Alive

June 3rd, 2006
East Rutherford, New Jersey - Continental Airlines Arena
(Home of the NJ Nets and the NJ Devils)

Pearl Jam ended the first leg of its 2006 tour here in the "greater" New York area. Karan flew down from San Francisco for the concert. I had tickets (see earlier posts) through the "Tenclub". The only entity that I am a fan club member of - Pearl Jam.

It has taken me a while to write this blog. It seems I am unable to find the appropriate words to express what I went through for those 4 hours. I still haven't found them. There are no adjectives to define the euphoria ... of being in the presence of Pearl Jam performing live, 20 yards away. This is my definition, rather my version, of a musical utopia. A field of dreams... where your dreams are actually realized. They're beyond a "band" to me. They're beyond rockstars. They are the last, of a dying era.

Scores of people had pulled in from everywhere, most were tail-gaiting outside the arena. Playing Pearl Jam songs and throwing footballs around. Karan and I smelt the beef, chicken and pork on the grills and were hungry instantly. We got our tickets from the booth, got a T-shirt each... and waited around looking at the crowd. I had no clue what to expect inside. This being my first concert - ever. (I'm not including a performance by Itzahk Perlman that I attended in Lincoln Center).

Vedder, considered by many, including myself to epitomize the word "cool", spent the entire night, singing, playing the guitar, sweating, rocking, drinking his wine (straight from the bottle of course) and smoking his cigarettes. I have never seen Stone Gossard dance before (in any videos or pictures). He danced a lot. Mike McCready was on fire, jamming and running all over the stage - absolutely phenomenal performance. Matthew Cameron... wow... he had a tremendous night too. My camera sucks, for some reason I wasn't able to zoom in enough and it always made the stage and the band friggin' tiny. But I decided to pose two of the pictures anyway. Once I take the 5 minutes necessary to figure out how to put up a 165 MB video - I'll do that too.

Here's what I didn't expect. I didn't expect the turnout (crowd) - since PJ had performed 2 days ago in the same arena. Apparently that wasn't a full house (or so I've heard). The arena was absolutely packed. Of course we were on the floor so it looked like everyone was rocking, while that may not be the case (i'd imagine the people in the nose-bleed sections might've had a hard time). I didn't expect the sound to be so clear, whenever I could hear them over Karan's singing... (sigh). I didn't expect Vedder to be drinking and smoking on stage (although I knew for a fact that he is known to be sloshed by the last song - but I always envisioned him getting wasted before taking the stage). But what surprised me - and what blew my mind was them 'being' a band. A rock band. The last rock band as far as I'm concerned.

I've performed on stage several times now, and have a decent idea about performing in front of audiences. Sure, the largest crowd I've performed in front of was about 5,000 (while PJ performed in front of 20,000 that night). Nevertheless, I remember how hard we practiced just so we were "together". Just so people came in at the right time, we sounded right... we hit the right notes, we sang the right words, we moved together, we were in... well... unison. And we were 'ok' when we performed. Pearl Jam executed each and e-v-e-r-y song with masterful precision - a clear sign of undeniable experience and dedication. I was thrown off my feet, as they moved from song to song absolutely perfectly. Here is the set list:

Open

No Surrender - Bruce Springsteen song performed solely by Eddie with an Acoustic guitar.

Set 1

Severed Hand

Corduroy - absolutely phenomenal performance

World Wide Suicide

Hail Hail

Animal - they had electricity problems which Eddie blamed Bruce Springsteen for.

Love Boat Captain

In Hiding

Even Flow

I Am Mine

Whipping

Gone

Comatose

State of Love and Trust

Rats

Garden

Inside Job

Porch - awesome slow version. Very unlike the record version - truly awesome.

Encore 1

Army Reserve

Hard To Imagine

Last Kiss - the crowd really got into this song - everyone did.

Black - absolutely fantastic. Beautifully sung... we sang till our throats hurt... and then some.

Crazy Mary - the most amazing version - I actually cried during this song. Read below for more on this one.

Last Exit

Encore 2

Wasted Reprise

Life Wasted

Lukin

Leash

Don't Gimme No Lip

Why Go

Leaving Here

Alive - truly amazing

Yellow Ledbetter - which tailed off into 'Star Spangled Banner' played by McCready, Hendrix style.

The cover band was called "My Morning Jacket". They were good except for the singer - he would go into an extremely high-pitched (ear hurting) voice a little too often. But they had some very good music and were very remniscent of older famous bands.

After years of deliberation, I have concluded that my top 5 favorite songs of Pearl Jam (in no particular order) are: Crazy Mary, Black, Release, Alive & Indifference. To hear 3/5 of these... LIVE... has been a life-changing event. PJ were assisted by Boom Gaspar (a Hammond Organ player) on some of their songs, including Crazy Mary. This song is absolutely amazing and to hear it live was an experience on its own. Now, I'm not gonna lie - but Music and Movies always move me... emotionally. But nothing has made me cry yet... Fucker Vedder successfully drew a tear out of me during Crazy Mary. And to top it off the hair on the back of my neck rose when McCready walked across the stage to Boom and they jammed for about 5 minutes - it was unbelieveable. I don't care much for the organ as an instrument (sort of has an Addam's Family feel to it) but to watch these two go at it was awesome. McCready, in my books, has elevated himself to become one of the greatest guitarists. At times, he would get in the zone by standing at attention, closing his eyes, looking up... and playing... awesome - those were great moments.

More awesome moments - at one point the lights on stage suddenly dimmed and Vedder stood in the middle of stage facing and jamming to the drums... his back to the crowd. The music had subsided to a low volume but rigorously being played... the drumming got louder and more intense as Eddie began to raise his guitar... higher and higher... until it was way over his head... the band continued to play and the music was at full volume again. Vedder was shinning the light from the lonely spotlight... onto the crowd. Wherever he shone the light, that part of the crowd erupted into a chaotic and adoring cheer. It was awesome.

We came out of this concert, sweating, tired, energized and moved. Both Karan and I couldn't believed that were just witness to this unbelievable time. All we did was recount every single moment from the concert. "hey... you know when vedder did.. this!"... haha! Of course i do! I was right there with you!... we did it to each other nonetheless. We needed to tell someone else... fucker Arun didn't answer his phone.

Something important needs to be said now. While we waited for 1 of 50 buses to take us back to New York City, Karan mentioned U2 and a concert of their's that he went for which didn't even compare to this one. He described a catwalk, that circled through the audience and back to the stage, upon which Bono would walk around singing. Now... I like U2 and I like they're songs... but I didn't care for the catwalk shit. I can't even imagine Eddie, putting on leather pants, a blue velvet shirt, orange goggles with a headset instead of a mic... or mic-stand... walking around singing to the crowd. Thats just too fucking Britney Spears for me. And thats what I mean by PJ being the last rock band out there. They are the last of an unfortunately dying era... when rockers would hit the stage and liberate viewers by liberating themselves. There is nothing liberating about whats out there now.

In my 24 years of existence, this concert has become one of my favorite moments. It is grounded in, and will influence in many ways the rest of my life. How and why is not the point. I whole-heartedly hope (ah.. that dangerous word again) that everyone has a defining moment like this... early in their lives.

Godspeed.