Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
Do they really write the setlists a few mins before going onstage?
The main set could be written four hours, forty minutes or even four minutes before they arrive on stage. Eddie Vedder usually has a hunch about how the audience are going to behave so he might pop four slow songs to start and then proceed with 'Go', 'Animal' then 'Do the Evolution'. Then they'll determine how the audience have reacted by playing certain songs in the encore. As Nick said, they sometimes change the set midway through the show and Vedder will scribble out a song and change it with another, or simply add a song in.