Pearl Jam

Originally posted by KieranU2:"Certainly more energetic last night with all the businessmen and accountants", Eddie said after 'Animal'. It was no surprise that the crowd went mental during the opening 3 songs: 'Go', 'Animal' and 'Hail Hail'.

Before all that, travelling down to Manchester for me in a car for 5 hours isn't advised. I hate travelling in cars for long distances, but I wanted to see Pearl Jam so it was worth it. Also, travelling makes me extremely tired so when I arrived to Manchester, I just wanted to go back to bed in Edinburgh.

We arrived at Manchester Arena at about 6 and everything was surprisingly quiet and relaxed. You walked into the arena and everyone in the general admission was sitting down. That was mainly because the officials told them to, much to my confusion. It was over 2 hours of waiting for Pearl Jam – I just wanted them to come on stage now and not bother about X.

I suppose I should briefly review X. I listened to their first two 'groundbreaking' albums and wasn't too thrilled with them. Their sound is relatively original, but it was never going to be a hit with everybody. First off, they are about 65 years old – why are they even bothering? Secondly, they look as if they are in a midlife crisis with the leather jackets and all. Thirdly, what the hell was that guitarist doing? He has no emotion to himself at all. Not to mention that the bassist resembled Adolf Hitler slightly and that the lead woman singer was just horrific. They were sort of average to me – nothing special, but certainly not the worst support act I've came across.

I was hoping that after X went off, it would be a quick set-up and Pearl Jam would be on stage to perform a 30-song set. That wasn't the case. It took approximately 45 minutes between X and Pearl Jam, which felt like hours to me.

As you all know, I was hoping for 'Sometimes' to open the show so I could flood the arena with my tears. That never happened. As soon I saw Eddie without a guitar, all hope was gone. I tried to narrow it down quickly, but 'Go' immediately started as soon as the lights came up. I am not over-exaggerating, but that was one of the most insane crowds I've ever came across. The crowd continued into 'Animal' and they were constantly surging forward from behind and even a couple of rows in front of me. To put it into perspective, I was 8 or 9 rows back and that was where all the action was happening. So everytime I was pushed into the back of someone when the crowd was surging, I couldn't breathe. I could barely jump too because the crowd were becoming really squashed together at the end of 'Animal' and then 'Hail Hail' where the crowd continued to flip out.

When 'I Am Mine' came on, the crowd calmed down. Also, I can now appreciate that song more as I didn't really before. It was obviously the same with 'Wishlist', but half way through that, I started feeling faint. That was probably because it was: a) too hot in the venue; b) me getting squashed; c) not being able to breathe properly when getting squashed; d) me being tired. I was fully hydrated and I had enough to eat so it wasn't that I didn't consume enough. I asked people around me (including my friend) to lift me up and take me out the crowd. It was bloody scary feeling like that. So technically, I crowd-surfed during the start of 'Even Flow'. I tried to stay in the security arena as long as I could as I *slowly* drank the cup of water, but as it was approaching the end of Mike's solo, I had to get a seat and let the blood drain to my head somehow – meaning I had to go to first aid. The next two songs – 'Lukin' and 'Not For You' – disappointed me as I wasn't in the crowd for them. Although, I could hear them very well.

I went back in towards the end of 'Down' and stood at the back as I gradually made my way to the front. I was quite happy with the end of the main set – 'Daughter', 'Deep', 'Present Tense', 'Once', 'Save You' and 'Better Man'. As soon as 'Once' on, I thought "if Olof doesn't get this, he will be very jealous". I saw earlier on in the topic that you said "I bet it was very energetic". To answer that, it wasn't really that energetic, but it was a great performance of the song.

The encore was alright I suppose, although I'm not a fan of the self-titled Pearl Jam album, meaning I'm not a fan of 'Inside Job'. I was pleasantly happy to hear 'Off He Goes' played too.

Eddie said before the debut of 'Hitchhiker': "There's only a few songs we've never played in our time. Since you Manchester, have, uh, uh... the birth of the first railway station; the city were scientist's first split an atom; the city where the first computer was developed. So we have, of slightly less importance, something called 'Hitchhiker'". I didn't even hear the name of the song but as soon as they played it, I knew I had heard it before on Lost Dogs, although I still didn't know the name. Two people next to me were shouting "BRAIN OF J.", which I would have agreed with more, but the pair of them did seem fairly happy with 'Hitchhiker' and did dance and sing along to it. To finish the first encore, they played 'Rearviewmirror' to which was responded well by the crowd.

I was extremely pleased with the second encore. 'Life Wasted' was received well by the crowd and myself as it is one of few good songs on the self-titled album. Of course, 'Alive' lightened things up to a maximum peak as the entire arena sang along every single word in the song. The atmosphere of that song unites the crowd and the band together – absoutely amazing. 'Sonic Reducer' was a nice surprise as well. To finish the show, it was 'Yellow Ledbetter' which was a great conclusion to the show.

Overall, Pearl Jam were absoutely outstanding. I couldn't find faults in their performance. The thing I would, only slightly, criticise the band for is choosing a longer setlist of about 29 or 30 songs. I was pretty disappointed in myself for not being in the front for the rest of the show but it does go to show that – wherever in the arena you are – you will still enjoy Pearl Jam. I would definitely see them again.