Pearl Jam - Madison Square Garden, New York City, 24th June 2008

Right, first things first: I'm not mad - it's perfectly normal to travel to another continent to see a band. If you don't agree, then you must never have seen Pearl Jam. So, me and the long-suffering husband packed our bags and headed out to the Big Apple to see a couple of shows by my favourite live band and get a bit of sightseeing done on the way. The first night, I was still really tired and everything seemed a little surreal - picking up the tickets, going into Madison Square Garden and seeing it packed to the rafters. Things started very well indeed with the band opening with 'Hard to Imagine' - a song I've loved for years but never seen them play live. They stepped up the tempo with Save You and Why Go and it quickly became evident that we had definitely done the right thing in coming out to NYC. The crowd were really going for it too, right from the off. The band seemed to relax a bit more after the first few songs. I got the feeling at several points in the set that they were still trying to take in the fact that they were playing to a packed-out Madison Square Garden crowd who were singing their hearts out like their lives depended on it.
Another song I never heard came out next: All Night. They brought on 3 backing singers from New York to add a different slant to the song and I think it worked. Corduroy and Elderly Woman.. were massive singalongs as well. There were a few more surprises in the main set too with Present Tense and the backing singers coming out again for Who You Are. It's not amongst my favourite of their songs but sounded better with a new lease of life. This short East-Coast tour isn't promoting an album but there's a definite air of it being part of their intention to get people to vote in the upcoming elections. There's some well-received Bush-bashing and general incitement to encourage people to speak up and have their voice heard.
A rousing Do the Evolution ends the main set in style and everyone's rabid to hear more. Eddie said at the start of the set that they wanted to make it a special night and they continued to do so by playing their version of the Who's Love Reign O'er Me that they recorded for the film, Reign O'er Me. Eddie's voice sounds as strong as ever and the whole band looked happy to be out playing again. Stone seemed to get a bit more of the limelight than usual too and Mike's still bouncing around with far more energy than I'll ever have! Backing singers came out again for a stripped-down version of WMA, then we get Leash which is one of my favourite songs of theirs as it's got so much enthusiasm in it. There's some subtle lyrical changes ('Delight in the truth!') that prevent them from sounding like a band trying to recapture past glories. Spin the Black Circle is a frenetic few minutes that makes you think that the end of the show is nearing but we're proved wrong when the lights stay down when they leave after Wasted Reprise and Porch.
Encore 2 starts with Eddie and his guitar. Anyone who's seen the band in the last few years realises that 'No More' is coming and duly sing along with Vedder's protest song. Crazy Mary is atmospheric as they come and I get goose pimples hearing 20 000 people singing along. Probably the biggest surprise of the evening arrives shortly after when CJ Ramone joins the band on stage, replacing an ecstatic Jeff Ament on bass for a rousing rendition of I Believe in Miracles which PJ recorded for a fanclub single a few years back. All of the band look like they can't quite believe it and Vedder in particular can't keep his eyes off the erstwhile bassist. Alive is greeted with massive applause and the band leave the stage for the third time and the lights come up.
That must be the end, right? Wrong. Back on for All Along the Watchtower and then to be proved wrong by assuming that Yellow Ledbetter was going to be the closer by them playing Indifference to a crowd bent on screaming their lungs out and filling that very large room. That really was the end but after 30 songs, 2 3/4 hours and a pretty special set-list, I don't think anyone was feeling short changed! It wasn't the best time I'd seen them but it was certainly a good one!
9/10