Got some if you need it... - Pearl Jam show 1/5

‘Got some if you need it’….Yes, I needed IT desperately! A full dose of Pearl Jam after a 4 year long wait. Something Eddie felt too as he was showing by his song choices like Long Road to start off, and snippets referring to the ‘wait’ screaming his lungs out:

I just want to scream helloooooooo
My God it's been so long
Never dreamed you'd return
But now here you are and here I am
(Elderly Woman)

The waiting drove me mad
You're finally here and I'm a mess
(Corduroy)
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Unfortunately, all my videos failed except for the ones where Ed is talking...But this video of 'Long Road' is still worth watching, felt like we were all in heaven:

Before Long Road kicked off, Eddie was showing off with a speech in Dutch, saying ‘We komen vaak terug, omdat we het hier te gek vinden’ (‘We come back a lot, as we love it here so much’). And we love it too! After pumping up the audience with 'Corduroy', Eddie went in overdrive with ‘Do the Evolution’, followed by the always magical song ‘Given to Fly’ and songs like ‘Mind you Manners’ and ‘Wishlist’, clearly referring to political matters at hand and wishing for the next president to be a much better person. And they played ‘Red Mosquito’, never heard it live, just plain beautiful.

Eddie was very chatty all night, talking about Jeff’s favourite colour orange and joking around about the Dutch not being in the World Cup aside from thanking a lot of Dutch people like Hanky Panky, the beautiful ladies from the Moco Museum (who were standing alongside the stage) and Eric from Tivoli.

And that’s what it felt like, like they actually want to play in a smaller venue…But standing up close for the first time, the band members still make it feel intimate in this huge venue (Ziggo Dome). It’s their rawness I really like, as if they’re playing in a local bar, messing up sometimes, like Eddie and Mike who got confused about the next song which was supposed to be dedicated to someone called ‘William’ from Ireland. Mike changed his guitar and they played a full blown ‘Got Some’, which was ‘coming out of their toes’ as we would say in Dutch.

Last night was also about honouring their living legacy, they played quite a few songs from their first 3 albums, and most of ‘Ten’, I even joked around that they would play ‘Alive’ after having played ‘Why Go’, ‘Porch’, and ‘Black’, 3 in a row…and to my surprise they did :-0

Halfway they played ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Jeremy’, obviously crowd pleasers, but the lyrics of ‘Jeremy’ got a whole new meaning to me last night. And especially this phrase ‘Jeremy spoke in class today...’, which my 8yro nephew actually did a couple weeks ago, saying in front of his whole class that he didn’t want to be bullied anymore...while I am writing this tears roll down my face again, as they did last night. And that’s what I love about Pearl Jam, their songs and lyrics are timeless and can mean or let you feel something completely different at any given stage.

The mesmerising version of ‘Footsteps’ was my favourite. I was in owe by how the whole band played along and lifted this song to a higher level, also backed by the beautiful lighting. I had the urge to take a video, but I also wanted to stay in the moment, and so I did…(and my phone too all night...grrrr....;-)

So, that’s a wrap for last night, can’t wait to see what they have ‘in petto’ for us tonight! Another blog will follow soon about my 'Pearl Jam' tour: Ams1, Ams2, Pinkpop, Milan and Berlin!
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(And many thanks to Dimi 'The Greek' for his detailed reporting on Facebook backing up my memories)