might not know it. True story, swear to god...". "Wishlist" last verse is, "I wish I was one of the radio stars, sometimes you get what you want. I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish... I wish I was thankful for everything I've got". After Spin The Black Circle", Eddie flips the mic stand over, and then he says that he noticed one thing about Phoenix: "It's really fucking hot... there's probably no vinyl around here any more; if there was, they would have all melted". Eddie uses the e-bow during "Rearviewmirror". He dedicates "Black" to Ed Meacham (former Arizona governor) because "... he seems to know a lot about the word 'white'". Eddoe fakes a stage dive during "Alive". Matt's tremendously powerful drumming at the end of "Immortality" is full and quick-paced, yet very tight and smooth. On the setlist but not played: Interstellar Overdrive, Mankind, Indifference and State Of Love And Trust.
July 10, 1998 - Cox Arena - San Diego, CA, USA
attendance: 11 000 (sold out)
opening act: Spacehog
soundcheck: Corduroy, Sometimes, Off He Goes, MFC
setlist: Long Road, Corduroy, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, In Hiding, Rearviewmirror, Immortality, Wishlist, Nothingman, Spin The Black Circle, Even Flow, Daughter/(Roam), MFC, Alive, Hail Hail
encore 1: Jeremy, Go, Lukin, Better Man, Leaving Here, Black, Rockin' In The Free World
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Tiny venue, poor sound, GREAT crowd, very ON performance with a few rough spots. "Corduroy" features a completely different intro, starting out with just guitar and then the drums build in. Eddie skips the first verse of "Rearviewmirror" and repeats the second twice, and the second go round is excellent and the jam goes way out and comes back hard! Not a lot of chat, until before "Immortality", Eddie says, "Hometown boy, Matt Cameron". "Wishlist" lyric changes: Eddie sings "as fortunate as YOU" and instead of "I wish I was the evidence, I wish I was the grounds", he says "sound". At the end, he sings, "I wish I was a mountain, wishes can come true, I wish I wish I wish I wish... if you ever want to, do..." (San Diego WAS where the original Pearl Jam lyrics were written). "Even Flow" is humorously flubbed... Eddie goes into the chorus too soon but catches himself, and Mike's wicked solo is reeled back eventually by Stone, with Eddie noting, "that's Mike over there". The "Daughter" tag, "Roam", is a B52s song, with Eddie noting is as "... one of the deepest secrets they've hidden in their songs besides 'tin roof, rusted'". "MFC" is introduced with, "If you gotta get out, get a small car". During "Rockin' In The Free World", he goes off on a sarcastic political rant about how he's glad our politicians are out there protecting us from flag burning... no need to focus on problems like sewage being poured into the oceans because we've got flag burners to deal with. Classic Eddie intensity. Mike dedicates "Yellow Ledbetter" to his dad.
July 11, 1998 - Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, NV, USA
opening acts: X, Zeke
setlist: MFC, Corduroy, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Given To Fly, Dissident, Even Flow, Faithfull, Jeremy, Nothingman, Leatherman, Wish List, Lukin, Daughter/(White Girl)/(W.M.A.), Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Alive
encore: Spin The Black Circle, Do The Evolution, Habit, Black, Last Exit
This concert was initially booked for Sam Boyd Stadium, but was changed to the Thomas & Mack Center. Eddie comments: "We were supposed to be outside tonight, but we didn't sell enough tickets... thank God!". Late show. Poor security, drunk crowd... even booed opening act, X. After "Given To Fly", Eddie says (sarcastically), "So, we're in Las Vegas. My, what a wonderful place it is, too!" and the crowd cheers. He falls and laughs it off toward the end of "Even Flow". During "Faithfull", Eddie spells out "M.Y.T.H" in sign language. "Nothingman" is introduced as a "nice little ditty about a fuck up. This is like Leaving Las Vegas right here". Drinking a beer after "Lukin", Eddie says he wishes he had some to share and tells the crowd they should feel lucky since they got to see X play. The tag in "Daughter" is a song by X, called "White Girl". "Last Exit" closes the show, with Eddie proclaiming, "Take care of yourself... I'll see yaa at the Siegfried and Roy show". "Porch" was on the written setlist but wasn't played.
July 13, 1998 - Great Western Forum - Inglewood, CA, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening acts: X, Tenacious D
soundcheck: Even Flow, Not For You, Spin The Black Circle, Whipping, Leaving Here, Last Exit, Alive, Present Tense, Off He Goes
setlist: Sometimes, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., In Hiding, Even Flow, Given To Fly, MFC, Not For You, Wishlist, Jeremy, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Present Tense, Spin The Black Circle, Rearviewmirror, Go
encore 1: Elderly Woman..., Better Man/(Save It For Later), Daughter/(I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts), Alive/(Heaven And Hell)
encore 2: Baba O'Riley
The opening act, Tenacious D, are two guys with acoustic guitars who are VERY funny. Eddie introduces them, saying something like, "Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath will not be here tonight as scheduled. Instead, their bastard child, Tenacious D!". Mr. McCready is wearing a dress and fishnet stockings. The band seems rested from Las Vegas and in a good mood. "Wishlist" last lines are modified to, "I wish I got to play in a band, and open up for X. I wish, I wish, I could tell you, they'll be out here next". Mike gets tackled by Eddie at the end of "Spin The Black Circle"’ and he spins him around by his ankles. Eddie mentions that Mike Watt gave him a book before "Elderly Woman...", and quotes a line from Willy Wonka, "Do you know what happened to the boy whose wishes all came true? He lived happily ever after". A great moment during "Elderly Woman...": At the song's climax... "I just want to scream HELLO! My God it's been so long. Never dreamed you'd return, but now here you are (looking out to the crowd, bright white lights on) and here I am". Eddie comments that they are lucky to play the Forum, that the crowd is lucky to play in the Forum. Also that it's not the Great Western Forum to them, but "The Fabulous Forum". The "Daughter" tag is once again an X song, "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts". "Alive" includes a tease of the Black Sabbath song "Heaven And Hell" in the ending jam and the behind the head guitar work. An incredible "Baba O'Riley", with all of them simply going off. Eddie spills Heineken all across the stage and during the final notes, he gets a running start and slides on his knees with his guitar across the stage (much as in the movie The Kids Are Alright where Pete Townshend does this during "Won't Get Fooled Again"). Then Eddie breaks his red Gibson SG. A hard-driving show.
July 14, 1998 - Great Western Forum - Inglewood, CA, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening acts: X, Tenacious D
setlist: Release, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Corduroy, I Got Id, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Faithfull, Daughter/(The KKK Took My Baby Away)/(I Believe In Miracles), Nothingman, Jeremy, Habit, Better Man, Alive
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, Leaving Here
encore 2: The KKK Took My Baby Away
Eddie screws up the beginning of "Habit", then takes credit for it by saying, "My bad. Matt, say hello to Matt Cameron, was doing a beautiful job and I fucked it up". Eddie mentions smoking a cigarette in a public building in California, that he normally wouldn't, but he was going to do it because he could. He thanks the members of X by name, individually. The "speaking as" break in "Habit" has a different twist: Instead of saying "speaking as", Eddie starts playing guitar, a dark, slow, droning riff reminiscent of "This Boy", by The Beatles. Eddie strums on this riff for a few seconds and then Matt begins drumming and Eddie sings a bit. They jam on this dark little riff for 20 seconds or so and then silence. A dramatic pause and BAM, back into "Habit". Breathtaking! Eddie changes the lyrics in "Do The Evolution" to "I'm the first mammal to wet my pants". Before "Wishlist", the band gives a shout out to Tenacious D, and Eddie changes the lyric in "Wishlist", to "I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as KG", referring to Kyle Gass in Tenacious D. "Leaving Here" is introduced as one "... for all the ladies... no, actually it's for the guys... treat 'em right". A very fun show, with Johnny Ramone playing guitar with Mike on the final encore ("The KKK Took My Baby Away", by Ramones), Eddie singing and Stone playing the tambourine with a big, goofy grin on his face. A celebrity studded crowd: Jim Carey spotted side-stage and Gene Simmons (of Kiss) sat behind the soundboard! "Black", "Go" and "Immortality" are on the setlist, but not played.
July 16, 1998 - ARCO Arena - Sacramento, CA, USA
attendance: 17 000 (sold out)
opening act: X
soundcheck: Porch, Alone
setlist: Spin The Black Circle, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Habit, Even Flow, Jeremy, Daughter/(Noise Of Carpet), Immortality, I Got Id, Rearviewmirror, Nothingman, Wishlist, Alive, Go
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Better Man, In My Tree, Black, Porch
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Eddie comes out to introduce X (standing at the side of the stage for nearly 15 minutes before the crowd notices), saying, "... one of the greatest bands to ever write, sing and play". Lots of different lighting effects tonight, including red, white and blue lights on the backdrop during "Brain Of J". Mike is playing really well and his solos are totally different tonight. The flavor is more bluesy rather than wailing and he uses a slide on "Corduroy". There is a hint at Eddie's annoyance with the crowd's poor reception to X when he alters the "MFC" lyrics during the "fuck it" part to "fuck you". This seems to be Eddie screws up the lyrics night, with botched lyrics for "Better Man", "Even Flow", "Wishlist" and "Rearviewmirror". The "Noise Of Carpet" tag in "Daughter" is long, extended more than at the '96 shows. "In My Tree" is dedicated to Jack Irons. The energy is really strong at the start of the show and dissipates, almost as if Pearl Jam is afraid to play too hard. Something seems to really be bothering Eddie and he says, "You guys really pissed me off before..." during "Porch". This may have been a reference to the crowd, which was very rough. He also says, "It would be really nice if you could cheer that loud for the first band, the band I think was better".
July 18, 1998 - Rose Garden Arena - Portland, OR, USA
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: I Got You, Not For You, Hail Hail, Sonic Reducer
setlist: Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Spin The Black Circle, Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Even Flow, In Hiding, Jeremy, Daughter/(I've Been Tired), MFC, In My Tree, Wishlist, Elderly Woman..., Present Tense, Rearviewmirror, Alive
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Black, Leatherman, Better Man, Leaving Here, Go
encore 2: Fuckin' Up
From the first song, Stone is bouncing up and down on the side of the stage and Mike and Stone are doing matching jumps from opposite sites of the stage during "Alive". A perfect "In My Tree" and "Jeremy". "I've Been Tired", the tag in "Daughter", is a Pixies song. Elderly Woman..." features a humorous beginning, with Stone and Eddie alternating with "you start"... "no, you start" for about three minutes. Eddie uses the ebow near the end of "Rearviewmirror. The lights are brought down during "Do The Evolution" and a cartoon is shown on the backdrop. Eddie sits next to Mike's amp with one ear to it during the "Black" solo. Matt sings backup during "Better Man" and "Leatherman". Mike parades a dog around on stage during "Fuckin' Up". Many setlist changes: "Faithfull", "All Those Yesterdays" and "Nothingman" are deleted; "Spin The Black Circle" is added.
July 19, 1998 - Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC, Canada
attendance: 16 000 (sold out)
opening act: Frank Black
soundcheck: Not For You, MFC, Off He Goes, Last Kiss, I Got You, Hail Hail
setlist: Sometimes, Go, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Dissident, Even Flow, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Lukin, Wishlist, Jeremy, Daughter/(Hey Hey My My), Not For You, Off He Goes, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Black, Last Exit
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Nothingman, Alive, Leaving Here
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter, Baba O'Riley
The band is relaxed and playing well; however, the crowd is a little too sedate. The set is cut short with "Last Exit", Eddie inciting the crowd by doing these Vegas-style lunges towards the crowd. This all changes with an incredibly intense "Do The Evolution" and is culminated when, during "Alive", Eddie walks around the stage, applauding the kids dancing in the empty seats in the back, and climbs into the crowd for more than a few minutes. Pearl Jam returns to play "Yellow Ledbetter", and are about to leave when Eddie goes over to the band members and asks them if they feel like one more, picks up a tambourine, and, yep, "Baba O'Riley" bringing the house down.
July 21, 1998 - Memorial Stadium - Seattle, WA, USA
attendance: 25 000 (sold out)
opening acts: The Wallflowers, Zeke
soundcheck: Leatherman, Mankind, Immortality, Footsteps, MFC, Animal, I Can't Explain (soundcheck was held the day before)
setlist: Corduroy, Whipping, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Dissident, Even Flow, Jeremy, Given To Fly, Leatherman, In Hiding, State Of Love And Trust, Daughter/(Noise Of Carpet), MFC, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Black, Alive
encore 1: Do The Evolution, Wishlist, I Got Id, Footsteps, Spin The Black Circle, Go
encore 2: Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter/(Machine Gun)
Pearl Jam take the stage, with Eddie's shout of "We're home!". The band provides an excellently organized and festive atmosphere for the first of their hometown gigs with people walking the crowd handing out free popsicles. However, the crowd is extremely sedate, which continues to frustrate Eddie until after "Leatherman", when he snaps, "You're the sleepiest goddamn crowd this side of Portland". Mike’s solos are excellent, and Matt once again excels, prompting Eddie to tell a funny story about how the band all lives in the same house, and when Jack "couldn't make it", they "went out in the backyard and found Matt sitting there... Matt is everything". He also refers to the fact that these shows are benefits, commenting "Fuck Norm Rice (former Seattle Mayor)... Jeff Ament's the governor for today". "Do The Evolution" is introduced with a sarcastic story about how Eddie "found God" on the road... "that's big news, right?". Mike throws in the intro riff to Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" at the end of "Yellow Ledbetter".
July 22, 1998 - Memorial Stadium - Seattle, WA, USA
attendance: 20 000+
opening acts: The Wallflowers, Sean Lennon
pre-set: Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie solo)
setlist: Last Exit, Animal, Spin The Black Circle, Brain Of J., Faithfull, Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, MFC, Habit, Not For You, Daughter/(Beginning To See The Light), Even Flow, Off He Goes, Better Man, Lukin, Present Tense, Mankind, Alive, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Do The Evolution, Porch
encore 1: Wishlist, Leatherman, Leaving Here, Fuckin' Up
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter/(The Star-Spangled Banner)
The band absolutely stands and delivers for this final show of the West Leg of the 1998 tour, and the crowd does likewise. Eddie surprises the audience by walking onstage, Rickenbacker in hand, and graces the crowd with an incredible rendition of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" before Sean Lennon's set. He also introduces The Wallflowers, bopping onstage to "Emotional Rescue", The Wallflowers' pre-show music. Later, he greets the crowd: "Are you the same fucks from yesterday? Ya look damn familiar... actually I think you're better... so far". Killer versions of "Faithfull", "Do The Evolution" and "Porch" are highlights. Eddie dedicates "Given To Fly" to "the birds and people that think like them". Stone speaks: "We're gonna kick it up a notch... with me!" as they go into a great "Mankind". Eddie starts off the encore by informing everyone that "the Hanson concert hasn't let out yet so we're just gonna keep playing..." and later says, "I'd like to thank god for the weather but I don't believe in him". Tonight's special guest: airborne Mister Pickles! "Yellow Ledbetter" again, including the Hendrix riff plus a bit of "The Star-Spangled Banner". With the two home concerts Pearl Jam raised $500 000 for 10 local charities. Among the causes benefiting from the concert proceeds were the John Stanford Book Fund, the Northwest School, Seattle Center Skateboard Park, Seattle Center Peace Academy, the Bailey-Boushay House, and Chicken Soup Brigade.
August 17, 1998 - Deer Creek Music Center - Noblesville, IN, USA
attendance: 20 500 (sold out)
opening act: Iggy Pop
setlist: Long Road, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, (Jeremy), Immortality, Even Flow, Nothingman, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, In Hiding, Spin The Black Circle, Alive, Go
encore 1: Better Man/(Save It For Later), Daughter, Do The Evolution, Leaving Here
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
The first show of the East Leg of the 1998 US Tour finds the band in EXCELLENT energy and spirits. All the members are spotted sidestage rocking out to Iggy Pop's tremendous opening set, and it seems as though his energy inspired them to kick ass. Eddie's hair is shorter, blacker and slicked back, and he greets the audience with, "Okay, fuckers, our turn" (making reference to Iggy's rants at the dead crowd for his set). "MFC" is prefaced with, "If you ever wanna get out of town, expand your boundaries, the best way might not be a tractor... but if a tractor's all ya have, go for it". Eddie sings an interesting improv, based on the structure of the "new Jeremy", with the lyrics being, "The President spoke in court today". "Immortality" is a total Matt Cameron-based jam, so much so that Eddie makes a point of giving him props at the end. Stone is absolutely on fire tonight, jumping, thrashing, at the front of the stage constantly. "Nothingman" is dedicated to the lawn (Eddie claiming that that's where he would have been at that show, if he hadn't found a way to sneak down front). During "Alive", Eddie balances on Pete's (Pearl Jam's security guy) shoulders to grab hands down front, and then runs to the left and right side to do the same thing, afterwards applauding the crowd: "Good job, Indy... good job tonight". Prior to the first encore, Eddie acknowledges some of the signs in the audience requesting songs, as well as one reading "Ed Lewinsky" and then they play a brief clip of Clinton's speech from that afternoon, followed by Eddie reading excerpts from it; at the end he comments, "I have one word to say... 'consensual'". "Better Man" is dedicated in turn to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the tag has the melody of "W.M.A.", but no words are sung. His parting words are, "Behave like rock stars... not like the President". Crowd was amazing and the band was really happy because of it. On the setlist but not played: Porch, Indifference, Present Tense, Off He Goes.
August 18, 1998 - Jack Breslin Student Events Center - East Lansing, MI, USA
attendance: 13 000 (sold out)
opening act: Iggy Pop
soundcheck: Soldier Of Love, Footsteps, Hard To Imagine, Dissident, All Those Yesterdays, No Way, Improv, Indifference, Satan's Bed
setlist: Release, Do The Evolution, Spin The Black Circle, Brain Of J., Dissident, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Wishlist, Jeremy, Even Flow, Faithfull, Elderly Woman..., Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror
encore: Hail Hail, I Got Id, Alive, Black, Soldier Of Love
During "Brain Of J.", Mike and Stone jam together during Stone's solo. Introing "Dissident", Eddie says, "Dedicated to a girl named Monica". Between "Corduroy" and "MFC", Eddie says, "It feels like we're playing a frat party on a Friday... not a frat party, a keg party... no not a keg party, a pot party... Anything's worth smoking". Eddie has trouble with the e-bow (no sound initially) on "Wishlist", only playing a couple of notes and flubs the lyrics saying, "I wish I wish I wish... I wish I knew this song". During "Even Flow", Matt does this really cool fill and Mike goes over and jams on it. "Elderly Woman..." is directed toward "you" (the crowd). Eddie, having voice problems, motions toward his throat at various times. "Rearviewmirror" is excellent and the jam is really trancey. In the middle of it, Eddie takes out a towel, puts it over the monitors, puts a soccer ball on it, and kicks it into the middle of the arena! The stage is brightly lit during "Alive", Eddie checks out the crowd, and sees a "Breath" sign. He gets a big smile and starts laughing (shaking his finger as if to say "no no no"), and then during "Black", in the line where he says "breath", he really draws that word out while looking at the guy with the sign. After "Black", which features an INCREDIBLE solo from Mike, Eddie says, "That's Mike... you know Stone... but thanks especially to Matt", and the crowd gives him a big round of applause. For "Soldier Of Love", a 1962-song by Arthur Alexander, which Eddie introduces as a "song for people in love", and that they had just learned it that day, he brings out a kid with a University of Michigan shirt - he gets booed (MSU being a big rival)... Eddie says, "Oh, I didn't realize you were wearing the wrong shirt" and brings out a girl to hold the written lyrics in his journal for him instead. He speaks into her recorder and begin dancing with her toward the end of the song. Final Eddie comments of the night: some thanks to the crowd for choosing Pearl Jam over the Beastie Boys (also playing down the road that night) and "on behalf of all of us, we wanna thank Iggy Pop, it's really nice to play with him in his own state" and comments on the Michigan live music censorship bill, "some guy showing his penis or something", and closes the show with the immortal comment: "They want your parents to have to go with you to rock concerts, just in case some guy pulls out his penis or something. It's rock and roll. You should be able to, I should be able to show my penis. It's rock and roll". On the setlist and not played: Footsteps, Fuckin' Up, State Of Love And Trust, Habit.
August 20, 1998 - Molson Centre - Montreal, QC, Canada
attendance: 19 000 (sold out)
opening act: Cheap Trick
soundcheck: Hard To Imagine, Footsteps, Animal, State Of Love And Trust, Present Tense, Last Kiss
setlist: Sometimes, Corduroy, Animal, Hail Hail, Brain Of J., Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Even Flow, Not For You, Wishlist, Lukin, Jeremy, Daughter/(Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2), Present Tense, State Of Love And Trust, Do The Evolution
encore 1: Hard To Imagine, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Alive, Black, Leaving Here, Baba O'Riley
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
While Cheap Trick performs, Matt is snapping photos and freaking out; Stone, Jeff and Mike are on Mike's side (also freaking out majorly); Rick Nielsen throws Mike a pick and Mike apparently knocks over several people to get the pick! Matt is outstanding during "Hail Hail". Mike kicks ass on "Red Mosquito". Stone plays a cool, bluesy solo during "Not For You". At the end of "Wishlist", Eddie says, "I wish I was Canadian". The "Daughter" tag includes "Mr. President, leave those kids alone". After "Daughter", Eddie says that he was going to try to kiss everybody's ass because he hasn't been here in a while, and then says (in French), "It's been too long since we’ve seen each other". Then he says, "I hope that's what it says, I hope it doesn't say, 'Can I have a taco supreme'... the funny thing is, every day at 3 o'clock before I take my 4 o'clock bong load, Jeff gives me a call and says, 'I wonder about those people in Montreal and wonder how they're doing'". Mike does laps around the stage during "Present Tense". Do The Evolution" is on fire, and wraps up the first set with a simple "thank you" from Eddie. Upon returning for the encore, he says, "I've been seeing all your signs tonight, and we're gonna do that one right there", before doing "Hard To Imagine". "Better Man" is once again dedicated to Hillary Clinton, and features a segue into a very extended "Save It For Later". At the end of "Alive", Eddie grabs Mike and says, "He's still alive". At the end of "Black", Mike is un-fucking-believable, he is possessed, flying around, going all over the place, the whole band was watching him, and at the end, Jeff walks over and shakes his hand, congratulating him. After "Leaving Here", Eddie talks about hockey, and then says, "And that's Matt Cameron in goal", and the crowd goes nuts. "In Hiding" was on the setlist but not played.
August 22, 1998 - Molson Park - Toronto, ON, Canada
attendance: 35 000
opening acts: Cheap Trick, Cracker, Matthew Good Band, Hayden, All Systems Go!
soundcheck: Not For You, Corduroy, I Got Id, MFC
setlist: Corduroy, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Animal, Dissident, Given To Fly, MFC, Habit, Wishlist, Even Flow, Daughter/(Surrender), In Hiding, Jeremy, State Of Love And Trust, Nothingman, Better Man, Leatherman, Alive
encore 1: Immortality, Rearviewmirror, Last Exit, I Got Id/(Cinnamon Girl), Black, Do The Evolution
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
As Cheap Trick is performing, various members of Pearl Jam are spotted rocking out (and Mike taking photos through a small hole cut in the black cloth enveloping the scaffolding), including Eddie doing chinups and swinging on the scaffolding poles like a monkey and then holding his hand out, practically above his head, snapping his fingers rapidly with Rick Nielsen acknowledging him and grinning. During the first few songs, someone tosses a football and Eddie catches it and looks around as if to say, "What the hell!?" Then he says, "check this out" and he flings his shoe off his foot simply by throwing his leg up in the air and kicks the ball 40 yards into the crowd. After "Animal", Eddie addresses the crowd for the first time: "We made it, looks beautiful out there, we'll try to do it better than last time we played here, I feel better, I'm Ed Vedder". During "Habit", Eddie changes the "speaking as" line to "speaking as a dumb-ass, beer-drinking, propaganda-believing, missile-shooting, American". "Surrender", the tag in "Daughter", is a Cheap Trick song. Right before "State Of Love And Trust", Eddie refers to Mike having a special guest, and Mike plays the song with one of Rick Nielsen's guitars. "Nothingman" is highlighted with lightning bolts on the backdrop. During "Leatherman", Eddie's guitar cuts out during the break, Matt just keeps drumming. Eddie says: “Driving in today, there were a couple of things worth mentioning... I saw a guy wearing a watermelon on his head, as a hat... Canadian of the year, right there... then I saw the most exciting thing I've seen on the tour... I saw a guy with a truck, and in the back of a truck he had a couch, a chair, a fridge... this song's about a bad-ass, the people up front are a bunch of bad-asses, the people in the back are a bunch of bad-asses; you’re all a bunch of bad-asses". During Mike's "Alive" solo, Eddie is walking along the speaker stands, dancing and pointing and jumping up and down. "Next time we come here... actually there might not be a next time... I don't know if you know this, but the Doomsday Clock was pushed forward a few minutes, the Doomsday Clock is now at 5 minutes to midnight; you guys don't know what I'm talking about, do you... it means we're all gonna die, fuckers...", leading to "Immortality". "Do The Evolution" features the new video on the backdrop. A great crowd with Eddie acknowledging: "Next time we'll do three shows in smaller venues so we can get the same number of people in". When the band takes the stage for "Yellow Ledbetter", the crowd noise is unbelievable and Eddie covers his ears! He changes the lyrics from "don't ever wanna feel this way again" to "am never gonna have this much fun again". Eddie appears not to want to leave, staring at the cheering crowd and leaving with his hand placed over his heart.
August 23, 1998 - The Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, MI, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening act: Cheap Trick
setlist: Long Road, Last Exit, Brain Of J., Do The Evolution, Tremor Christ, Corduroy, MFC, Immortality, Wishlist, Alive, Given To Fly, Go, Jeremy, Even Flow, Daughter/(I Want You To Want Me), All Those Yesterdays, Rearviewmirror
encore 1: Animal, Hail Hail, Off He Goes, Better Man/(Crazy Mary), Footsteps
encore 2: Smile, Fuckin' Up
Eddie sings background vocals on "Surrender", the last song of Cheap Trick's opening set, introduced by them as "a friend who is new in the music industry, we want to give him a hand starting out". Before MFC, Eddie says, "I'd like to thank the greatest guitar tech in the world, Rick Nielsen". The "MFC" lyrics are modified from "there's a lot to be said for nowhere" to "there's a lot to be said for Detroit". Mike plays the "Go" solo behind his head. Pearl Jam tag Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" in "Daughter". Long speech between "Daughter" and "All Those Yesterdays" about working and being slackers and burning it on both ends, and "fuck that". The "Better Man" tag is the music from "Save It For Later", but the lyrics to "Crazy Mary". "Smile" is introduced as "a new song... with Stone Gossard playing... nothing" (since it was taking George Webb (bass tech) a long time to get a bass to Stone). During an incredible "Rearviewmirror" (introed by Eddie by saying, "First gear... second gear... third gear... all the way up to fifth), a stagediver invades the stage, is removed by Eric Johnson, and Eddie says, "No, bring him back", and then says "kneel" and the guy gets on his knees. Then he turns to the crowd and says sarcastically, "These fucking assholes who try to get onstage piss me off... not to mention the HAIRCUT" (he's got a haircut that is short on the top and long on the back) and the crowd goes wild, "Let me guess... you're from CANADA... what the fuck!? Either you want it short, or you want it long... make up your fucking mind!" and then he cuts his hair with a pair of Swiss Army Knife scissors. Before "Footsteps", Eddie says, "To be frank, honest, candid... the five of us together making music is pretty fun; even without you. We had a lot of fun in East Lansing; this has been great, too. Now we're gonna play a request".
August 25, 1998 - Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater - Burgettstown, PA, USA
attendance: 22 536 (sold out)
opening act: Iggy Pop
soundcheck: Whipping, Red Mosquito, Last Kiss, Soldier Of Love
pre-set: Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie solo)
setlist: Release, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Corduroy, I Got Id, Faithfull, Even Flow, Jeremy, MFC, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, Daughter/(Outshined)/(I Wanna Live), Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Elderly Woman..., Alive
encore: No Way, Animal, Hail Hail, Not For You, Nothingman, Black, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
Before Iggy Pop, Eddie comes out and sings "Throw Your Arms Around Me", changing the lyrics from "the blue summer sky" to "the grey summer sky", due to the Pittsburgh weather. Before "MFC", Eddie says, "It's been a while. So, to make up for it, we'll play every song", and the crowd goes nuts. During the song, Eddie changes the words from "there's a lot to be said for nowhere" to "there's a lot to be said for Pittsburgh". "Rearviewmirror" is a total speed version, with a strange tag in the middle. Pearl Jam add a bit of Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Live" in "Daughter". After "Do The Evolution", Eddie comments, "I guess the next step in evolution is, we're gonna have an electrical outlet up our ass, and a Microsoft number given to us at birth... no, wait, maybe a chip implanted in our ear... but above all, I'd mention, I'd rather have a pair of wings any day", and they go into "Given To Fly". Before the band comes out for the first encore, the audience starts chanting, "Here we go Steelers...". Then Eddie comes out, with something in his hand... It's a t-shirt, and someone had written on the front "No" and on the back "Way". So he holds it up, turns it, turns it again, and then he says, "Well, my answer to that..." and then he turns the shirt so his answer in theory was "No Way" and then he pauses and says, "Wait, what do you think... should we give it a try?" and the crowd goes nuts. Then he stops and discusses it, and says, "Okay, we're gonna give this one a go" and they go into the first playing of "No Way" on the '98 Tour! Eddie sticks his head through the tambourine during "Rockin' In The Free World". During Mike's solo at the end of "Yellow Ledbetter", Eddie grabs a tape recorder held by a fan in the front and talks into it!
August 26, 1998 - Blossom Music Center - Cleveland, OH, USA
attendance: 18 500 (sold out)
opening act: Iggy Pop
soundcheck: Black Diamond, Noise Of Carpet, Leatherman, Off He Goes, Red Mosquito
setlist:: Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Immortality, Footsteps, Even Flow, Jeremy, In Hiding, Daughter/(My City Was Gone)/(W.M.A.), Brain Of J., Rearviewmirror, Better Man, Wishlist, Alive
encore 1: Elderly Woman..., Do The Evolution, Leatherman, Black, Baba O'Riley
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Eddie starts the show by arriving onstage via skateboard. Due to his stellar work on "Immortality", some people in the crowd start cheering "Matt Fucking Cameron". Eddie notes, "We're on our way to Philadelphia tomorrow... and we haven't played there in a long time. We're going to have to get out of here early to be sure we get there in time.. it's a long drive". The crowd boos and Eddie laughs and continues, "I'm just fuckin' with you. You like to be fucked with, right?". The tag in "Daughter" is "My City Was Gone", by The Pretenders, who are from Ohio (Akron to be precise), and is a song about Cleveland. After "Black", Eddie mentions that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland: "Earlier this evening, I know you've got a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... we drove by it, I don't know who runs the place, but those people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...". Jeff interrupts, saying: "And where's the fucking Iggy exhibit, goddamn it!". Eddie chuckles: "So what I was gonna say, was, it's right by the airport, but we're a lot closer tonight, having Iggy Pop here, standing right here... let's just say next time we play here, it could be a year, maybe two... we hope, if it happens... if Iggy's not in yet, after the show, we're all gonna go down there and blow the place up... speaking of the hall of fame (he holds up a sign saying "Baba")... The Who!" and the band busts into "Baba O'Riley". The Stooges, Iggy's first band, were recently nominated to the HOF, but did not get in. "Wishlist" ends with the "radio song" verse, but instead of saying "I guess it never stops" Eddie sings "I guess it has to stop". Jeff comes out for "Yellow Ledbetter" wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey with Shawn Kemp's name and uniform number on the back.
August 28, 1998 - Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Centre - Camden, NJ, USA
attendance: 25 000 (sold out)
opening acts: Iggy Pop, Mudhoney
setlist: Release, Animal, Hail Hail, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, I Got Id, Even Flow, Jeremy, Daughter/(Suck You Dry)/(W.M.A.), Off He Goes, Immortality, Rearviewmirror, Brain Of J., Black, Better Man, Alive
encore 1: (Sweet Home Alabama), (Philadelphia Freedom), Hard To Imagine, Wishlist, Last Exit, Go, Leaving Here, Once, Elderly Woman...
encore 2: Porch
After "Daughter", Eddie mentions he is glad to do "W.M.A." because one of his favorite episodes of "Cops" happened in Philadelphia. After "Immortality", Eddie says, "Mike McCready! Matt Cameron!" then he blows his nose and says, "Snot!" (Apparently, Eddie's been a little sick). Before they play "Hard To Imagine", Eddie comes out and says, "Fuck, it's been years. We'll play anything you want", and they bust into a few chords of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" (with Eddie asking, "Isn't that what caused the Civil War?") and then a snippet of "Philadelphia Freedom", by Elton John. "Leaving Here" is dedicated to a girl Eddie met while walking around in his sports coat earlier. He said she knew what it was about and the rest of the crowd should just enjoy the song. After "Once", Eddie says, "Sometimes it's fun to have the big speakers and the stage, because it can be fun to tell people to fuck off. But you guys don't deserve that, because you guys have been the best crowd that Iggy Pop's had... not in his life, and thanks for being polite to Mudhoney, they came all the way out from Seattle" (The crowd gave Iggy a standing ovation at the end of his set, a sensational performance of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode"). "Elderly Woman..." is dedicated to "all the people that have a long way to drive to get back home after the show". Eddie goes into a long tirade about the fucked up state of the world, how bad the news is, about all the bombings that've been going on and says the Liberty Bell is going to be the next terrorist bomb attack, leading to: "... the last thing I’m gonna say is 1, 2, 3, 4″ and "Porch" is played. The lyrics in "Porch" are modified to, "I just need to say...".
August 29, 1998 - Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Centre - Camden, NJ, USA
attendance: 25 000 (sold out)
opening acts: Iggy Pop, Mudhoney
setlist: Long Road, Corduroy, Brain Of J., Red Mosquito, In Hiding, Animal, Given To Fly, Lukin, Wishlist, MFC, Not For You, Alive, Nothingman, State Of Love And Trust, Present Tense, Hail Hail, Jeremy, Do The Evolution
encore 1: Dissident, Even Flow, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Push Me Pull Me, Rearviewmirror
encore 2: Last Kiss, Rockin' In The Free World
Eddie's voice seems to be much better tonight. After "Given To Fly", he says, "Hello, we're band number three; we're very fond of bands one and two; but we've never written a song about band number two, but we did at least about a member of band number one", and they launch into "Lukin". During "State Of Love And Trust", Mike takes his shirt off. For "Present Tense", Eddie comments that he's been thinking about it lately, it's kind of weird in the present tense, there's a lot of crazy crap going on, but we're gonna play it anyway. In "Hail Hail", Eddie changes the words to, "You can only be as good as I'll let you...". "Do The Evolution" is totally mangled (rather hilariously); instead of going into "I'm a thief, I'm a liar", Eddie starts the whole thing over again from the first verse, and it tends to disintegrate again, but they salvage it in the end. "Save It For Later" is extremely extended, and goes straight into the first playing (other than a tag) of "Push Me, Pull Me"! At the end, he says, "Fuck, I forget the rest..." and yep, he forgets the lyrics at the very end. Stone applauds Jeff and Eddie at the end. Eddie refers to a show Pearl Jam played at JC Dobbs (July 12, 1991), a local Philly club: "It sure has been a nice couple of nights, are we in Philly or Jersey... where the fuck are we?! Philadelphia? (and everyone goes nuts!). This is an old song, it was written before we played at Dobbs (crowd cheers). There were only 30 or so people there, so quit lying!", and then they play "Better Man". "Rockin' In The Free World": "There's a thousand points of light for the east coast man, there's a kinder, gentler security man's hand". Mike finishes the song rolling around on his back, putting his guitar down and shaking it wildly.
August 31, 1998 - Hardee's Walnut Creek Amphitheatre - Raleigh, NC, USA
attendance: 20 000 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
soundcheck: Soldier Of Love, Driven To Tears, Hard To Imagine, No Way, Mankind, In My Tree
setlist: Sometimes, Corduroy, Animal, Given To Fly, Tremor Christ, Hail Hail, Not For You, Habit, Wishlist, Even Flow, Daughter/(Beginning To See The Light), Footsteps, Immortality, Brain Of J., Faithfull, Go, Jeremy, Alive
encore 1: Do The Evolution, State Of Love And Trust, Black, Elderly Woman..., Better Man
encore 2: Soldier Of Love
Mike and Eddie are in particularly great spirits. "Corduroy" features a great Pete Townshend leap by Eddie with his white Gibson SG. The "Wishlist" lyrics include "I wish friends would always be friends until the bitter end". Eddie notes, "We've been tryin' to feel y'all out... we think you can handle this", introducing "Footsteps". During "Brain Of J.", someone in the third row passes out and while everyone is helping her, Eddie is watching throughout the whole song (not dancing) to make sure she is OK. He even throws one of his water bottles out to one of her friends for her and comments, "We've got people passing out up here... I can only imagine what it's like in the back" (big roar from back of the lawn). "Faithfull" is dedicated to the people in the back. Mike tears the stage up on "Go", playing the entire solo for about a minute with the guitar behind his head and seems to get stuck near the edge of the stage and a bed of speakers, prompting Stone to ask if he had gotten stuck! Upon returning for the first encore (Eddie sporting a "blonde era" Lou Reed shirt), the crowd cheers wildly and Eddie says, "Aww, you probably say that to all the bands. You're probably the same assholes that were cheering Dave Matthews here last night!". During "State Of Love And Trust", Mike starts doing laps around the stage and Eddie turns his mic to follow him. On his second lap Eddie nails him with a shoulder and almost knocks him down and changes the lyrics to refer to Mike ("help him from himself"). Eddie tells a humorous tale about the Mudhoney show the previous night in Chapel Hill, where he bought a beer for some guys standing by him and heard one of them say "I'm under" to which he said "Don't worry, man, I got you covered". He thought the guys were short on cash but they were saying they were underage. The two guys got dragged out of the show halfway through because some "celebrity asshole" (Eddie calls himself that) got them in trouble. Eddie calls them "poor fuckers" then says he made it up to them and they had backstage passes and definitely had beers in their hands right now! "Better Man" is dedicated to Michael Jordan, with Eddie just referencing someone in a light blue jersey, with number 23. Before the last encore, Eddie looks at the crowd and mouths "fucking awesome". Once again, Eddie brings a fan onstage for the final encore and has him hold his song book while he sings "Soldier Of Love".
September 1, 1998 - Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre - Atlanta, GA, USA
attendance: 19 000 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
soundcheck: Lowlight, No Way, Parting Ways, Dead Man, Blood, I Got Id
setlist: Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Corduroy, I Got Id, Wishlist, Even Flow, In Hiding, Last Exit, (Yeastie Power), Off He Goes, MFC, Better Man, Brain Of J., Alive
encore 1: Go, No Way, Rearviewmirror, Daughter/(Talk About The Passion)/(All Those Yesterdays)/(The Wrong Child), Black, Porch
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
After "Last Exit", Eddie tells a little story about a band called Yeastie Girlz, a feminist rap band from San Francisco. Then, with the help of a drum beat provided by Matt, he sings a verse of their song "Yeastie Power": "We're the Yeastie Girls, with yeastie power, We don't shave and we don't shower...". Eddie leads into "Off He Goes" saying this is what's it's like to be his best friend. They play "No Way" thanks to the guys down front with a sign and Eddie jokingly says he had seen the "No Way" sign at every show and "I don't want to have to see that fucking sign again" (laughter) and they play it. He also saw a "Low Light" sign and responded with a confident "no". Before "Rearviewmirror", Eddie says that he remembers playing it at the Fox Theatre the last time they were in Atlanta and that he thought it was on Easter and that "... was when I believed in God, that was a long time ago". Eddie asks if anyone is coming tomorrow night to see the Beastie Boys and he says he's going. Pearl Jam tag R.E.M.'s "Talk About The Passion" and "The Wrong Child" in "Daughter". R.E.M. being from neighboring Athens, GA. Eddie is very crowd-friendly and comes into the crowd during "Porch". The security guard seemed less than thrilled to go after him. A shirt is tossed onstage reading "stop skateboard harrassment" and Eddie says, "Oh, you have that down here, too!" following with, "Well, I think we need to stop concert harrassment", leading to more comments about security being too tight the previous night and tonight. He says we were well behaved and their tactics weren't necessary. Stone screws up the beginning of "Black" and Eddie jokes that it was the first time they'd ever played it. Mike's "Black" solo is wonderful. During "Yellow Ledbetter", Eddie changes the lyrics to "... actually, I'd like to stay".
September 3, 1998 - Birmingham-Jefferson Coliseum - Birmingham, AL, USA
attendance: 19 000 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
soundcheck: Simple Man, Yellow Ledbetter
setlist: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, (Dueling Banjos), Corduroy, Immortality, Wishlist, Go, Daughter/(Androgynous Mind)/(Stuff And Nonsense), Footsteps, Even Flow, Jeremy, Faithfull, Brain of J, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Porch
encore 1: Elderly Woman..., Leatherman, Do The Evolution, Alive, Black, Baba O'Riley
During "Hail, Hail", Jeff has his eyes closed the whole time, grooving. Before "Corduroy", Eddie plays some riffs from "Dueling Banjos", by Arthur Smith. Mike hits his stride during "Corduroy". "Immortality" lasts forever with the strobe light. Eddie sings "I wish I could tell my friends how much I really care" during "Wishlist". In "Daughter" he starts howling and barking before going into the tags. Eddie intros "Even Flow" with: "We wrote this this morning". Eddie changes the lyrics to "I gather speed from me fucking with you" during "Rearviewmirror", with the strobe lights crazy, Eddie dancing with his arms going in a million directions, Mike putting the guitar behind his head, Eddie breaking the mic stand. The start of "Porch" is botched; Eddie quits singing until Stone catches the rhythm. Eddie jumps into the crowd during Mike's solo, tripping over one of the monitors climbing back onto the stage. At the beginning of the encore, Eddie comes out, pumped and jumps over the amp beside Matt's drum kit. With no music and the crowd screaming, he does a little step like 1, 2 cha cha cha, looks at the crowd and says, "What am I doing?" and starts laughing, repeating "What the fuck am I doing?". During "Alive", Jeff plays to Stone, Mike's on fire, Eddie runs all the way around the stage. Eddie gets a lot of feedback through his mic during "Black" (the third time it had happened) and gets mad, going over to the soundboard and shoves his finger in the air, yelling. The band all has on big silver sunglasses (and really big smiles) during "Baba O'Riley". A fan makes it onto the stage from behind and is dragged down by several rough security staffers after nearly pulling down one of the candles. Eddie ends it with a huge Daltrey mic-swing, finally tossing his mic over the lighting rig and leaving it hanging there as the band leaves the stage.
September 4, 1998 - BI-LO Center - Greenville, SC, USA
attendance: 14 027 (sold out)
opening act: Mudhoney
setlist: Oceans, Do The Evolution, Animal, Given To Fly, Corduroy, I Got Id, In Hiding, Jeremy, Even Flow, Nothingman, Not For You, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, Brain Of J., All Those Yesterdays, Porch
encore 1: Go, Hail Hail, Daughter/(Noise Of Carpet)/(W.M.A.), Mankind, Elderly Woman..., Fuckin' Up
encore 2: Indifference
"Oceans" is a beautiful opener, with a film on the backdrop showing water ripples and Eddie includes the "oh, Beth" line. During "In Hiding", Matt hits the drums hard at the "cracks along the wall" part... everyone stops and then Matt kicks back in (a la John Bonham) doing the quick snare, tom, floor tom, bass drum thing... and the song starts back up. After "Even Flow", Eddie comments on how this was the second show held in this venue, with Janet Jackson being first, and that they're gonna "burn up the stage" and "cleanse the place". Stone has two BIG solos during "Not For You". "Rearviewmirror" features a fast start and never slows down–spectacular! Eddie turns and sings to those seated behind the stage during "All Those Yesterdays". Matt maintains a strong tribal beat throughout "Porch", and Eddie takes a small mirror, walking along the front of the crowd, showing people their our reflections. When he returns to the mic, he tries to reflect someone's laser pen that had been up on stage all night. Stone is hilarious before singing "Mankind" saying, "I have to twist everyone's arm... I never ever get to sing what I want". Eddie sings backup and plays tambourine, breaking the head, putting it over his head and then tossing it to the crowd. Mike does his finger tapping solo. Eddie makes a quip about how Stone had been "begging to play a song". He says something about how the last time they were in South Carolina, they saw a lot of small towns and they were glad Matt "got to see you", leading to "Elderly Woman...". During "Fuckin' Up", Mike goes on top of a speaker stack and lies on them on top of his guitar after looking like he might go into the crowd for a moment! Stuff is thrown on the stage all; toward the start, Ed makes a great catch of a shirt and when another one is tossed up shortly after, he says, "Okay, that's enough. Only one catch a night". "Indifference" hasn't been played since the Australia shows. "MFC", "Black" and "Trouble" are on the setlist but not played. Many different solos and breakdowns in tonight's songs. Solid show, good crowd but the GA on the floor was rough.
September 6, 1998 - Thompson-Boling Arena - Knoxville, TN, USA
opening act: Mudhoney
soundcheck: Leaving Here, Whipping, Present Tense
setlist: Long Road, Corduroy, Brain Of J., Given To Fly, Animal, Red Mosquito, Jeremy, Whipping, Wishlist, Lukin, Even Flow, Habit, MFC, Present Tense, Daughter/(My Heart Will Go On)/(Monkey Gone To Heaven), Better Man, Alive
encore 1: Go, Rearviewmirror, Do The Evolution, Hard To Imagine, Black, Last Kiss
encore 2: Leaving Here
After "Brain Of J.", Eddie steps up and says, "I hate to say it, but you guys are kinda quiet", but after the first encore he says, "I knew you guys would liven up". He messes up the second verse in "Even Flow", forgets it completely and gets the next one right (with the crowd helping) and looks out and says, "Got that fucker right, didn't I?". The "Habit" line is along the lines of "speaking as a man who loves everyone regardless of race, creed, color or sexual preference". After "MFC", Eddie takes a swig of beer and a woman yells, "Hey, Ed! Gimme some of that beer", prompting him to respond: "What? All I heard was 'Hey, Ed. Gimme some of that either beer, pick or your dick'... and I got lots of beer, lots of picks and only one dick... and I ain't wasting it on a boring ass place like Knoxville". After the next song, Eddie singles her out and gives her his pick. Eddie talks about how there isn't much to do in Knoxville on a Saturday night. He says he watched Saturday Night Live and masturbated. Eddie sings some lyrics from Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" (Titanic theme) in "Daughter". During "Alive", Eddie notices a fan with a Cubs jersey and mouths "Cubbie fan?" The dude says "yeah" and Eddie mouths "Atta boy". During "Rearviewmirror", Stone is dazed-looking during the jam, and Eddie steps up and stares at his hands as he plays. Stone startles, noticing Eddie and they both die laughing and Eddie mouths "Rock on, son". "Hard To Imagine" is introduces as as song that probably "only 1 or 2 or 10 or 20" people in the audience has heard before. Mike has difficulty with his typically long solo during "Black", so he cuts it short, looking frustrated. Eddie introduces "Last Kiss" by saying he used to think "Black" was the saddest song he had ever heard until he heard "Last Kiss". Thompson-Boiling Arena is the home of the University of Tennessee basketball champions and Eddie picks up on this, noting that "women kick ass in this building", leading to "Leaving Here". All night Pearl Jam is in great spirits, with Eddie fucking around with the crowd up front... lots of picks tossed out and spit flying. Mike seemed to have trouble with his sound as he cuts his solos down quite a bit, but still plays in fine form. Eddie and Stone kept breaking guitar strings.
September 7, 1998 - GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater - Virginia Beach, VA, USA
attendance: 18 000
opening act: Mudhoney
setlist: Animal, Hail Hail, Given To Fly, Corduroy, I Got Id, Daughter, Brain Of J., Rats, Jeremy, Even Flow, Improv, MFC, Wishlist, Leatherman, Off He Goes, Rearviewmirror, Black, Do The Evolution
encore: Immortality, Better Man/(Save It For Later), No Way, Alive, Sonic Reducer, Porch
A near full moon tonight and an outdoor venue. Before "Given To Fly", Eddie tells the crowd to check it out and he notes, "It's nice to be here... beautiful moon.. nice and hot... a really good night for singing". There isn't a "Daughter" tag... Eddie sings "shades go down... the moon is round... shades go down". "Rats" is a BIG surprise, introduced as the first time played with Matt Cameron, and "if I screw up the words, fuck you... at least we're giving it a try". The improv leading to "MFC" is much like the improv leading to "Habit" at many of the Australian shows earlier this year. Later Eddie says, "Is there a difference between a dreamer and someone who wishes for something? I think there is. I still haven't figured out which I am", leading to "Wishlist". Eddie chokes on some of the "Leatherman" lyrics so he sings "la, la" for a whole verse and makes fun of himself. During "Rearviewmirror", the band is silouetted and different colors are cycled through on the backdrop, making a nice effect. Mike absolutely rules "Black" every night. The stage is very wide at Virginia Beach and he runs all over it. Eddie makes a crack about how they just found out there's a curfew but they'll play right up to it and then says that they also just learned that Stone's zipper was down during the first set but "no one got hurt". "Porch" is outstanding with a shirtless Mike playing the flying V, fast breakdown with the tribal drums and Eddie has the hand mirror out again. Other highlights: rocking "Alive" and "Sonic Reducer"; long "Save It For Later" tag in "Better Man". Band was great; crowd was drunk.
September 8, 1998 - Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, NJ, USA
attendance: 19 000 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Oceans, Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Daughter/(Jersey Girl)/(Androgynous Mind), Corduroy, MFC, Wishlist, Even Flow, Faithfull, State Of Love And Trust, Brain Of J., Nothingman, Leatherman, Better Man, Black, Do The Evolution
encore 1: Go, Immortality, Elderly Woman..., Rearviewmirror, Alive, Porch
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
"Daughter" includes a bit of "Jersey Girl", by Tom Waits. After "Daughter", Eric Johnson brings out a ping pong paddle, placing it on Eddie's amp and Jeff tosses a guitar pick and Eddie hits it into the crowd... in honor of Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) breaking the home run record (it happened while they were performing "Daughter"). "Wishlist" lyrics are modified to, "I wish I was as fortunate as New Jersey" and "I wish I was the verb to trust and never let me down". "State Of Love And Trust" is introduced as "a song about being faithful". Before "Better Man", Eddie says: "This is the last song of the trilogy of men". When the band returns for the encore, hundreds of "BREATH" signs are held up by the crowd and the band laughs their asses off! Eddie says, "That's pretty impressive, but it's not gonna do you a damn bit of good". Eddie introduces "Elderly Woman..." with: "This song has the word 'breath' in it, if it helps at all!". During "Porch", Eddie walks along the side of the stage and drops down into the crowd. When they return for the second encore, Eddie and Stone are talking and talking, as if they are deciding on a song, and Mike begins "Yellow Ledbetter", pretty much making the decision.
September 10, 1998 - Madison Square Garden - New York City, NY, USA
attendance: 20 000 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Long Road, Corduroy, Brain Of J., Last Exit, Given To Fly, Animal, Dissident, Jeremy, Daughter/(Mother), Even Flow, In Hiding, I Got Id, Better Man, Do The Evolution, All Those Yesterdays, Alive
encore 1: Wishlist, Rearviewmirror, Hail Hail, Black, Elderly Woman..., Fuckin' Up
encore 2: Soldier Of Love
Many, many equipment problems tonight. Mike has to change guitars THREE times during "Given To Fly"... but his solos are just outstanding. Stone screws up the solo in "All Those Yesterdays", leading to Eddie's comment: "Come to Madison Square Garden; fuck the song up... John Lennon would be proud". When Pearl Jam returns for the encore, fake security guards come out with tons of archive boxes and Eddie jokes about Ken Starr wanting show passes and that they traded passes for the records... a very, very long speech about how we have no business knowing, etc. Eddie introduces the second encore as a "song about how we feel" and Mike plays the very start of "Yellow Ledbetter" and stops with Eddie saying "I'm sorry, I fucked up", and they play "Soldier Of Love" instead. "Breath" sign campaign update: the signs were noticed as they extended through all levels of Madison Square Garden. Eddie sais something along the lines of it being the best organization he'd seen outside of New Jersey; and that while they'd had a day off yesterday, someone had slipped him some Viagra and he was busy doing "something else six times".
September 11, 1998 - Madison Square Garden - New York City, NY, USA
attendance: 20 000 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Even Flow, Given To Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Habit, Faithfull, Daughter/(Beginning To See The Light)/(W.M.A.), Wishlist, Nothingman, Immortality, Rearviewmirror, Brain Of J., Black, Do The Evolution
encore 1: Breath, State Of Love And Trust, Off He Goes, Leatherman, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Mankind/(Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love), Baba O'Riley
encore 1: Indifference, Alive
Returning for the encore and yet another sea of "Breath" signs on every single level of Madison Square Garden, Eddie tells the crowd they are never satisfied: "You fucking cocksuckers. You fucking bitch! You know, we come up here as a collective band and we give and we give and you just fucking want more... and you know what? You deserve it. This is like some kind of organized religion here; I've never seen anything like it. Do you see what's happening? The third night in a row, right? Well, fuck you. We're gonna play it!", leading to the first playing of "Breath" since Boston in 1994! With a brief announcement ("same record, different track"), they follow with "State Of Love And Trust". "Mankind" is introduced by Stone saying, "Well, since we're playing every song in the catalog...", and Mike plays some riffs from Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" at the end of the song. "Baba O'Riley" is intro'd as being a response to "corporate rock bands who make the mistake of trying to cover a real rock song". "Indifference" is played with an ecstatic Ben Harper (who has been including "Indifference" at some of his shows). During "Alive", Eddie makes four attempts to toss his microphone over the vocal monitor rig above his head, and finally gets it over, but instead of just standing there, he proceeds to CLIMB UP THE MIC CORD and hang there for the rest of the song. Possibly the best show the band has ever played in their life. Period.
September 13, 1998 - Meadows Music Theatre - Hartford, CT, USA
attendance: 25 000 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Corduroy, Animal, Hail Hail, Given To Fly, I Got Id, Go, Dissident, Tremor Christ, Daughter, Jeremy, Even Flow, Faithfull, MFC, Spin The Black Circle, Wishlist, Do The Evolution
encore: Brain Of J., Breath, Rearviewmirror, Better Man, Alive, Porch
The security staff at this venue are horrible and pepperspray is smelled during the show. Eddie messes up the "Even Flow" lyrics in the exact same place for the fourth straight performance, asking the crowd for the lyrics. "Faithfull" intro: "The next song is about belief. Don't get a tattoo of a guy's face unless he's dead so he can't fuck up. I was really proud of that Clinton tattoo... Everyone raise your middle finger and yell, 'Get on with it!'". At the start of the encore, many people in the crowd raise "thank you" signs (the thank you for Pearl Jam playing "Breat" the previous night) and Eddie says, "Ah, so you all were in New York?" and makes a joke about how all of the Connecticut people must be in the back of the venue. "Breath" is introduced as "one we haven't played in a while but it sounded pretty good last night" and they seem to really enjoy playing it. During, "Alive", the show takes a dramatic turn when Eddie notices asshole security fucking with someone in the crowd (who is holding up a flashlight) and Eddie grabs Eric Johnson's flashlight and puts it on the security staff, displeased. He tells everyone to go dance in the aisles, and everyone rushes forward. There is a crush toward the front that continues through "Porch".
September 15, 1998 - Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts - Boston, MA, USA
attendance: 19 900 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Sometimes, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Daughter, Immortality, Rearviewmirror, (Crazy Mary), Wishlist, Jeremy, Even Flow, Nothingman, Brain Of J., In Hiding, Alive
encore 1: Elderly Woman..., Not For You, Last Exit, Do The Evolution, Black, Fuckin' Up
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Eddie comes out looking really happy. "Wishlist" has the "radio song" last verse. During "In Hiding" instead of singing "cracks along the wall" he fucks up and sings "I had a bong" (lol!). During "Alive", Eddie takes Mike out on the front of the stage, and Mike falls to the ground, rolling around and playing. During "Not For You", Eddie drapes himself over the monitors and plays lying on his back. For the encore, he comes out and says, "What an unbelievably shitty Seattle day it's been!" (it had rained earlier in the day). "Actually, there's a couple of things in common between Boston and Seattle: you got history and old buildings, and we got Jimi Hendrix. So, fuck you... and we got Mike McCready, and also, via San Diego, we got Matt Cameron", and then gives Matt's side project, Wellwater Conspiracy, a big plug.
September 16, 1998 - Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts - Boston, MA, USA
attendance: 19 900 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
pre-set: Throw Your Arms Around Me (Eddie solo)
setlist: Release, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Given To Fly, Dissident, MFC, Corduroy, Wishlist, Even Flow, Faithfull, Spin The Black Circle, I Got Id, Improv, Habit, Off He Goes, Present Tense, Black, Do The Evolution, Porch
encore 1: Go, State Of Love And Trust, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Rearviewmirror, Alive
encore 2: Last Kiss
An amazing show with Eddie's emotions all over the place. Eddie takes the stage prior to Ben Harper's set, plays the riff to "Wishlist" saying, "I wish I was Ben Harper" before playing "Throw Your Arms Around Me". Intro music to Pearl Jam's set is "Aye Davanita". "Given To Fly" and "Dissident" are extremely emotional; it appears as though Eddie is crying, and as a result, he flubs a few words. Before "MFC", he says he had to compose himself before going on. Before "Even Flow", he comments, "It's take no prisoners time"; he gets the words right and laughs about it. The "Habit" saying is "Speaking as a someone who pahked the cah at the Gahden", (a reference to the Boston Garden) delivered with an exaggerated Boston accent. Before "Present Tense", Eddie says he was reading this thing in the hotel room, and he wanted to see if it said anything about the concert coming up, and he pretends like he's reading this pamphlet, and says: "As yet another summer of drunken musical orgies comes to a close at the Great Woods Amphitheatre... Pearl Jam and Ben Harper: sold out, SUCKER...". During "Porch", Eddie comes into the crowd, telling people not to pull on him. Right before "Go", he says, "It's coming to a close... if this was my summer, this is what I'd be thinking". Some idiot is throwing quarters at Eddie and he launches into a huge tirade (rightfully so) and then catches himself ("Ahh, that felt good"). "Last Kiss" is started and stopped, with Eddie noting, "They've got it now... same drums though". The show is closed with, "Have a nice millenium; until next time". This is one of the finest shows of 1998, with excellent versions of songs and the band in great spirits. As is often typical, the second show at the same venue is the best!
September 18, 1998 - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD, USA
attendance: 18 000 (sold out)
opening act: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
setlist: Hail Hail, Animal, Given To Fly, Daughter/(I Believe In Miracles)/(W.M.A.), Corduroy, Wishlist, Immortality, State Of Love And Trust, Even Flow, Footsteps, Mankind, Alive, Better Man, Leatherman, Jeremy, Do The Evolution
encore 1: Elderly Woman..., Brain Of J., Untitled, MFC, (Crazy Mary), Rearviewmirror, Black, Porch
encore 2: Last Kiss, Yellow Ledbetter
"Aye Davanita" is once again the intro music. Images are projected onto the backdrop again during various songs: "Animal" = stars; "Given To Fly" = white clouds on blue sky; "Footsteps" = water ripples. Mr. Pickles' face is now painted green and red. In "Wishlist", Eddie sings, "I wish I was the president and I could change my ways". He notices a sign in the front row and says, "You guys are expecting to have desert first without the having the main course; it'll ruin your appetite". In "Immortality" Eddie flubs a lyric, Mike and Matt's solos are excellent. Before "State Of Love And Trust", Eddie is reaching into the crowd; Mike and Jeff are playing off each other and Eddie is singing to Mike; at one point, Eddie checks his reflection in a hand mirror that's on his amp. "Even Flow", once again, Eddie flubs the lyrics in THE SAME SPOT (bring that man a cue card) and Stoney is dancing around in circles. Eddie reaches for his tea during Mike's solo and loses his balance, falling backwards, laughing and spilling tea everywhere. Stone loses his glasses before "Footsteps"; Mike does a bluesy solo. Before "Mankind", Stone says, "We're gonna play mine tonight, see if you know it". During "Alive" Eddie nearly falls right into Matt's drum kit. The "Leatherman" lyrics are substituted halfway through with "la la la" again. "Elderly Woman..." is introduced with, "This is for the residents of Chevy Chase, we can't figure out who was named after what". Mike plays behind his head during "Porch"; Eddie picks up the hand mirror and starts catching the lights and reflecting it back on the crowd; at the end, he flips it over, looks at his reflection, acts scared, and drops the mirror! "Last Kiss" is introduced with a banner from a fan. After "Last Kiss", Eddie introduces Matt and plugs Wellwater Conspiracy again; then he says, "We're playing a benefit tomorrow. Hovercraft is opening, my wife's in the band. I'm real excited I get to see her, we've been on the road so long; this is Jeff, this is Stone, and they've been together as long as my wife and I", and Jeff and Stone get really red and hug each other.
September 19, 1998 - DAR Constitution Hall - Washington, D.C., USA (Voters For Choice Benefit)
attendance: 3 700 (sold out)
opening act: Hovercraft
soundcheck: Act Of Love, Push Me Pull Me x 4, Last Kiss x 4, Soldier Of Love, MFC, Leaving Here
pre-set: I Am A Patriot (Eddie solo)
setlist: Long Road, Act Of Love, Hail Hail, Dissident, Given To Fly, Corduroy, Wishlist, Not For You, All Those Yesterdays, Daughter/(Rockin' In The Free World)/(W.M.A.), Whipping, Immortality, Push Me Pull Me, Faithfull, Present Tense, Rearviewmirror, Black, Do The Evolution
encore 1: I Got Id, Better Man, Alive, Soldier Of Love
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Eddie says, "Hi, it feels like we're in the White House... we haven't played a place with carpet in a while. I think this place is the last bastion of sanity in town. Tonight it will be about music, choice... you're gonna hear words and entertainment, not in any particular order. There will be a performance of Hovercraft this evening... (applause... someone shouts 'Eddie for President')... It's not gonna happen, unless you agree to release the tapes that say, 'Eddie was sitting in his hotel room smoking pot out of a bong" (applause) and he goes into "I Am A Patriot". Several speakers follow from Voters For Choice, including Gloria Steinem. She introduces the band, making mistakes on Stone and Mike's names. The band comes out and Eddie says, "You know why we're here; we'll talk later". During "Not For You", Eddie comments: "We want to dedicate this next set of lines to the CC" before the "all that's sacred line" (referring to the Christian Coalition, who are meeting in DC this week). Eddie's delivery during "All Those Yesterdays" is particularly notable and distinct. "Push Me Pull Me" is a little rough, and Eddie shrugs at the end, and then says, "This one we'll do better..." leading to "Faithfull". Somebody passes up a big sign, and he reads it: "Dear Pearl Jam: Word up, dogs... you guys fucking kick it! If you ever come back to DC, look us up, we're in the book... We hope you guys have a good time on the rest of your tour... Love, Bill, Hillary and Chelsea". (That was not what the sign really said). And then in a Bill Clinton voice, Eddie says, "He just needs to go on TV and say, 'Shoot, it's no big deal'... but I guess he already did that a couple of weeks ago". Someone shouts "I love you Eddie", and he replies, "Watch it, keep it consensual... this isn't about issues". Then someone yells, "I love Pearl Jam" and Eddie says, "Well, so do I... this just is bipartisan politics in motion, that's what's ruining the country, ruining the office of the President... people are playing king of the hill while there's people with lives, families, debts and injury who really need help", before starting "Present Tense". Mike's solo during "Black" is right on, and Eddie applauds him, and notes him when the song is over. "The last time we played here was with L7 and Neil Young... he gave me a song writing lesson at a half-price rate... This is what I came up with... on my final, he gave me a B+ I think" leading to "I Got Id". Mike sings with Eddie during "Better Man". Eddie has a bunch of Vote For Choice condoms inside his tambourine and starts handing them out toward the end of "Alive". Eddie thanks the Vote For Choice people, "They're not up there to lead any one astray; don't let the funny business down the street think that voting isn't worth it. Vote for what you believe". "Soldier Of Love" is dedicated to "people on the other side of the issue". Gloria comes out with roses before "Yellow Ledbetter", and says, "There's history here tonight; this is the first time Hovercraft has played Voters For Choice; Pearl Jam's third; Sadie 7 is really Beth Liebling, Eddie Vedder is Eddie Vedder; these are two unique artists, married to each other, here tonight, both for this cause, and dedicating their time. I want to thank Stone and Mike for not getting pissed at me for messing up their names. I don't know if I can get Beth out here... (the audience chants "Beth, Beth")... this is the crew's bread and butter, I want to thank them for donating their time tonight". Then Beth comes out, takes a rose, she and Eddie do a little dance; Beth leaves, and Gloria says, "Democracy comes to those who vote", and the band goes into "Yellow Ledbetter".
September 22, 1998 - Coral Sky Amphitheatre - West Palm Beach, FL, USA
attendance: 19 000+ (sold out)
opening act: Rancid, The Surfers (side stage)
setlist: (Interstellar Overdrive), Corduroy, Brain Of J., Hail Hail, Animal, Red Mosquito, Given To Fly, Even Flow, MFC, Improv, Habit, Wishlist, Daughter, Jeremy, In Hiding, Lukin, Rearviewmirror, Immortality, Do The Evolution, Porch
encore 1: Last Exit, Leatherman, Better Man, (Angie), State Of Love And Trust, Alive
encore 2: Baba O'Riley
The Surfers, a band consisting of pro surfers Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Peter King, opened up the two sold-out end of the tour shows on the side stage. Stone is spotted during Rancid's set from side stage; he appears to know all the lyrics. The lead-in music is "Aye Davanita" again. It is a hot, humid night and Eddie jokes about how the humidity is fucking up his hair (he has a serious 'fro thing going on). The improv leading to "Habit", includes the lyrics "dropped three times". Instead of a "speaking as..." line, Eddie plays a slow, distinctive guitar riff. Before "In Hiding", he comments how the next song has a chorus he'll need help with from the crowd and how he has trouble remembering... "it must be that pot I smoked last night". During the "Rearviewmirror" solo, Eddie strikes a pose with one arm to the right while he is looking left, and he's totally still, not moving, but his sweat is pouring down. More effects on the backdrop: clouds on "Given To Fly"; water on "Immortality"; lightning on "Better Man". During the "Porch" jam, Eddie starts singing "last dance... last chance". The "Angie" snippet after "Better Man" is a surprise, seeming as if the intent is to play the entire song but they abandon it after Mike and Eddie can't quite get it together after the first few notes. Eddie tosses the microphone above the scaffolding during "Alive" (he doesn't climb the cord), and it isn't retrieved but remains looped into the final encore. Before "Baba O'Riley", Eddie thanks Rancid and challenges them to play a The Who song. Rather than tossing the tambourine into the crowd during "Baba O'Riley", he throws it frisbee-style at the backdrop, and he joins in on guitar for a rousing ending. A rocking show with the band having fun, despite the heat. On the setlist but not played: "Black", "Go" and "Nothingman".
September 23, 1998 - Coral Sky Amphitheatre - West Palm Beach, FL, USA
attendance: 19 000+ (sold out)
opening act: Rancid, The Surfers (side stage)
setlist: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Spin The Black Circle, Given To Fly, Corduroy, Rearviewmirror, Wishlist, Faithfull, Even Flow, Daughter/(Time Bomb)/(W.M.A.), Improv, Whipping, Present Tense, Not For You, Brain Of J., Black, Alive
encore 1: Breath, Elderly Woman..., I Got Id, Do The Evolution, Rats, Smile, Leaving Here
encore 2: Yellow Ledbetter
Mike is apparently cross-dressing again, wearing a feathery black stole around his neck briefly at the start and end of the show. He also sports a tight, black shirt with a silver bead design (spelling out "Rolling Stones") in the front with a low circular neckline. Eddie welcomes everyone to the last night of the tour and says, "... besides the hurricane's gonna kill us all so let's go out with a bang". "Wishlist" lyrics are modified to: "I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish... sometimes it works out". The "Daughter" tags are Rancid's "Time Bomb", followed by "W.M.A.", with the lyrics altered to "... big hand slapped a white male Floridian". After "Daughter", Lars Fredriksen from Rancid comes onstage, hands Eddie his strat, towels off his face, puts a cigarette in his mouth and lights it, shines his shoes, hugs him and tosses the towel to the crowd. The improv after "Daughter" is named by Eddie as "Life". During the encore break, the crew pulls out a ping pong table and sets it up while the "Star Wars" theme plays over the loudspeaker. Eric Johnson gets on the mic and announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have the ping pong challenge, and the sponsor is the Pearl Jam road crew. There will be two teams, the red team is Jeff Ament and Eddie Vedder; the black team is Stone Gossard and Matt Cameron; refereed by star Mike McCready". The band begins playing ping pong (with the "Star Wars" theme continuing), a couple of points go by, and Eric says, "This ball's going a little bit flat. Let's get another ball here", and someone up above drops a whole bunch of ping pong balls, dozens, on the table. The band is totally surprised and they start hitting the balls into the crowd for a minute or two. Eddie ends it saying, "What the fuck was that? Snowing in Florida?". Then he makes mention of people who have been to a lot of the shows and picks out a few in the crowd, "18 or 20 shows..." and thanks them. Then Eddie changes the songs, and he goes into "Breath". "Oh, I just changed songs on them". Toward the end of "Breath", Eddie is tossing ping pong balls at Mike who is batting them into the crowd with his guitar. After "Smile", Eddie says, "This is the only tour we're gonna stop where we wished we could play some more...". At the end of "Leaving Here", Mike smashes his guitar. "Yellow Ledbetter" wrap up the show and tour.
October 10, 1998 - Crocodile Cafe - Seattle, WA, USA
attendance: 341 (sold out)
supporting: Cheap Trick
soundcheck: Naked Eye, Angie, Corduroy, Not For You, Spin The Black Circle, Leaving Here, Leatherman, I Got Id, MFC
setlist: MFC, Habit, Corduroy, Immortality, Spin The Black Circle, All Those Yesterdays, Leatherman, Leaving Here, Do The Evolution, Soldier Of Love
The rumor that had all Seattle a-buzz came to fruition tonight, the last night of Cheap Trick's three night stand. A very rested and relaxed looking Pearl Jam (featuring a newly raven-haired Mike McCready, sporting a Van Halen shirt) took the tiny Croc stage after a really warm introduction by Rick Nielsen. The set is notable for the fact that no radio hits were played, and almost all songs featured Eddie on guitar. This has to be the most adventurous setlist in years. Jeff plays one of Tom Petersson's 12-string basses on "Corduroy". "Immortality" is nothing short of tremendous thanks to none other than one Matt Cameron, who OWNS the song, to the point that the Cheap Trick fans in the audience all noted it after the set as a standout (and were asking what record it was on!). Eddie's eyes are closed and he doesn't start to make eye contact until "Spin The Black Circle", where he sheds the guitar and breaks out into the trademark Eddie shuffle-dance (as best he could in that tiny space... Pearl Jam set up IN FRONT of Cheap Trick's equipment). Mike runs up on top of Rick Nielsen's guitar platform during the song as well, to much amusement. After the song ends, Eddie remarks to the crowd that the previous song was about vinyl... "Remember vinyl? Imagine how different it would be if all Cheap Trick's records had been (and he outlines a CD-sized square with his hands)... 'Got my Kiss CD's out' doesn't have quite the same ring..." (quoting from Cheap Trick's "Surrender"). Matt sings backup (along with Stone and Jeff) on a super version of "All Those Yesterdays". "Leaving Here" is notable in that the solo order was Stone, Jeff, Eddie and Mike. Mike further adds to it by running and grabbing a handful of Rick Nielsen’s guitar picks and tossing them at the audience (just like Rick does!). "Soldier Of Love" is not on the setlist, but is added at the last minute after a hurried conference. Tight, razor-sharp and perfect, while staying within the 40-minute time slot allotted to the opening bands.
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