Vero and I descended into Montreal on Wednesday for Pearl Jam! Traffic was touch and go once we hit the 15, but the excitement in the air was intoxicating. We arrived at the Best Western which turned out to be a great call on my part as it was just down the street from the Bell Center!
I convinced Vero (let’s be honest, she didn’t need much convincing!) to head down to the Bell Center to pick up our tickets and maybe grab a poster. Luckily for us, they had a merchandise booth outside of the venue which was PERFECT for me to buy a poster and drop it off at the hotel. I ended up picking up a poster and a great t-shirt which looks like an old Molson Canadian beer label on the front. I was really digging this year’s merchandise (compared to the awful t-shirt I got from Toronto 2009).
Ten Club tickets were picked up and while I didn’t win the lottery for better seats, I couldn’t complain about the seats we had. Section 113, Row DD which was pretty well 17 rows away from the stage. FANTASTIC! Thanks Ten Club!
When we walked into see Mudhoney, it was LOUD. I’m talking Grady loud. I could see Vero was in discomfort so we seeked out some earplugs from the customer service desk after their set. I can’t say I know Mudhoney all that much, but for the last few songs that we heard, I was entertained.
Pearl Jam took the stage around 8:50 and started off with a surprising opener…Elderly Woman…but the crowd ate it up. The Montreal crowd ROARED as soon as they hit the stage. It was incredible. This is why I love coming to Montreal for a show.
The hits came coming…Last Exit, Hail, Hail (first time I saw my favourite song live!). I was surprised to hear Setting Forth with the full band complement as it’s a Eddie solo number. Eddie said we should thank Matt Cameron for that.
The crowd never let up and the band felt it. It was going to be a great night! Our section was great…dancing, cheering, singing along. I couldn’t have asked for anything less.
My personal highlight was hearing Hail, Hail as well as Come Back…a great, great song. It was good to hear Sleight of Hand even though Eddie flubbed the second verse. I was thinking the band was going to stop the song at one point! I can’t figure out if Black was more powerful in Montreal or in Ottawa 2005…the crowd was intense.
Eddie spoke quite a bit about how great our country is, and how he loved how he could use the same plugs for his electronics. He also pulled out a horoscope which said something to the effect that in order to keep yourself happy today, surround yourself with a large group and sing with them.
Crazy Mary had Boom and Mike trading off solos and I was glad to hear Yellow Ledbetter as it’s always the ultimate closer for me.
Seeing a Pearl Jam show is an intense experience and we left feeling wasted. We gave it our all, and the band gave it their all. This may have been my favourite PJ show I’ve been to. Time will tell though. I plan to go to at least one show a year.
Setlist:
• Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
• Last Exit
• Hail, Hail
• The Fixer
• Amongst The Waves
• Severed Hand
• Setting Forth
• Corduroy
• Given To Fly
• Insignificance
• Daughter / Blitzkrieg Bop
• Glorified G
• 1/2 Full
• Do The Evolution
• Unthought Known
• Why Go
Encore 1
• Even Flow
• Come Back
• Sleight Of Hand
• Down
• Black
• Arms Aloft
• Lukin
• Porch
Encore 2
• Better Man
• Crazy Mary
• Alive
• Yellow Ledbetter