Pearl Jam
Reading, PA
Ocltober 1, 2004

1) Boat Captain
2) Animal
3) Brain of J
4) Do the Evolution
5) Nothing as it Seems
6) Insignificance
7) The American in Me (The Avengers)
8) Gimme Some Truth
9) Given to Fly
10) 1/2 Full
11) Sad
12) Go
13) Encore
14) Soon Forget
15) Small Town
16) Masters of War
17) Nothingman
18) Crazy Mary
19) Encore
20) Last Kiss
21) Daughter
22) Bleed for Me (The Dead Kennedys)
23) The New World (X) (with Tim Robbins)
24) Alive
25) Encore
26) Baba O'Riley
27) Yellow Ledbetter

My girlfriend and I arrived a bit early. As we are from out of town we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. On the way to Reading traffic was bumper-bumper on route 222, a Jammer in a silver car pulled up next to us on the shoulder and asked if we had extra tickets. Unfortunately we could not help him out.

We parked across the street from the Sovereign Center. Then we walked down the street to a little pizza shack that was packed. After which, we joined the crowd at the front entrance. A bunch of people were heckling the few protestors across the street. Before long a clearing was made on the sidewalk for MTV News & SuChin Pak. Again there was more heckling targeted towards MTV & SuChin.

Finally the doors opened. After passing through the loose security check we then checked out our seats (Sec. 112, Row L) not the greatest, but still able to view the entire stage clearly. After which I stood in line for an hour + at the merch. booth. The larger VFC poster was sold out; however, I was able to get the smaller poster. By the time I had returned to my seat I had about 5 mins. before Ed took the stage for his pre-set performance.

Don’t Be Shy & Growin’ Up were great. The crowd was still about 2/3 empty; every note could be heard crystal clear. Gob Roberts then took the stage, I was not overly-impressed, but their last song has been in my head ever-since. Death Cab was alright, they played the songs I was interested in, however they didn’t cut it for me live.

Pearl Jam then took the stage and played Love Boat Captain. Animal followed and it was amazing. Brain of J & Do The Evolution continued the energy. I believe at this point Ed takes a breather and says “I hope you guys are conserving your energy ‘cause we’re just getting started!” The crowd goes nuts. Nothing as it seems was cool to hear live, but it sounded like Mike had some problems throughout the evening. Sad was surprisingly debuted.

After the first encore Ed came back solo to perform Soon Forget in dedication to all the really rich people. Then Ed counted off Small Town, and Stone failed to start it. Therefore Stone was sentenced to a sip-o-wine by Ed.

Return from second encore Ed decides to sing Last Kiss to the crowd behind him while shaking his ass to the rest of the audience. The crowd was on for Daughter even Ed admitted “That’s some pretty fuckin’ good singing right there.” Alive was the same way, there were times that I couldn’t even hear the band, and the crowd filled the room. Mike seemed to be having trouble with Baba O’Riley, I couldn’t pinpoint if it was him or equipment., however he was on for ledbetter.

I don’t remember the exact time but during PJ’s set I remember seeing some guy fighting with the security guards behind the sound booth. He was then dragged away by 4+ security guards. I don’t know what happened, but it’s a waste of a good floor seat.

Traffic leaving the venue was a headache, but when isn’t it? I received a couple of remarks and gestures regarding my PJ license plate, all were appreciated. I hope my next PJ experience will be as enjoy full as this one has been.