Hearing the Gospel '06 -Part 3

I woke up the next day and drove my sister to the Hynes Convention Center where she was working for the weekend. They I met up with my friend Kate at her place in Somerville and we headed into the city.

Again we arrived really early to pick up my tickets at the box office. They were in the same aisle as the night before but they were actually a little closer to the center of the stage.

When the doors opened, we ran upstairs and I was able to pick up the show poster before they were all sold out. Then we took our seats to wait for the show to start. I got excited when one of the roadies set up a mic and stool at center stage. And sure enough, right around 7:30 Ed took the stage and performed a fantastic acoustic version of Porch. Then he joined My Morning Jacket to kick off their set. The openers did another nice set and impressed Kate enough that she bought one of their CD's from the concession stand.

When MMJ finished up there was a quick change over of the stage. During this time, an usher approached Kate about our seats. We were the first row without a center aisle and apparently this was a mistake. So, he moved us over one seat but we didn't mind since we were closer to the center.

A few minutes later another TD Banknorth employee came down the aisle with a pair of older couples. Apparently they had "friend of a friend" connections with some bigwig at the venue. The usher seated two of the people in the open "aisle" seats and the other two right in front of us. He left and a few minutes later a second usher came by and asked the first couple what they were doing in those seat. They dropped the name of the person who got them onto the floor and the usher quickly apologized and walked away. After he left the people were being total jerks saying things like "We should have told him to get us beers."

The worst part was that the couple in front of us had "stolen" seats from a man and his daughter who had been standing there earlier. When they came back, they tried to make the older couple move. The biggest jerk of the group said something like, "These are our seats now". Luckily the head usher came over and moved the older couple to another area because I was absolutely livid at this point. A few minutes later the band came out and ripped into the best 5 fast songs to open a set that I've ever heard (Severed Hand, Corduroy, Worldwide Suicide, Do The Evolution, and Given To Fly) which allowed me to burn off some steam.

The opening set continued with some fan favorites (Dissident, Even Flow) and some tour rarities (Low Light and Insignificance). Army Reserve was highlight of the first set for me. Its one of my favorites from the new album and I missed it so far during the tour.

State of Love and Trust was another rocker. At one point in the middle of the song Ed forgot the lyrics and looked to the crowd for some help. We all seemed to have mutual amnesia for about a quarter of a second. Then the "choir" started up long enough to get Ed back on track. The opener ended with Inside Job and Rearviewmirror.

When the band retook the stage for the first encore, they opened with Wasted Reprise and segwayed into Man of the Hour (another new song for me). Later in the encore the band debuted Parachutes from the new album.

But the thing that I'll always remember is the ending to Black. The crowd totally took over the song. Everyone was singing the "do do do do do do do" refrain and clapping like mad. The guys kept playing and they looked around at each other to determine how to get out of the situation. Finally Ed fell to the stage to end the song.

Toward the end of the first encore the little girl (age 6 - 8 I would guess) held up a little hand made sign. It was a large pair of lips with "Smile" for the teeth. Since Smile is one of my favorites, I encouraged her to hold it up. Whenever the lights were up on the crowd Kate and I and several other people in our row would wave and point to the sign. Finally we got Mike's attention as he squinted to read the writing. Shortly later the first encore ended and the guys left the stage.

During this intermission the little girl pulled out some flowers that she was going to give to Ed. Everyone in our section was so cool about it and they carried her up to the front row seats. The second encore started with Why Go and Life Wasted before Ed finally saw the girl and her flowers. He told the security guards to bring her up on stage and announced her to the crowd. Then he took the flowers in exchange for playing her request (it was really cool that he waited until she was back to her seat before he started the song). It was a great version and Ed even gave the little girl his harmonica after it was over.

The next song was another request, this time from a special guest, Theo Epstein. Theo and his fiance had been standing at stage left for a few songs and he smiled broadly when they thanked him for the matching donation he had made for a charity that helps homeless children. The band played a moving version of Indifference. These are two of my all-time favorite songs and I loved having them back-to-back.

Finally Leash a song that they hadn't played in over 10 years. I have to admit that I was very out of the loop on the history of that song. I heard it back in the old Garden in '94 and its not one of my favorites, so the song doesn't have the special place in my heart as it does in other fans. When the band started the opening riffs the crowd exploded so loud that I couldn't even figure out what the song was. What a great experience to see the faces of everyone up front.

The night ended with another Rocking in the Free World (with theo on guitar) and a version of Yellow Ledbetter with Star Spangled Banner as the final riff.

All in all it was an awesome experience. The next day the Pearl Jam forum was abuss with talk of this being the best show ever. But I still have trouble separating this show from Boston #1. I was in about the same seats both nights and I recognized dozens of my "neighbors" from Boston #1. So I'll always think of them as one show with a REALLY long intermission.