Pearl Jam: Moody Center: September 18, 2023 and September 19, 2023

When one of your favorite bands ever is coming to town, you gotta make it happen, right?  Night one of this two-night stand in Austin was so much fun.  And then night two fell into my lap when a good friend ended up with an extra ticket.  The wife thinks I'm a nutjob for going back a second night, but I loved it.

The thing with a band like this is that I want a setlist that would disappoint a big chunk of the audience.  I want it to be all songs from the first three albums, plus the two off of the Singles soundtrack, and then I'm in hog heaven.  But they aren't going to do that - in part because they are likely proud of their new tunes, but also because there are people in the crowd who think Lightning Bolt is their best album or leaving without seeing "Dance of the Clairvoyants" is a loss.

BUT - they still did a lot of what I wanted - 9 songs from those first three discs for first night, including some definite favorites like "Elderly Woman," "Alive," and "Porch."  I straight up teared up during "Elderly Woman," I don't know how to control my emotions when a room of ten thousand plus is yelling "I just want to scream, "Hello" / My god, it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return / But now here you are, and here I aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam."  I am literally getting goosebumps again as I write about it now.  Freaking awesome.  

Second night, we again got 9 songs from those albums, but it leaned more towards Ten, which I dug.  We got "Black" and "Jeremy," which were unexpected treats for sure.  Also unexpected - five cover songs!  I like a good cover, but night one they did one single cover, and then fired up five last night.  It included "Imagine," which was super rad.  Also, we got "State of Love and Trust," as well as the imminently yellable "Rearviewmirror."  Never cried at night two, but I was definitely in my feels while singing the hell out of "Jeremy."

They do a weird thing, in that the show starts out with a quiet song and all of the band members sitting down.  So, I'm all geeked up and ready for them to tear into "State of Love and Trust" or something similar, and they do the sad ass "Nothingman" or a newer song I don't know, while sitting on stools.  C'mon!  Put the low-key interlude in the middle after I've worked up a sweat!  Bring the thunder!

Despite not knowing half of the songs, just a fabulous show.  This tour is over, but if you get the chance someday, you should definitely do it.