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UPDATED May 4, 2006

04/15/06 - "Saturday Night Live", NBC Studios, New York, NY
rehearsal: World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted
set: World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand
TFT Notes: This is the band's third appearance on Saturday Night Live, the others being 1992 and 1994. Both songs are for the upcoming album Pearl Jam, with "Severed Hand" making its premiere ("World Wide Suicide" was released as a studio single and a live download from an AOL session).
Read our article detailing this performance

UPDATED May 8, 2006

04/20/06 - Astoria, London, UK
soundcheck: World Wide Suicide, Little Sister, Present Tense, Sad, Marker in the Sand, Man of the Hour, Elderly Woman..., Why Go
set: World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Unemployable, Gone, Even Flow, Sad, I Am Mine, Insignificance, Army Reserve, Present Tense, Better Man, Marker in the Sand, Do The Evolution, Why Go
first encore: Man of the Hour, Given To Fly, Elderly Woman..., Porch
second encore: Comatose, Leavin' Here, Yellow Ledbetter
third encore: Alive
TFT Notes: This concert at a small venue in London includes the live (non-TV) concert premieres of many songs, including "World Wide Suicide", "Life Wasted", "Severed Hand", "Unemployable", "Gone" (full band), "Army Reserve", and "Marker in the Sand". "Comatose" was previously played as "Crapshoot" at 03/18/05 and 04/29/05. Prior to "Severed Hand", the crowd is chanting "Ed-die! Ed-die!", which then morphs to "Jeff! Jeff!", which then morphs to "Mike! Mike!". Following "Unemployable", Ed greets the crowd with "I think a toast is in order, it's been a long time - a long time comin - so thanks for comin. (It's been) about six years or so, so thanks for waitin. I don't know if you've heard these songs before but that's ok because we haven't played these before." Ed talks about being in normally overcast London and how "you find this little spot of light and realize it's a much better day than you thought, and that's how being in London feels to us." Continuing the theme, Ed introduces "Gone", saying "I suppose this song is about a man and a woman who is doing the same thing, just on a path gettin out of town and finding some sunshine, some light at the end of the road." An Astoria tech comes over to adjus Ed's mic, "This guy's called Pete, where are you from Pete? (into the mic, he replies "Cornwall!") That's Pete from Cornwall everybody (cheers) ... We don't go anywhere without Pete from Cornwall." Transitioning from "Army Reserve" to "Present Tense", Ed says "that was called 'Army Reserve', this is called 'Private Reserve'. Following "Better Man", Ed praises the crowd, "Thanks for singing. Whoever said you were just a bunch of drunk hooligans who couldn't hold a tune, it wasn't me." "Marker in the Sand" premieres and Ed talks about its religious tones: "this next song's called 'Marker' and at the end of it we're callin out to God to come down and give us some help - not just give us help, just an opinion - because a lot of people are doing things in his name. And it's ... ah, religion - let's not talk about religion! As I call out to God, usually I look up that way so it's almost as if I'm looking for God in JJ's bar (crowd laughs). I imagine that's what those peope are doin too." Once a staple in the early '90s, "Why Go" is resurrected and has come together musically much better than in past attempts, with Matt playing the trademark drumbeat intro true to the original, and the crowd recognizes it instantly. Coming back from an encore break, Ed asks "Y'all still good? Comfortable? But on the edge? This song's about a father-figure kinda guy who we like to keep on the edge, kinda like Pete Townshend", leading to "Man of the Hour". A "Leash" chant ensues, with Ed joking that "I thought it was just the dirty simple Americans who wanted to hear that song ... you're much better than that." A male fan lifts up his kilt to the band revealing well ...erm ... nothing , and a red-faced Ed remarks "We all just got our first glimpses underneath a kilt. I was gonna write a couple of postcards tomorrow and I didn't know what I was gonna write about, but now I know." "We were gonna hit a few spots in Europe on this brief little trip and it evolved into just this thing in London and I'm very thankful for it , it's been great". "Comatose" is introduced as a "pain in the ass to sing and you can't really sing much after it". The song starts, but Mike hits the wrong chords to which he steps up to the mic and says "My bad, and I basically kinda wrote the song." Ed replies "It's the first one we wrote but haven't practiced it since about then". "Yellow Ledbetter" and "Alive" are played with the house lights up. "Alive" is played as a third encore, and was listed in brackets on the setlist, as if it was an option but not definite.

UPDATED January 7, 2008

04/XX/06 - BBC Maida Vale Studios, Maida Vale, London, UK
Set: Severed Hand, Why Go, World Wide Suicide, Garden
TFT Notes: Pearl Jam recorded these songs live in the BBC Maida Vale Studios some time in April. The broadcast - including an interview with Eddie Vedder and Matt Cameron conducted by Zane Lowe - was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on May 3, 2006.

UPDATED January 7, 2008

04/XX/06 - Later ... with Jools Holland, London, UK
Set: World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Alive
TFT Notes: Pearl Jam performed on this UK TV show to promote Pearl Jam. The broadcast - including an interview with Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready - was broadcast on May 5, 2006.

ADDED May 8, 2006

05/04/06 - "The Late Show with David Letterman", Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY
TV Broadcast: Life Wasted
set: World Wide Suicide, Comatose, Severed Hand, Marker in the Sound, Gone, Unemployable, Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Why Go, Porch
TFT Notes: This is the band's seventh appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, the others being 09/20/96, 05/01/98, 04/12/00, 11/14/02, 11/15/02 and 09/30/04. Pearl Jam performs Pearl Jam's second single "Life Wasted". Following the taping of the show (The Letterman show is filmed in the late afternoon, then broadcast at 11:30PM EST), Pearl Jam performs a one-hour set for the "Live on Letterman" series of performances, which was also webcast on cbs.com. All tickets for this show were free, and offered to Ten Club members a week before the show. Ed addresses the unique event, opening with "If it feels special to you, it certainly feels special to us." At one point, fans in the venue hold up signs for "LEASH", which prompts Ed to pull out his own sign saying that they won't be playing it.

UPDATED May 25, 2006

05/05/06 - Irving Plaza, New York, NY
Attendance: 1000
Soundcheck: Hail Hail, World Wide Suicide, Come Back, Man of the Hour, Garden, Why Go, Sad, Unemployable
set: World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Marker in the Sand, Come Back, Garden, Even Flow, Insignificance, Given To Fly, Army Reserve, Gone, Why Go, Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Comatose
first encore: Man of the Hour, Elderly Woman..., State of Love and Trust, Porch
second encore: Alive, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: Tickets this show were given out free in singles to the first 450 people who bought Pearl Jam from the Tower Records in the Village, and 150 pairs were sold to the highest seniority Ten Club members from Manhattan proper. The balcony was VIP-only, with fans spotting Susan Sarandon, Scott Ian (Anthrax), David Fricke (Rolling Stone), Flea and The Strokes (Julian and Fabrizio), Drew Barrymore, Steward Copeland, Marky Ramone, Kevin Federline(?) and one of the Olsen twins(!!). "World Wide Suicide" opened strong, and the crowd was singing along at the top of their lungs. This trend continued throughout the evening, with the audience duetting surprisingly loudly with Ed on most of the only-three-days-released new songs. "Comatose" got an especially uproarious reception. Ed, whose white Plasmatics T-shirt was soaked to the skin within two songs and who repeatedly shook the sweat out of his hair like a dog-just-out-of-the-bathtub, eventually noted how great it was to see that people were responding to the new songs, which were written without really knowing if any one shared their points of view. At another point in the night, after Ed spoke about the fans making it to the show, the whole crowd started chanting "Thank You" in unision. Early on, Stone was really reacting to the energy - duckwalking and snapping his neck around and smiling. Actually, it was clear that the band as a whole were really enjoying playing the new stuff, all night there were those classic Jeff-Stone face-to-face/bass-to-guitar jam conferences in the back of the teensy stage by Cameron's drum riser. Jeff deserves special commendation for "Army Reserve", its prominent bassline is even more funky and muscular live and it's apparently a first for him to play slap bass. Spontaneously, a chant of "Jeff Jeff Jeff" erupted at another point in the evening. Mike McCready, as usual, was having a great time rocking out and interacting with the crowd in front of him (fans pointed, Mike pointed back, handfulls of picks flew, a guitar or two was wrangled expertly behind Mike's head). The setlist was also studded with underplayed songs from the PJ catalog, including a slow-burn version of "Garden" (big singalong), a raucous "State of Love and Trust" (big singalong), which was chosen unanimously over "Better Man" after Ed gave the crowd the choice, and an excellent "Why Go" (you guessed it, big singalong) with it's thrice-repeated chorus lyric wholly intact (unlike the 2003 versions). Just as notable at this show, no covers at all. Ed was kinetic as well, leaping, falling toward his mic stand to pull his way back up to standing position, going into a lean with his mic stand propped against Mike, and singing his head off, basically. During at least two moments, his body shook as he stood in place, teeth-gritted, intensely hitting his notes. After a night of lots of interaction with the crowd, he reached for the hand of the male fan in front of him and had the fan help him step over the gap, on to the barricade, to deliver the end of "Porch" being held upright on the narrow rail by the crowd down front. Needless to say, "Yellow Ledbetter", signalling the end of the show, came all too soon. McCready softened the blow by handing out a stack of signed copies of the album as he made his way off the stage.
Setlist scan

ADDED May 17, 2006

05/09/06 - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, CAN
Soundcheck: Unemployable, Sad, Love Boat Captain, Severed Hand
set: Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Marker in the Sand, Given To Fly, Better Man, Even Flow, Unemployable, Garden, Sad, Corduroy, Present Tense, Daughter/(To Come) -> Grievance -> Not For You/(Check on it), Inside Job, Why Go
first encore: Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Come Back, Alive
second encore: Porch, Rockin in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: This is the first night of the first leg of the tour in support of Pearl Jam. The band hits the stage at 8:50PM local time, entering the stage with "Master/Slave" playing as the intro music over the P.A. The "Daughter" tag is parts of "To Come", a monologue by Lenny Bruce. In the middle of "Not For You" just before the "All that's sacred..." line, Ed sings "Check up on it" twice from Beyonce's "Check On It"(!). "Inside Job" premieres at this show, with Mike playing a double neck guitar. My Morning Jacket joined in smashing tambourines during "Rockin' in the Free World" and two of the band members did backing vocals with Jeff and Stone. At the end of the show, all of the band members were throwing guitar/bass picks and Matt his drumsticks as usual. Stone, though, started throwing out a lot of merchandise (hats, t-shirts, etc.) into the crowd. He didnt scrunch them up, so they didn't travel that far into the crowd. One time he tried to toss it over his head backwards and it ended up only a couple of feet behind him, amusing those up front.
Poster

ADDED May 11, 2006

05/10/06 - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, CAN
soundcheck:It Ain't Like That (Alice In Chains, partial), In Hiding, You Are, Low Light, World Wide Suicide, Wasted Reprise
set: Release, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Hail, Hail, Unemployable, Dissident, Even Flow, Corduroy, I Am Mine, Low Light, (Improv)/Whipping, You Are, I Got Shit/(Cinnamon Girl), Better Man/(Save It For Later), Jeremy, Marker in the Sand, Black, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Wasted Reprise -> Man of The Hour, Elderly Woman..., State of Love and Trust, Do The Evolution, Alive
second encore: (Improv)/Go, Crazy Mary, Fuckin' Up, Indifference, Yellow Ledbetter/(Beast Of Burden)
TFT Notes: The band hits the stage at 8:50PM local time, entering the stage with "Master/Slave" playing as the intro music over the P.A. "Severed Hand" now features stage effects including smoke and lasers. The first set clocks in at 100 minutes! "Wasted Reprise" premieres at this show, seguing into "Man of the Hour". During "I Got Shit", a drumstick flew out of Matt's hand, hit Ed's leg and landed in front of Stone. He looked down and grabbed it, holding it up excitedly as though he were in the audience and caught it. After "I Got Shit", Ed told the crowd he had a secret to tell, that this won't be on the bootlegs and first sang the chorus of "I Got Shit" by himself, then sang "I wanna be with a Cinnamon Girl, I want to live the rest of my life with a Cinnamon Girl", hinting the similarity in the two choruses. During "State of Love and Trust" where Ed often goes over and head-butts or leans again Mike, Ed looked at Mike and leaned down like he was going to go over, but didn't. Ed mentioned that Sean Kinney's birthday was coming up and told the crowd he was going to count to three, and then the crowd would say, "Happy birthday Sean!". He said they'd send Sean a video of it so he could watch it on the tour bus (Sean Kinney's birthday is May 27, and Alice In Chains will be on tour in Europe) . It was then that he asked Kevin to make sure he was filming. Ed spoke directly into the camera as if he were talking to Sean, saying something like, "Hey Sean, we're just here hanging out in Toronto, and we just wanted to say something to you...". He then counted to three, and the crowd yelled "Happy birthday Sean!". The wine bottle was passed back quite a ways during "Crazy Mary". At one point in the encore, Matt whipped his sticks into the crowd behind the stage (maybe a litte harder than he intended), and then briefly pretended he was a fan who got hit in the eyes and had a stick stuck in each. Towards the end of "Fuckin' Up", Ed tried to lay down on Stone's monitors and fell off. He sat up and remained there, snapping his fingers along, and drank a Heineken after the wine bottle was empty. Ed laughs so much during "Yellow Ledbetter" that it interrupts his singing. He laughed because there was a banner to his left that caught his eye, it said : "Impeach Bush. Pearl Jam For President".
Poster

Updated June 8, 2006

05/12/06 - Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY, USA
soundcheck: World Wide Suicide, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Satan's Bed, Red Mosquito, In My Tree
set: Wasted Reprise -> Life Wasted, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Do The Evolution, Elderly Woman..., Given To Fly, Red Mosquito, Even Flow, Army Reserve, Daughter/(Another Brick in the Wall, pt II), Off He Goes, Gone, Grievance, Jeremy, Marker in the Sand, Comatose, Why Go
first encore: You Got To Hide Your Love Away, Satan's Bed, Wishlist, Rats, Porch
second encore: Last Kiss, Come Back, Sad, Crazy Mary, Alive
TFT Notes: 9:00PM start time. "World Wide Suicide" features curtain of sparkly light bulbs hanging from stage rafters that crackle in time with the chorus. Mike split-jumps several times during the final chorus. "Severed Hand" opens to slowly moving groups of green laser beams shooting over the audience; the accelerated tempo builds, and Ed does a split-jump after "when I get home". After "Do The Evolution", Ed comments how "it's great to be back in the home of the River Rat" (Albany's American Hockey League team is the River Rats). "Big and small, clean and dirty." Mike sang along off mic during the intro of "Elderly Woman...". Ed turns around and sings second verse of "Given To Fly" to seats behind the stage, and Jeff pogos vigorously during the second chorus. Band seems to be immersed and caught up in the guitar solo portion of "Even Flow"; Mike plays a large part of his solo with his head thrown back, Jeff stands over with Matt to play in perfect synch, Stone bobs up and down, bending from the waist, Mike then moves to his stack. Matt even plays a small solo, and Ed dances before the final chorus. At songs end, Stone goes to the mic to compliment Matt Cameron "how about those vocals from Matt Cameron- I love Matt Cameron!" Stone and Matt sing backing vocals on "Army Reserve", Stone bobs head up and down vigorously in the breakdown groove. Before the "Daughter" tag, Ed hugs his mic stand and sways, backing off to snap his fingers along as the green lasers shoot off in succession. Kaleidoscope-like swirling lights bathe the crowd during the tag. Dry ice fog creeps out from either side of the stage at the beginning of "Off He Goes". During the final chorus of "Grievance" a woman from front row center, hands Ed an American flag with the stars in a peace sign symbol, and he drapes himself in it for the rest of the song, handing it back to her after House lights flash up during the "little FUCK!" in "Jeremy". Matt adds vocals, alternating with Ed on "try to forget this/try to erase this". House lights come up to highlight crowd singing "ay yi yi yi" at end of song. Mike plays "Comatose" solo behind head. Main set ends at 10:20 PM. Ed comes back a few minutes later and talks about seeing the same people on every tour ("don't you people get laid?"), and how trying to decide what to play was difficult - some want to hear stuff they never play (the "freaks"), some want to hear the hits (the "normal" people). He mentions how when he was a teenager, normal was the worst thing you could be, so "here's to the freaks." During "Satan's Bed", Ed leans the mic stand at an angle behind him, leaning down to read the lyrics. When the mirror ball came down during "Wishlist", Ed moved slowly around in a circle in synch with its movement. The "Porch" jam featured Stone doing bouncy jumps, Ed putting on his guitar and hammering away at it, Mike playing as he walked in fast circles, and Stone moving to hunch over his effects. The encore ended at 10:57 with the half-circle bank of red lights on the stage behind Matt searching the crowd in all directions. Ed returns at 11:05 PM, moonwalking his way to his mic stand. "Last Kiss" is played with the band facing the seats behind the stage, Mike and Jeff on Matt's drum riser, and Matt even facing back, using a couple of toms and cymbals placed behind his kit. Stone sang the "oh-oh-ohhhhhhhh" animatedly off mic. At final verse of "Alive", Stone walked up to play inches away from Ed, and Ed turned to him and sang "is something wrong she said" directly into Stone's eyes, making Stone raise his eyebrows and chuckle. The mirror ball came down and spun as the song played out, Mike playing the final solo of the night behind his head.

Updated June 8, 2006

05/13/06 - New England Dodge Music Arena, Hartford, CT, USA
soundcheck: Inside Job, MFC, U, I'm Open
set: Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Marker in the Sand, Hail Hail, Animal, Dissident, Unemployable, Corduroy, Better Man, Why Go, Garden, I Got Shit, Even Flow, Inside Job, Black, Rearviewmirror
first encore: I'm Open, Sleight Of Hand, Comatose, Do The Evolution
second encore: Go, Alive, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: The "clothed-in-layers" band takes the stage in the chilly outdoor venue at 8:36 PM to "Master/Slave" as the entrance music. The pre-recorded intro to "Severed Hand" is played before the band starts playing live, green lasers beginning their searchlight movement as the band starts playing. Ed remarks "we're gonna try and keep you warm for the next couple of hours" and, quickly warming, Stone takes his beanie off before "Marker in the Sand". Red and yellow lights bathe the crowd and stage during "Hail, Hail"; the crowd has hands ready and does fast claps during the breakdown with Ed's encouragement. Lasers highlight "Animal" shooting off in sporadic rays throughout. "Unemployable" is introduced as "an uplifting American number". The chorus of "Unemployable" features Matt, Stone and Jeff singing backing vocals. During the solo/end of "Corduroy", Jeff gets big air with a jump, and an energized Mike does three successive split jumps. Ed introduces "Better Man" saying "this is where you give Uncle Eddie a break", and the crowd sings the entire first verse. Stone plays the end-of-song breakdown with Boom. "Is it warming up out there? Don't lose your inner heat ... ever." Ed says before the re-worked "Garden". Before "I Got Shit", when Ed addresses the crowd in back on the lawn, he asks for the camera man to focus on him so the crowd can see him on the big video screens. Jeff ends up grabbing the camera from the guy (Ed: "we've got a new cameraman"), panning across the audience and eventually onto Ed before handing it back, to much applause from those in in back. Ed, referencing those on the lawn, introduces the song by its real name "I Got Shit", but says tonight it can be called "I Got Shit Tickets". Ed prefaces "Inside Job" with "There will be some lasers on this song, so if you have something besides a cigarette to light, now would be the time." During the "Rearviewmirror" jam, Ed repeats "One day ... I'll forget". At the end of "Rearviewmirror", Ed is really into the jam at the end and gets lost on stage, knocking himself in the mouth with his mic (on the mic stand) and falls, kicking his legs out to help himself back up. Main set over at 10:05PM. Back onstage, Ed talks about playing Hartford twice before (the others, Oct 2, 1996 and Sept 13, 1998), and how this time is like the "last bowl of porridge, this turned out to be 'just right'" (referencing children's story Goldilocks and the Three Bears). Ed attempts to start playing "I'm Open" and stops, saying "I was gonna play something but I can't remember how to play it". "Comatose" contains the lyric change: "High above / I'll break the law / if it's illegal / for me to fuck". Prior to the second encore, the band is introduced as "Chairman of the Board" Mike McCready, "Secretary of State" Jeff Ament, "I'd elect him President" Matt Cameron, "He'd show Donald Rumsfeld a few things about truth and honesty" Stone Gosssard and "I am the outed CIA agent who knows all your phone numbers to see if you enjoyed the show" Ed Vedder. The crowd "booooms" for Boom and he's introduced saying "He's like our Barack Obama". Ed climbs up onto the stacks by Mike to sing "is something wrong she said". Stone joins the crowd singing "yeah! yeah!" in rhythm at the end of the song, raising and lowering his guitar and strumming in time with them. During the breakdown of "Rockin' in the Free World", Ed pleads "we've been playing this song for like, i don't know how many years, 10 years. We used to play it for fun, we used to play it for Neil, we used to play it for ourselves; but now if we don't think about this shit, it's gonna go away. We gotta keep the United States a free world, free communication, free love, free association." Ed thanks the crowd, equating the shape of the seating area to a baseball field, thanking "right field, center field, left field, third base, short-stop, second base, first base. I guess we're the catcher, so here's the pitcher" and leads Mike to start "Yellow Ledbetter".

Updated June 8, 2006

05/16/06 - United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
set: Release, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Comatose, Given To Fly, Low Light, Corduroy, I'm Open, I Got Shit, Even Flow, Unemployable, Daughter/(W.M.A.), Present Tense, Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Save You, Porch
first encore: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Better Man, Come Back, State of Love and Trust, Black, Alive
second encore: Go, Blood/(Atomic Dog), Indifference, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: The house lights go down and the band hits the stage at 8:45 PM to "Master/Slave" entrance music. During "Release", Ed sang "Oh dear John" in place of "Oh dear Dad". The crowd singing was so loud during the first chorus during "release me", that Ed took a step back and leaned his head back, overwhelmed. "Worldwide Suicide" featured animated Mike split-jumps and several long strings of light bulb-sized crackling, lights hanging from the stage lighting rafters. For "Severed Hand" Ed gestured his flat hand above his head to animate "the room"s taller now"; lasers beamed in a circle pattern from the stage to the top rear seats of the arena, green circles of light searchlighting on the crowd. Ed says "can't talk now, got work to do" before "Comatose" and Mike plays the solo behind his head. Ed tells the crowd after that he's "starting to feel United", mentioning that "a lot of incredible things have happened under this roof" and that he was "honored to play this building", home of many Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls championships. He said he "did some research, and the roof weighs 230 metric tons" and that "with your help we can raise it with you tonight." Mike was physically all over the place during the solo in "Even Flow", at one point grinding with his amp stack so animatedly that it almost knocked over. Ed counted the crowd in with his fingers, "1,2,3,4" for the final chorus of "Even Flow", using hand gestures to ensure they got the words – hand away from himself for "chases them away", index finger to lips for "whispering hands". Ed introduced the crowd to a man in the front row wearing a Mother Love Bone T-Shirt who was at the first show they played. He asked about his girlfriend, who is now the man's wife and he dedicated a song to him, telling the crowd that this guy deserved to be front and center. Ed introduces "Daughter" by saying this next song is called "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". During the "W.M.A" tag, Ed sings "Texas son" instead of "American", "Up his nose/it comes right off" instead of "dirty his hands...", and "President" instead of "police man". After the song he comments that the many sports commemorative flags hanging from the rafters may be dampening the sound - particularly a Jordan jersey retirement banner - and that it should be taken down, and that he would gladly store it in his suitcase. Ed backed up from the mic and let the vocal crowd sing the first chorus of "Present Tense"; Mike again grinded with his amp stack. On "Do The Evolution", Ed sang "Thrift Store, Thrift Store", pulling on his T-shirt and gesturing to his pants after "admire my clothes". After "2010 watch it go to fire" Ed sang "don't let it." Ed calls out a fan "Rob" in the front row (center) who came to one of PJ's earliest shows in Chicago with "a Mother Love Bone shirt and a pair of glasses". Ed says that he's got a different pair of glasses and remembered he used to go to shows with his girlfriend. Ed sees his non-female companion for this show and jokes that "he's married an older man". Watery circles of white light bathe the crowd in the back of the house in swirls during "Jeremy", and a red light shines on Jeff as he plays the song out. Mike tags "War Pigs" in "Porch" (later again in "Alive") and Ed sang the final verse of "Porch" on top of the speaker stack on Mike's side of the stage. Off at 10:20 PM, back on 10:23 PM. Before "You Got To Hide Your Love Away", Ed spoke of how United Center was "like no other place", and while he was proud to be in a band from Seattle, he'd always be a kid from Chicago, for better or worse - "I think it's better". He encouraged the crowd to sing by speaking of "our Uncle Neil" Young using a 100-piece choir on his latest Living with War, and that "you all could blow 100 pieces away". After the long held note on that last chorus of "Better Man", Ed went over to play the guitar breakdown with Mike, leaning down, putting the top of his head against Mike's chest. The crackled mirror ball was spotlighted near the end of "Alive"; the extended end of the song featured Ed swinging his mic repeatedly, and then collapsing to fall flat on his back. Encore break at 11:00 PM, back on three minutes later. Ed thanked the crowd, and the band gave them a round of applause. "Go" featured a barrage of lasers shooting out from a bank of effects in front of the monitors as well as behind Matt. On "Indifference", Ed stepped back quickly to let the crowd sing "I will scream my lungs out "til it fills this room". During "Baba O'Riley", Ed put his fist through on tambourine and broke the other over his head, giving them to a guy in row 3, and to a fellow in the front row who had an avocado drawn on the top of his bald head.

Updated June 8, 2006

05/17/06 - United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
set: Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Animal, Marker in the Sand, Do The Evolution, Whipping, 1/2 Full, I Am Mine, Even Flow, Gone, Insignificance, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Down, Garden, Inside Job, Lukin -> Why Go
first encore: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour, Footsteps, Once, Alive
second encore: Last Kiss, Last Exit, Glorified G, Elderly Woman..., Crown of Thorns, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: Lights down at 8:53 PM. "Master/Slave" is followed by "Severed Hand" pre-recorded intro music. Ed does a hands in the air hippie dance during the lasers. "Animal" has a false start that makes Ed laugh; he steps off mic for the crowd to sing "I'd rather be with an animal". On "Marker in the Sand", red and yellow lights punctuate verse 2, and Ed encourages to sing "calling out" at songs end and they oblige. Just prior to singing the first verse of "Evolution", Ed takes a drink and throws his head back to make a spit fountain, bathing Jeff and a good portion of the security pit and front row. Ed also sings "dmire Stone" instead of "admire my clone". Mike plays verse 2 of "Whipping" in front of his monitors, going wild at songs end by running back and forth across the stage, walking in quick circles and then falling on the floor and rolling in a circle. At the beginning of "1/2 Full", Ed gestured to one of his techs, then took the mic off the stand and angrily tossed the stand to the floor. During the solo, Ed put on one of his guitars, saying "I need a mirror" and proceeded to effectively use the scratchplate of his guitar for reflection, shining it around the arena. Large round yellow-gelled lights over the stage slid to amber during "I Am Mine". Mike delivers the first part of his "Even Flow" solo behind his head; Ed walks to the back of the stage to bond with the crowd there before lighting his usual cigarette. Near solo's end, Mike leaned into one of his amps, leaning his head into it and finally putting a couple of large tears in the cloth cover. At song's end, Mike puts his arms in the air to get the willing crowd to cheer enthusiastically; Ed had his back turned and wondered about the sound, saying "I missed that one" and Mike did it once again. Ed teased "Goddamn, you saying it's that easy? It's not about spending day in and day out trying to find the perfect chord change and just the right words, all you have to do is ...." He makes the same motion and the crowd goes nuts. "That's just fucked. I guess if you're Mike McCready you can get away with that." Ed jokes. Ed thanked the crowd for making a big city seem like a small town, mentioning that "that last song" is about how sometimes people can't change and get into life situations that are "hard to get out of", and that sometimes you need to get out of town in order to change. The crowd sings the opening verse of "Better Man" without prompting, to Ed's seeming delight. Red/purple gels over the stage slide to red on the "she dreams in red" line of the chorus, as song plays out, the sparkly light bulb strings twinkle and the bank lights behind Matt light the crowd in white. The song ends, and after a brief pause Ed starts playing the chorus guitar line, going into "Save It For Later", and the band joins him after a moment. Verses are swapped during "Down". Green lasers at beginning of "Inside Job" beam figure-eight swirls onto the upper decks across from the stage. Ed keeps his head down, swaying to the music for the entire intro. Following "Inside Job", Ed introduces "Lukin" as "another introspective number". Loud crowd sings "Why Go Home" break between verses of "Why Go". Main set over at 10:14 PM, band back on at 10:19 PM to "Wasted Reprise". Ed introduces "Footsteps" saying "this song is about as old as they get". He rotates in a slow circle, playing to all sides of stage for the final chorus. Band leaves the stage at 10:40 PM, coming back after five minutes with no Ed. His voice is heard letting Matt know he's ready to "try this", and "Last Kiss" starts; Ed has a wireless mic and sings from the soundboard platform. Ed thanks the crowd for making the United Center a "safe place to break bread, play music and feel like a family". During "Elderly Woman...", band stops playing and crowd takes over singing "hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away". Ed calls out many Chicago area suburbs (Rockton, Schaumburg, Skokie, Wrigleyville) to sporadic crowd booing, and responds "is there any place that you like?". After the song he says "How about Park Forest?" still to more booing ("What the fuck is wrong with Park Forest?"). Matt sings "oh-oh-oh's" under Ed's "this is my kind of love" during "Crown of Thorns". After "Crown of Thorns", Ed mentions suburb of Park Forest to more booing, chiding the crowd for not liking any of the towns he said ("What's wrong with Park Forest?"). Ed mentions drummer Matt Cameron being from the great Seattle band Soundgarden to much cheering, and that his former guitarist Kim Thayil is from Park Forest, and band and crowd applaud. Without prompting, the crowd sings "We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man we got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand", making Ed smile before he took over singing. Prior to "Ledbetter", Jeff pulls on his shirt, talking to a guy in the front row that had on the rare "Dirty Frank" T-shirt, saying "nice shirt". Mike plays his "Ledbetter" solo sitting on the stage in front of his monitors. Show over at 11:25PM.
Setlist scan

Updated June 8, 2006

05/19/06 - Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Ed pre-set: Dead Man, Can't Explain
set: Elderly Woman..., Given To Fly, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Sad, Marker in the Sand, Red Mosquito, Even Flow, Love Boat Captain, Corduroy, Daughter/(Blitzkrieg Bop)/(I Believe In Miracles), Army Reserve, Green Disease, Why Go, Inside Job, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Sleight of Hand, Off He Goes, Around the Bend, Parting Ways, Hard To Imagine, Crazy Mary, Alive
second encore: Do The Evolution, Comatose, Satan's Bed, Leatherman, Blood, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: "Yeah, we're getting it going" Ed says to the energetic crowd to the crowd of about 12,000. "Daughter" is introduced as "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and there's a considerable gasp from some in the crowd. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a Gordon Lightfoot song about a real-life freighter that sank between Wisconsin and Michigan, but also a song often associated (incorrectly?) with an instrumental song on one of Stone Gossard's early 1990 demos. As "Daughter" starts though, Ed says to the crowd "Don't hate me." Ed introduces Boom and says he's standing in front of what looks like a "portable bar" and says "Love Boat Captain" was written in a "far away place and far enough away that anything seemed possible". Ed mentions the last time they played Grand Rapids was the "Vote For Change" tour and says the name of that tour was supposed to "make the point" and that "Vote for Change" was maybe "not explanatory enough because some people didn't figure out you were voting to change things for the better." He continues, "So a lot of us voted, but things have changed just for the worse and something hopeful, apparently there's a couple of veterans in the crowd and we have their support so we're very proud of that.", leading to "Army Reserve". Jeff updates everyone on the Detroit vs. Cleveland playoff basketball game that night "We just found out that the Pistons won by two points", to large cheers. Ed then says he heard they actually lost by three points, to large boos. Ed then asks the crowd to vote for who they think the liar is, but he admits "it's gonna be me". During the "Rearviewmirror" jam, Ed sings "Time heals the wounds that no one can see (repeated) / I will forget, I will forgive (repeated)". With the crowd going nuts, Ed comes on after the first encore saying "Are you kidding me? We're not gonna want to leave this place. And I thought we had friends in Chicago!". The first encore is full of "experimenting" and Ed clarifies that "there's a big difference between 'experimenting with you' and 'fucking with you', we're not going to fuck with you." Before "Around the Bend", Ed asks, "Would you like to hear 'Around the Bend'? We can try it. Are you sure? We haven't played it, we haven't practiced it, so we're fucking with ourselves at this point." Pearl Jam plays back-to-back breakouts with "Around the Bend" and "Parting Ways", both the only times played this leg. "Parting Ways" includes a sitar-like guitar effect which gives the main riff a different sound. A 10-minute "Crazy Mary" ends with Mike and Boom trading off on ascending high notes, being egged on by the band and the crowd. Starting the second encore, Ed prefaces, "Alright, no more experimenting. We're gonna drive this thing home with ya. Seatbelts everybody ..." and they launch into "Do The Evolution". Ed uses a megaphone for the "High above ..." bridge in "Comatose". "Satan's Bed" starts and Ed jokes "I think we may be fucking with you again, sorry". The band nails "Satan's Bed", with supporting B3 by Boom (true to the studio version), and with Ed ad-libbing a hurried "Paris Hilton" after the line "Who set the standard 'born to be rich'?". After "Blood", Ed beckons "Is there anything left? (crowd roars) I think we did it all (crowd yells "No!!!")." Ed toasts the day to the shared birthday of Joey Ramone (he says "Johnny" at first) and Pete Townshend and dedicates "Baba O'Riley" to them. "Grand Rapids, who knew?!? That was great ... thank you so much. If (fans) listen to the tapes, it's gonna sound like we're just bullshittin', but you had to be here. This was really great tonight, thank you so, so much." Yellow Ledbetter contains a brief "Star-Spangled Banner" tease and Ed changing the second verse lyrics to "And I see them, I'd like to wish this whole fuckin war away / and I try, and I say, I keep waking up with the news today / and the lies they tell, I can't take no more / because my brother he's comin' home in a box or a bag". Ed replaces the last "I don't wanna stay" line with "Fuck it, let's stay."

UPDATED June 14, 2006

05/20/06 - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH, USA
Ed pre-set: Last Kiss, It Makes No Difference (w/MMJ)
set: Better Man, Given To Fly, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Severed Hand, Faithfull, Unemployable, Gone, Daughter/(It's OK), MFC, Immortality, Lukin, Do The Evolution, Spin The Black Circle, Porch
first encore: Wasted Reprise, Thumbing My Way, Inside Job, Black, Alive
second encore: Go, Comatose, U, Don't Gimme No Lip, Smile, Why Go, Fuckin' Up, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: The band is playing Cleveland and Detroit consecutively, coinciding with the NBA Playoffs pitting the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Detroit Pistons. "That last song is called 'Unemployable' which I'm sure the state of Ohio knows plenty about. It's a beautiful place, but we'll always make room for you in Seattle if you ever want to come out. Then you'll be jobless and wet and depressed, but you'll be out drinkin with us, so it'll be alright." Continuing, Ed introduces "Gone", saying that "there's a line in a song called 'Dissident' that says something about 'escape is never the safest path' or the easiest way, but this song kinda explores that idea, it's called 'Gone'." "It's OK" returns as a "Daughter" tag (at a slightly higher pitch than previous versions) with the entire band playing a slightly different arrangement. Ed modifies the lyrics somewhat, "This is my plea / this is my need / this is my time for standing free / this is my stand / in this world so demanding of me". "Immortality" starts with a few bars of finger-picking guitar, similar to some previous versions. Ed gets a big roar from the crowd during "Do The Evolution" with the lyric change "Those ignorant Indians .. they're a great team, right?" An adventurous 10-minute "new Porch" begins with an even slower-than-usual start by Ed before it kicks in with the second verse. Ed does band intros during the jam, including "on bass, and rooting for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Mr. Jeff Ament" and "the engine with so many horsepower there's no number, Matt Cameron on the drumkit", "from the jungle to Cleveland, Mr. Boom Gasper on the B3", and "sometimes you don't pick your friends but he's one of my best friends, Stone Gossard on guitar". After the main set, Ed says that "it's interesting, the place we go next is Detroit and we're in no hurry..." which starts many chants including boos and eventually Ed picks up on an anti-Detroit chant, "I got it ... I can't repeat it because of the bootlegs and all, (Detroit will) get a hold of it. (long pause) I can say it once, 'Pistons Suck'" to loud cheers. "Thumbing My Way" is played for the only time during the first leg of this tour. Starting the second encore, Ed wants to buy everyone a drink for being such a good crowd and beckons the arena staff to "open up the beer stands". Ed modifies the "Comatose" lyrics "Blood on all the pistons / Fuck the Detroit Pistons! / Feel it rising (sorry!) / Yeah, next stop falling (sorry Detroit!) / Feel it rising / Comatose, with no fear of falling". "U", "Don't Gimme No Lip" and "Smile" have the band "taking care of a couple of requests that (they've) been seeing" so far on Leg One. After "Fuckin' Up", Ed tells the crowd about a dream he had where the moon exploded and "crumbled and disappeared into nothing", creating a world of chaos with the absence of the tides". He continues that he thinks maybe the moon in his dream could be like "democracy", and "it looks like it's full right now, but if we don't start paying attention ... and looking at it thinking it's beautiful, it's just gonna disappear like this on us if we don't participate, and you would know better here in Ohio - the deciding vote" (the vote tally in the state of Ohio decided the winner in the 2004 Presidential election).

UPDATED May 25, 2006

05/22/06 - Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI, USA
soundcheck: Alone, Breath, In Hiding, Breakerfall, You Are, Gone(acoustic), Garden, All or None, Faithfull (partial and out of order)
set: Long Road, Corduroy, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Animal, Marker in the Sand, In Hiding, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Army Reserve, Insignificance, Garden, Wasted Reprise -> Life Wasted, State of Love and Trust, Come Back, Jeremy, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Man of the Hour, Elderly Woman..., Nothingman, Inside Job, Alive
second encore: Whipping, Do The Evolution, Comatose, Given To Fly, Why Go, Porch, Indifference, Kick Out The Jams, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)
TFT Notes: Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings was side stage, as Ed made numerous mentions of him, and even shared his wine with him during the latter portions of the show. During the "Alive" solo, Mike left the stage and ran through the crowd and up the aisles all the way up to the top of the lower level, then back down again without missing a beat. During "Comatose" Ed used a megaphone for the "High above..." bridge, then smashed it hard to the stage. Ed invites a woman onstage to do sign language for "Given to Fly" similar to 10/11/00 St. Louis, MO. Ed says that Detroit should've been given the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of its rich music history, and then proceeded to play "Kick out the Jams" by Detroit's MC5. "Yellow Ledbetter" ends with Mike playing the Star-Spangled Banner.

ADDED May 25, 2006

05/24/06 - TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA, USA
set: Release, Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Corduroy, Animal, Red Mosquito, Love Boat Captain, Better Man, Unemployable, Even Flow, Sad, Wishlist, Gone, Green Disease, Down, Jeremy, Life Wasted, Why Go
first encore: Forever Young, Masters of War, Crazy Mary, Inside Job, Alive
second encore: Spin The Black Circle, Do The Evolution, Whipping, Rats, Comatose, Rockin' in the Free World
TFT Notes: Ed talks about how much they love the Boston crowd, and mentioned the seating snafu in Grand Rapids (some higher-number Ten Club members had better seats than lower-number members) and that they thought they got the seating right in Boston. Prior to "Unemployable", Ed dedicates the song to recent college graduates in the crowd; before "Even Flow" he tells the same graduates that "this song is gonna be your future". Ed and Jeff start the first encore with Bob Dylan's "Forever Young", followed by a full-band "Masters of War", performed in honor of Dylan's 65th birthday. Prior to "Forever Young", Ed says he doesn't mean to be cynical, and dedicates it to the college graduates as well. For "Do The Evolution", Ed and Jeff don orange T-shirts that read "Stone" in black upper and lower case letters (similar to how they are printed on Stone's guitar picks), and Ed changes the lyrics to "admire Stone". A raucous "Rockin' in the Free World" features Jeff jumping off amps and Ed rolling around on stage; toward songs end while Ed bashes on tambourines, Jeff and Mike play "pat-a-cake".
Picture of Mike and Jeff playing "pat-a-cake"

ADDED May 27, 2006

05/25/06 - TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA, USA
pre-set: Porch, It Makes No Difference (w/MMJ)
set: Severed Hand, Corduroy, World Wide Suicide, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Dissident, Even Flow, Marker in the Sand, Low Light, Insignificance, Army Reserve, Garden, I Got Id, State of Love and Trust, Comatose, Inside Job, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour, Elderly Woman..., Parachutes, Black, Alive
second encore: Why Go, Life Wasted, Smile, Indifference, Leash, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: Ed talks about how it was such a beautiful day in Boston and a beatiful day for them and his daughter whose "back home in another city." He then mentions that their thoughts turn toward those put in a dire situation overseas and plays a hardened version of "Garden," mentioning its the worst case scenario for those troops. Before "Elderly Woman...", Ed says the song used to be so easy to play but they kept "fucking it up." Ed seems pleased with the crowd's vocals and lets them finish pieces of the tune, much like he did with "Black," "Alive," and "Smile." Ed says Boston has been so good to them that he'd like to try playing a song they've yet to play live and they premiere "Parachutes"! Ed laughs mid-song when he clearly stumbles over the words, but presses on. During a frenzied "Alive," he knocks over his mic stand and falls to the floor. When he stands up, his earpiece comes loose and Ed wildly swings it onstage. Before "Smile," he spots a small girl in the crowd that he calls up on stage where she presents him with some flowers. He kisses and hugs her and plays her request, "Smile." Before "Indifference," Ed discusses how the proceeds for the show are going to benefit a charity for homeless children in the city and how a great man and his cohorts promised they'd match the donation. He seems moved to know such a man "with intelligence and heart," and says you may have heard of him since his name is Theo Epstein (young General Manager of the Boston Red Sox and massive PJ fan)". The crowd goes bananas. After years of fans begging the band to play "Leash", it's played to a huge roar, with the crowd signing loudly along. Before "Rockin in the Free World," a man in a brown hooded PJ sweatshirt and blue PJ ballcap comes out to join them for the set. He jams with the band and is clearly into the set. He whips his hat into the crowd, then his thick mullet wig, and it's revealed to be Theo Epstein himself! The Boston fans go wild and chant "Theo-Theo!" Ed puts on a Terry Francona (Red Sox Manager) Red Sox jersey and they play "Yellow Ledbetter". Mike ends the song with a fiery, patriotic version of the "Star Spangled Banner."

ADDED May 30, 2006

05/27/06 - Tweeter Waterfront, Camden, NJ, USA
pre-set: Gone
set: Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, World Wide Suicide, Do The Evolution, Animal, Severed Hand, Corduroy, Marker in the Sand, Given To Fly, Unemployable, Lukin -> Not For You/(Modern Girl), Daughter/(W.M.A), I Am Mine, Jeremy, Present Tense, Why Go, Porch
first encore: Better Man, Come Back, Elderly Woman, Last Kiss, Alive
second encore: State of Love and Trust, Blood, Even Flow, Comatose, Leash, Rockin' in the Free World, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)
TFT Notes: Being the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend in the U.S.A., Ed mentions that it's a great way to start the summer, and during ""Even Flow" sings that the "summer's on its way". This venue is in Camden, NJ, and Philadelphia is right across the river, thus why it is often considered a "Philadelphia" stop on the tour. With a big smile on his face, Ed references that saying "Where the hell are we anyways? Jersey? Philly?" and mentions that he should know better considering that they've played there before. The "Modern Girl" tag to "Not For You" returns, with Mike wearing a Sleater-Kinney t-shirt. "Present Tense" draws a big roar and the crowd sings the second verse. Before "Last Kiss", the band seems to get comfortable and Matt puts on a Fender Telecaster hinting at something "special". Ed tells the crowd that they are indeed doing something special tonight and tells of how their charitable proceeds from ticket sales tonight are going towards the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that works to free the wrongfully convicted through DNA testing. Ed introduces one-by-one three men who had a total of 45 years in prison before they were freed by the works of the Innocence Project. He tells the stories of Thomas "Tommy" Doswell, Vincent Moto, and Wilton Dedge, including how they each served more than a decade before they were freed. Vincent Moto then jumps up on the drums, and Tommy Doswell lays down a large lyric sheet and everyone together performs "Last Kiss", with Ed and Tommy trading off verses. Vincent and Tommy are bursting with Joy and make Ed blush by starting a "Pearl Jam" chant. Wilton, Vincent and Tommy come back out for an extended "Rockin' in the Free World". As they are walking off, Wilton - visibly the shiest on stage - steps up to Stone's mic, and poignantly implores the crowd that "you don't have to be a rocker to make a difference in the world".

ADDED May 30, 2006

05/28/06 - Tweeter Waterfront, Camden, NJ, USA
pre-set: Throw Your Arms Around Me, It Makes No Difference (w/MMJ)
set: Wash, Go, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Corduroy, Save You, Given To Fly, Army Reserve, Grievance, Gone, Even Flow, You Are, Wishlist, Satan's Bed, Garden, Whipping, Life Wasted, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour, Parachutes, Black/(So Lonely), Crazy Mary, Alive
second encore: Last Exit, Do The Evolution, Glorified G, Comatose, Leash, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)
TFT Notes: Ed performs a preset of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" and stays on for a cover of The Band's "It Makes No Difference". Ed addressed the crowd right after "Wash", saying "I bet you came over after church" which had the entire venue laughing and that "on the seventh day, God said 'You shall rock your asses off until the cows come home'". Ed is bothered by mic and mic-stand problems throughout the first set, breaking at least two. Ed dedicated "Army Reserve" to the men and women risking their lives and following orders. During "Rearviewmirror", Ed is visibly annoyed at a photographer (or fan?) in the pit and aggressively throws a towel at him. Picking up a guitar to join the jam, he then breaks a string and throws his guitar down hard, leaving the stage. The band starts the first encore on the "lighter" side with "Wasted Reprise", "Man of the Hour" and "Parachutes". Mike had a line of new baseballs behind him on his equipment and Ed called attention to the fact that he was playing with "a lot of balls". Mike went back and counted them - 5 balls - and Ed said that he had one of his removed to be able to hit the high notes. After over ten years of absence, "Leash" is played for the third show in a row. "Yellow Ledbetter" closes with Mike playing the "Star-Spangled Banner".

ADDED June 5, 2006

05/30/06 - MCI Center, Washington, DC, USA
pre-set: Don't Be Shy
set: Release, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Corduroy, Animal, Do The Evolution, Given To Fly, Low Light, Unemployable, Grievance, Even Flow, I Got Shit, Present Tense, Better Man, Inside Job, Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Why Go, Rearviewmirror
first encore: Man of the Hour, Masters Of War, Elderly Woman..., Come Back, Alive
second encore: Comatose, Leash, Fuckin' Up, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star-Spangled Banner)
TFT Notes: Towards the end of the show Ed remarked that Dick Cheney had called his hotel room and requested that they play his favorite song, one he listens to every morning, and the band played "Fuckin' Up". Ed said that some of the band had traveled down to D.C. earlier and spent the previous night in the Mount Pleasant district of D.C. which he said, "I heard that area wasn't 'pleasant' anymore, but last night it couldn't have been more so pleasant." More notes coming soon...

ADDED June 5, 2006

05/31/06 - The Avalon, New York, NY, USA
set: Better Man, Unemployable, World Wide Suicide, Gone, Sleight of Hand, Army Reserve, Insignificance, Alive
Ed Solo: Here's to the State of Mississippi
break: Fan Q&A
encore: Life Wasted
TFT Notes: This performance is a taping of the VH1 TV series "Storytellers". The show is announced a week prior and 250 fan club members are selected randomly to attend. The venue was formerly the Limelight, where PJ played on April 12, 1992. Ed asked the crowd for a show of hands of those who were at the 1992 show and one (lucky) fan raised his hand. Fans outside the venue are organized into three lines. The first two lines are let into the venue first, with the fans who showed up earliest being allowed to go right to the front of the stage. The floor is general admission, with a few fans taken to the side of the stage as well. The third line of fans are brought to the balconies lining the walls to the right and left of the stage. Ed's tech Ricky brings out and removes a music stand with Ed's pre-written notes prior to each song. Ed mentions that the theme of the songs being played revolve around the "truth" and how the government has misinformed the public, also reminding fans of the saying "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story". "Better Man" is played with a "new" intro, with Boom starting the song on keyboards and Ed coming in on vocals, much like the studio version. Ed prefaces "Gone" mentioning that it's "a car song" and how PJ has a lot of car songs, but that Bruce Springsteen is still the king of writing car songs. The venue is very hot, and a small fan is put in front of Ed. It starts blowing his hair as he reads, distracting him, and he asks that it be turned off because he's "not Steven Tyler". "Sleight of Hand" is a nice surprise, introduced as "another car song". Ed retells the story of "Alive" saying "it's a song about someone I know very well (laughs) ... Ok, it's about me" and goes on to say how the chorus is sung by fans with exuberance and it has trancended from being a song about a curse, to being an uplifting song. He concludes with "you changed the meaning of the song, you lifted the curse" which gets a great response from the fans. The band exits during "Alive" and Ed comes out solo. Ed mentions his collaboration with Tim Robbins in 2004 during the Vote for Change tour and plays "Here's to the State of Mississippi" originally written by Phil Ochs. At one point Ed is in-between verses and pauses but keeps strumming a G-chord, addressing the crowd wondering if - being a protest song - whether Phil Ochs picked the G-chord intentionally because the left hand mimics the sign of giving someone the middle-finger. Chairs are set up in the middle of the stage for a fan Q&A session. Before the event, fans wrote their name, location and a question on blue cards that were collected while waiting on line. Fans were told that if picked, the would go to areas of the venue where there were microphones to ask their question, but the band instead read the questions and answered them themselves. The band returned one more time to perform "Life Wasted".

ADDED June 5, 2006

06/01/06 - Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
pre-set: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, It Makes No Difference (w/MMJ)
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
TFT Notes: "Alone" is played "for the connoisseurs" but the song breaks down half-way through. Not giving up, the band restarts at the second chorus and finishes it up. "Jeremy" then starts with Ed saying "we know this one". The "Rearviewmirror" jam includes Ed singing "I thought I'd never forget (repeated) / but I forget (repeated)". Ed has some call/response from the crowd asking them that if they played "Bushleaguer" would they "boo" or "cheer". Some booing occurs, but it seemed the crowd didn't understand the question. He asks again and draws big cheers. Ed says that he wants to "continue the dialogue" from the last time they were here, but the crowd is puzzled, because it seems Ed is thinking of the April 30, 2003 Uniondale, NY show in which there was booing during "Bushleaguer". "Footsteps" is played for the second time this tour and played sitting down. "Footsteps" is well received by the crowd, who even sing the third verse early, but it doesn't throw the band off. The mamasan trilogy of "Alive", "Once", "Footsteps" is played backwards. During "Leatherman" Ed remarks that he went on a hike nearby in New York where he learned of the "Leatherman" story, and hiked that day with a young man who had just graduated today, dedicating the song to him. Prior to "Leash", Ed remarks that the band is pretty good to fans for playing "Leash" since the last time they were there a fan held up a sign that said "Play 'Leash' You Pussies" (but this was July 8, 2003 NY, NY show and not NJ). Celebrity spottings included the Olsen twins (yes, both this time) and Chris Daughtry (American Idol).

ADDED June 25, 2006

06/03/06 - Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
pre-set: No Surrender, It Makes No Difference (w/MMJ)
set: Severed Hand, Corduroy, World Wide Suicide, Hail Hail, Animal, Love Boat Captain, In Hiding, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Whipping, Gone, Comatose, State of Love and Trust, Rats, Garden, Inside Job, Porch
first encore: Army Reserve, Hard To Imagine, Last Kiss, Black, Crazy Mary, Last Exit
second encore: Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Lukin, Leash, Don't Gimme No Lip, Why Go, Leaving Here, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter
TFT Notes: "Severed Hand" starts "SNL-style" rather than the with the pre-recorded backing track. Ed references the cavernous Continental Airlines Arena in "Hail, Hail" with "Ah, looks like there's room for both of us". During "Animal", Ed's mic cuts out before he begins to sing, so the song is aborted abrubtly. On the bootleg, the band's techs are heard saying they "lost all of the vocals". This day was a hot and humid day with many thunderstorms, a possible cause for the power problem. The five-minute break keeps the crowd thirsty as Matt plays a beat similiar to what you'd hear at a baseball game "1, 2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, 'Let's Go!'" with the crowd clapping along. Applause as Ed's mic comes back on, "Can you hear me now? So whose job was it... here in New Jersey to pay the electric bill for this building tonight, that's what we wanna know? Is it uh, I know Bruce Springsteen is on tour right now, do you think maybe he didn't pay the bill before he left? Well I'm, personally I'm more ready than I ever was, so if you guys are still in ..." leading right back into "Animal". Always a crowd-pleaser, Ed mentions after "In Hiding" that this crowd is much better singers than Thursday night's show. Community Food Bank of New Jersey will receive one dollar from every ticket from this show, and "they served half a million people since 1982, over a half a billion of food and groceries". Ed mentions how playing "Gone" in New Jersey is appropriate - being written in Atlantic City - and how he wanted to play "Atlantic City" for the Borgata shows, but couldn't remember the chords, but "my fingers found their way and turned out to be this song". Mike inserts a very quick lick from Mad Season's "River of Deceit" just after the "I choose to feel" line during "Inside Job", an song by "Mike McCready, words and all". Ed comes out after the encore break and says there was a little argument backstage about what to play. One song Ed mentions they have to play, and that June 3rd is "West Memphis Three Day" and talks about their plight, his involvement and his collaboration with Damien Echols on "Army Reserve". Ed introduces Damien's wife, Lori Davis, who steps up to the mic to thank Pearl Jam and everyone else's support. "Last Kiss" is played to the crowd behind the stage (so the rest of the night is "guilt free"), including Matt on a bass drum snare and hi-hat set up for him. "Leash" is introduced as another "sing-along" and - just as recent versions - Ed sings "Take my lucky hand..." (see the Vs. lyric sheet) and "Delight in the truth". Before "Don't Gimme No Lip", Stone addresses the crowd on this last night of the first Leg of the tour, "I know you've all been waiting for it, and I just wanna say thank you very much. myself and everyone else has had a great tour and I wanna thank Ed Ved personally cause he's put in so many hours to this record, and the video we made, and every night's setlist, and he just does an amazing job with an incredible amount of energy, and we're so lucky to have him. LADIES AND GENTLEMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN, ROUND OF APPLAUSE! (crowd cheers) Thank you, alright, 'Don't Gimme No Lip'". With a few weeks break before Leg Two starts, "Why Go" and "Leaving Here" are played back to back. During "Leaving Here", Jeff takes the first three solos and Matt the last. "Yellow Ledbetter" is introduced as "we don't know what else to say, so Mike McCready's gonna say it for us".

2006 continued (Leg Two) ...

Copyright © 2006 J.Reynolds, J. Letkemann, K. Davis, All Rights Reserved

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