2001 (Not a Space Odyesy, but damn close!)
Bridge Benefit 2001
Five years after seeing PJ play Bridge in 1996, I'm back again. This time it required a bit more planning than a simple six hour drive. this time it involved crossing the Pacific Ocean. I was offered a dream assignment in Okinawa to finish off my time in the Military, and I jumped on it. The drawback was no-one plays Okinawa. Well when I found out PJ was playing bridge, and playing a benefit for world hunger, AND Ed was doing a solo show (which was later canceled sadly)...I SO WANTED TO GO!!!
I started working through some plans. I could try to catch a free MAC hop which would be most of the cost saved right there. I could afford everything else with ease.
Before I knew it I was locked in...and then 11 September 2001. We were under the sway of a tropical storm when the airliners hit the WTC, Pentagon, and PA. I sat in my room and watched CNN for five days until that storm passed. I couldn't turn away. Every part of me wept. Every part of grew angry.
I didn't know if I would still be allowed on my vacation. After 11 Sep, PJ was more and more just a side benefit. I wanted to see my parents, my sister, my nieces. I wanted to see them right quick. I had no idea when my next opportunity would be.
Luckily
for me I still got to take my vacation, see my family for a couple weeks,
and get my PJ fix (with the added benefit of a TORI AMOS SHOW!!! wahoo!).
By the time I was in my seat for PJ's set at Shoreline Ampitheatre, everything faded away. All the people I had met, all the struggles I had getting there, all the money and heartaches...it was me, sitting alone, with PJ. Nothing else mattered. All of the other performers didn't matter, despite awesome performances by Ben Harper, Tracy Chapman, Billy Idol (though a little crude for the kids), and even Dave Mathews. PJ.
It was all about PJ. Sure they played some songs I could have done w/o in such a short set, but they played some great ones as well...but song selection wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Pearl Jam.
Pearl JAM!!
I
hardly need say more than that probably...but I will anyway. I was AMAZED
by the setlists from their performances. Bridge was wildly adventurous
and exciting--especially the second night. From the two nights -- Gimme
some Truth, Crazy Mary, Indifference (with Ben!!! YES!!!), new songs (last
soldier and I am Mine-both of which I adore, as I always adore the new
songs. I will agree that the latter is by far the better of the two however),
low light, drifting, kids. The accoustic nights at bridge were an
awesome look at the band I was so accustomed (except for bridge 96--FIVE
YEARS AGO!!!) to plugging it in and cranking it UP!
I remember very distinctly Ed's change in wishlist on
sunday--"I wish I was the neutron bomb, the one that didn't go off"...and
I had mixed feelings about it for a moment, but was simply unable to dwell
on the occurrences of the world at the time and let myself go. Those two
days were not about protests, or hate, or thoughts on war and destruction...but
of peace and love like woodstock so many years ago. Music can bring everyone
together even in the most difficult times and it's power has been unparralelled
in my life thus far.
Groundworks.
After two nights of mellow, relaxed accoustic music...all
of us "lifers" wanted some good hard rocking out. No-one knew for
sure how long PJ would have...but again, none of it mattered. Sixty
minutes, and hour and a half...who cared, as long as they ROCKED!?!
"Pearl Jam came out, plugged in, and treated us to ~55
mins of rock out PJ material... Sheer Bliss...from Truth to Long Road with
Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I savored those minutes as I stood there...or
more aptly, danced/thrashed/pogoed about and sang/screamed along.
I was shocked at their apparent flip flop of opener and closer...but it
SOOO worked...especially with the guest vocals on the most gorgeous and
memorable Long Road I will EVER see. I honestly can't imagine how I will
ever feel my heart warmed more by any musical performance...it was just
that beautiful.
One of the most rocking DTE I have ever seen...and all
the rockers were so so SO necessary on this trip...and I love the band
for their willingness to oblige by only playing one of "the dreaded ones"...betterman.
As always, by only burying one of "them" in the set...made it easier to
even enjoy that one, at least a little.
Then, too too soon, Eddie was up there on stage at Key
Arena with with black telecaster, hugging Rahat while continueing to play
somehow as the band closed long road out. And then it was over.
It was such a hard decision, staying to see R.E.M., but
I was so concert starved and I SO wanted to give R.E.M. just ONE more chance
(they sucked BAD at bridge...even R.E.M. fans said that).
I hate it when I am at a show and, for whatever reason,
I am hoping and almost praying that it ends soon/early. REM that night
was one of them...plugged they weren't any more interesting to me than
accoustic.
But then they covered part of better man, and that was
hilarious. Then they played One I love, which I love...
And then they went off stage and came back on to do an
encore--thankgoodnesstheyonlyhavethesamehourorsosetpjhad I remembered thinking...and
then they started It's the End of the World as we Know It...a *very* appropiate
song and the crowd was loving it...as was I. And then, I could see him
quite clearly from where I sat, Ed ran behind the drumkit and out onto
my side of the stage, lept up to a mic set up for him, and helped stipe
out on a segued People have the Power and back into World...I was speechless.
It was just so damned cool that my wait through REM had resulted in something
like that. I had hoped it would happen--PJ and R.E.M. HAD spent a good
deal of time together the past few days so it was *bound* to manifest somehow,
right? Well of course! Manifest it did, and there I was to see it--good
seats to see it too. Yay me! Suddenly the last 75-80 minutes or so (including
set change) weren't such a waste.
Meeting so many fans that weekend and in Seattle was exactly as I had dreamed. At the shows, hotels, airport, on the plane, everywhere I went, I could turn around and almost literally point a finger at someone I knew or had met on the trip, could laugh with, drink with, share moments." (From my Livejournal; 10.29.01)
I once said that music was life. This was during the dark period of my life, and I honestly believed it then. It was something for me to hold onto, something solid...something I could depend on. As I climbed out of my hole, I gathered up Pearl Jam into the depth of my very being. Yet, music is NOT life. Without music, though, without Pearl Jam, I have my doubts on the quality of said life. Pearl Jam is part of me, it is atuned to me like a limb. Cut the Pearl Jam out of me and you make a shell of a man. Until the day I die I will cherish each and every moment of each and every concert I have been lucky enough to attend. I will savor every second of every song I have ever heard...and I will love that same heart felt emotion in every fan I meet. There are a few of us out there that feel this band in a way that the rest of the world does not understand, will never understand. I am one of those people.
"VIVA LA VINYL!"