*Photos come from the PJ forum user sharptoe*
The next morning, Carrie and I wake up, chat with Nanny, Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard and figure out things that will happen for the rest of the day. Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard are gracious enough to lend me both their GPS unit as well as their cell phone for my trip downtown Toronto. I have realized that I am going to look into getting a pay as you go cell phone. It’s quite handy in the circumstances like this where I am heading downtown Toronto and need to meet up with some friends but they have no way in getting in touch with me.
We headed off around 11AM so that I could drop Carrie off at her cousin Jon’s place as they were heading out to a wedding. Fast fact: Did you know that Carrie has lived with 43 different people in her life? We figured that out on the way down. I know you are all intrigued by that fact. How many people have YOU lived with in your life?
I then headed down to Queen’s Quay street (which is pronounced Queens’ Key which posed a problem when I was inputting it into the GPS Unit and did not know that fact. Where the heck did that pronunciation ever come from?) where I was parking my car near Dana’s place. Dana was the lucky winner of joining me for the Pearl Jam concert as both Vero and Mike were unable to come along! I had never been down to Queen’s Quay before but it is quite the nice spot to live as it is right next to the Rogers Center as well as the lake.
After parking the car (for $30 for two days), I walked around downtown in search of a CIBC machine as I had zero cash. I did manage to leave Samantha’s phone number back in the car so I had to hoof it back there in search of it. I did phone Samantha who was up with her friend Kelly to see the concert as well. It’s nice to see that Kapuskasing had a good turn out at the concert!
After meandering around downtown (and stumbling into an excellent CBC Museum which had Mr. Dress-up and Friendly Giant artifacts), I took a nap in Union Station waiting for Sam and Kelly. When I woke up, they phoned and said they were at the station and we decided to head to Jack Astor’s for a little food and drink. We had quite the exuberant waitress!
We then hoofed it down Queens Quay but gave up that mission soon enough and hopped onto a streetcar whose name is probably not Desire, but Awesome as Luke the driver let us get on and pay whatever we wanted as well as let us know where to get off to get to Ontario Place. What a swell guy. Please note that it always helps to be the only guy amongst two beautiful ladies and let them get on first. I’m pretty sure the ‘pay whatever you want’ did not apply to me.
We showed up to Ontario Place and I had visions of winning some sweet seats in Row 1 (as the Ten Club (Pearl Jam’s fan club) has a random lottery for those who purchase tickets via the Ten Club. Alas, it was not meant to be but I got some excellent seats in Section 203 along with a gazillion other fans.
We walked around Ontario Place for a bit, munching on some ice cream and then getting a beer. I had to go back outside to give Dana her ticket but it turns out that she was not outside Ontario Place but at the entrance of the CNE (which was celebrating it’s 175th birthday and was a zoo) so I went back in to the beer garden while waiting for her to show up. I finally found her and we celebrated the fact that Kapuskasing had a few Pearl Jam fans anxious to see the show.
When we hit up the merchandise booth, I must say I was disappointed by most of the choices. I did end up getting a ‘Toronto’ themed tour shirt but I have heard that there is another special one with a vintage Toronto Maple Leafs look to it that I would have rather have. I will scour Ebay for it in the future. I also noticed that the poster I ordered for $42 was selling for $30. I had heard through the years that these posters sell out fast so I decided to order it from the site (another Ten Club perk) but peace of mind came at a price of twelve extra dollars!
An amazing event happened after Sam and Kelly were playing Guitar Hero at the Xbox 360 booth. The guy working there mentioned that we can text a number to see if we win upgraded seats. Dana didn’t win, Kelly didn’t win, but Samantha DID WIN! Incredible! They ran off into the night with the Xbox guy and we figured we would see them later. A great part of this story is the fact that Samantha didn’t have a proper ticket stub (she printed the tickets off) as a memento but now she did!
After snagging a beer and some pizza, Dana and I found our seats in Section 203 and settled in for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I was quite excited to see them as I am a big fan. I was also hoping to catch Eddie Vedder play an acoustic number or two before the opening act as he usually does.
Sure enough, around 7:30PM he hits the stage! People go wild. However, there was a little special something planned for the night. He explained that The Pharmacists were backstage ready to come up, but Ted Leo was unfortunately stuck in the States due to some border crossing issues. Eddie then proceeded to play two Neil Young covers…Sugar Mountain and The Needle and the Damage Done! He then invited Mike McCready up to play a few more tunes…one song was about his daughter and another one I didn’t recognize. Stone Gossard did come out and play a Johnny Thunders tune, which I knew from Duff McKagan’s version on The Spaghetti Incident?! Then Jeff Ament and Eddie came out for some Bee Girl. The Pharmacists then took the stage and played a few tracks and had Eddie and Mike come back out to play Search and Destroy. Excellent! Mike was shredding away during that song. It was blistering.
Halfway through the opening set we managed to find Samantha and Kelly. They were sitting more in the center of the amphitheater and a few rows behind us. We joined them in the Xbox area and manged to get a waitress! Excellent! Dana and I then decided to scoot over to the seats in the Ottawa Sun area as there was no one there as the Xbox one filled up quickly. In the end, this paid off in spades as we got a better view of the stage and a waitress for the rest of the night! People did up in the box but just assumed we were invited there was well so they all stood around with us rocking out! I especially enjoyed this one woman’s (Anne) company as she knew all the words to the songs as well so we rocked out together for the most part. That’s what I love about Pearl Jam fans….they are just there to have a good time.
After the opening set, the band came back out around 9PM and tore apart all known boundaries of awesomeness and opened with ‘Of The Girl’ which is a rare one indeed. The setlist for the night was Yield Album heavy which is fine by me. Off that album we got Brain of J, Given to Fly, Faithful and Do The Evolution.
Some highlights:
– The Fixer and Got Some (from the upcoming album) were excellent. I also think the fans really enjoy The Fixer.
– The fans in Toronto are rabid and they didn’t let up for a moment. The band were really enjoying themselves.
– Off He Goes was a real treat!
– Mike McCready was on fire that night…1/2 Full, Black, Alive, Porch…come on….it was incredible. Sometimes I would look at the video screens and they would be on Mike and we would be lost in his own world rocking out.
– Lukin/Not For You was the highlight of the night. THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!
– Porch followed by Rocking in the Free World left us in awe. I wasn’t disappointed at all to not hear Yellow Ledbetter ending off the night. Although I heard that it was on the setlist.
– Eddie going out into the crowd!
– Eddie falling on his ass during Even Flow
I am hoping that I may see some video footage of Dana and I rocking out during the last song as the guy in front of us was taking an extended video of the entire crowd. I did give him my email address so you never know. However, I am going to bank on him NOT sending me the footage as I also noticed that at one point he asked his girlfriend to flash him and I was behind her at the time so I didn’t get a look at what happened but she did do something that put a smile on his face! So the odds of me getting that footage are slim to none!
All in all, seeing Pearl Jam from 7:30PM – 11:30PM with a little break in between was more than I could ask for and it was a grand night indeed. I can’t even begin to say how many thumbs up this concert deserved. In the future I know I am going to follow Pearl jam to each concert for an entire tour. They put on the best show on the planet. I’m glad that we got to have a taste of it on Friday night.
Thanks to Samantha and Kelly for hanging out with me on Friday as well as Dana coming along for the ride during the evening and hosting me for the night after the concert!
Setlist:
1. EV – Sugar Mountain
2. EV – Needle and the Damage Done
3. MM – acoustic song
4. MM – acoustic song
5. SG – You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (Johnny Thunder cover)
6. EV and JA – Bee Girl
7. Pharmacists – Hybrid Moments
8. Pharmacists – Lions Den (French Toast)
9. Pharmacists – Treble In Trouble
10. Pharmacists – Blitzkrieg Bop
11. Pharmacists – Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop) (w/Ed Ved and Mike McCready)
Set List: Of The Girl, Corduroy, Severed Hand, Why Go, Brain Of J, I Am Mine, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Unemployable, Faithful, Down, Got Some, 1/2 Full, Lukin, Not For You/(Modern Girl – Sleater Kinney), Do The Evolution
1st encore: Inside Job, Wishlist, Black, Alive
2nd encore: Small Town, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Porch, Rockin’ In The Free World
