Everything has Changed...Absolutely Nothing's Changed

I have been to approxinmately 12 Pearl Jam shows in my lifetime, and I am happy to report that last night's show clearly ranks in the Top 3. Awesome setlist from top to bottom, with a good mix of new songs and older material. The band sounded good, the crowd energy was there, and Eddie seemed to be having fun. All of that is important to a good Pearl Jam show.

Setlist

Set: Severed Hand, Corduroy, World Wide Suicide, Do the Evolution, Marker in the Sand, Given to Fly, Dissident, Even Flow, Army Reserve, Immortality, Green Disease, Not for You/Modern Girl, Alone, Jeremy, Why Go, Life Wasted, Rearviewmirror

First Encore: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour, Come Back, Footsteps, Once, Alive

Second Encore: Last Exit, Comatose, Leatherman, Glorified G, Leash, Baba O'Riley, Indifference

So you probably noticed that I got my Leash, as well as Alone. I was pretty psyched when Stone and Jeff hit those first chords. Half way into Alone, Stone's guitar came unplugged, so they had to re-start. It was funny in the end, but I was worried that they were going to just move to the next song. Alas, never give up!

For the hard core fans out there, you will also notice a "Mama San Trilogy" - Footsteps, Once, and Alive. For the non-fans, these three songs were the first three songs that Eddie wrote with Pearl Jam, and they represent one long story. It is rare that these songs all appear together in one show, especially in one set (technically, they go in a different order). I have been listening to Pearl Jam since "Ten" came out in 1992, and while they have changed as musicians, and as people, and many new songs have been written and played, it all still feels the same at the show. And it's a good "same" - with a few chords, or certain lyrics, I am 14 again, or driving around with my high school friends, or chillin' in the college dorm. And I love that they can do that for me. Since 1992, everything has changed, but absolutely nothing's changed!

So all in all, the show was worth me dragging ass at work all day. I just wish there were more opportunities to see them, whether they played more shows, or I had a time machine to go back to college and just take weeks at a time to follow them around the east coast.

Looking forward to the next one...