190 -- Pearl Jam -- Sunday, May 8, 2016 -- Madison Square Garden -- NYC

I did not expect this concert.  I mainly decided to listen to Pearl Jam and go to the show out of respect for the musical cred of Luke Durney and certain members of Rock Club.  Much as I enjoyed certain tracks and the overall Pearl Jam vibe, I did not expect much as I entered Madison Square Garden.  

What I got was incredible.  Not since the first Rise Against at Roseland Ballroom have I seen an audience as ferociously into a band’s songs.  My section was a football field away from the stage, yet they tore through every song Eddie Vedder offered.

Check out the live blog below to see what song got it all started:
     
--- “Even Flow.”  HA at the giant crowd/band “yeah!” party and the extended riff halfway through.  Love how pumped everyone is by the “hey hey hey!”s toward the end.

--- “I Got ID.”  Solid cooldown.

--- “In Hiding.”  Heh, clearly a newer song the crowd doesn't know.  HA, I take it back by the lights-on ‘in HIDING’ chorus.

--- Vedder shares how his first New York show was in 91 at the Marquis Club, and how the song goes out to some fallen New Yorker.  Yay, personalization.  

--- “Wishlist,” inspired by Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, gets me out of my seat.  Solid message song.  “Wonder what Zinn would think of us today.”  He follows that with a colorful description of Donald Trump / Ted Cruz and admits that he “feels the Bern.” 

--- “Jeremy”!!!  How can a song about a killer be this engaging?!  He runs up and down the stage while the crowd chants.  It’s…….uncomfortable.  Undeniably great though.

--- “Do The Evolution.”  I absolutely will, bayba!

--- “Why Go (Home)”: more high energy.

--- Some solid song I don’t know.  God, I wish I knew them better.  If I knew all the riffs, if this were Foo Fighters or Wilco, it'd be unreal.  “Just breathe”?  I barely can.  (Turns out it's "Rearviewmirror."  Somewhere, Luke shakes his head that I did not immediately recognize it...)

--- I came in thinking I could multitask for a few minutes during the show.  Nope.  Demands your attention.

--- Heh, after mini intermission, Vedder starts croaking to the audience: “Looks like have Mookie Wilson up here, a guitarist from Slater Kinney, and this girl’s 26th birthday.”  He’s riffing on people like it’s a 9:30 Club show.  That’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone do that in an arena show.  Why don’t more singers do that!!! 

--- “The End”: outstanding.  Well written, well sung, and put in a perfect slot.  “I'm here, but by much longer”…*abrupt end.*  Nice.

--- Vedder spends three solid minutes talking about autoimmune disorders.  His wife fights for it as well.  It’s all an intro to “Future Days,” a romantic rarity about a couple fighting disease.  Pearl Jam has cred for dayyyys.

--- “Off He Goes” is a clever tonal transition back to rock.  

--- Same with “Footsteps.”  The guy next to me's enthusiasm and knowledge of each word is awesome.  Love the smooth harmonica halfway through!



--- “Chloe Dancer” / “Crown on Thorns” [a Mother Love Bone cover].  This riff and show are such a metaphor for the weekend: so unexpected, so chill.

--- "Nothingman" weaves in and out well!

--- Heh, everyone knows “Better Man.”  Great Journey guitar solo!  Wheeeeeeee.

--- “Porch”!!!  I know no lyrics, at all, yet I'm shaking!!  This is the song that gave the concert’s overall grade a plus.  IIIII can flyyyyyyyyy!

--- Colin Curley O’Neill!!!!  Colin Curley O’Neill is this huge Irish guy next to me who’s been singing and jumping most of the show.  We high five after “Porch,” he asks me my name, and flips out when we realize we have the same first name.  We exchanging driver’s licenses to prove it haha.  We then realize his middle name is my mom’s last name, and his last name is one of my best friend’s last name.  After discovering we also both attended a Springsteen concert in New York City last month, we flip out further and realize that if you wait long enough, life can be pretty darn good.

--- “Elderly Woman.”  Look at everyone around me: an entire undiscovered community.  This is not fadddding away any time soon.

--- “Lightning Bolt”: meh new song.

--- “Black.”  Awww at the audience ‘whyyyy’s.  Builds well -- really well!  Awww again at the crowd's ‘do do do’s.  Hahahah, Vedder joins in with the crowd.

--- “Alive” / “Rockin’ in the Free World”!!!  

--- “Indifference.”  Unusual finale.  A mid-tempo close with the lights on feels shaky, but the fans like it.  Oh well – after a show like that, they earned it!

Grade: A+