April 8th, 2016
BB&T Center
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida


Setlist. . .
Go/Mind Your Manners/Corduroy/Given To Fly/Help Help/Deep/Nothingman/Elderly Woman/Severed Hand/Unthought Known/Sirens/ Surrender/Even Flow/Amongst The Waves/I Am Mine/Swallowed Whole/Who You Are/Do The Evolution/Why Go
Encore 1. . .
Yellow Moon/Footsteps/Last Kiss/Black/Comatose/Lightning Bolt/Porch
Encore 2. . .
Light Years/Better Man/Alive/Baba O'Riley/Patriot/Indifference


It had seemed far too long since we had last seen the band --- and it was! I hadn't skipped a year of seeing the band live since 1999. 2015 was a dry year for domestic PJ shows and little Piper's arrival was not timed very well to make it to Global Citizen's Fest.

We flew down to Florida the day of the show and of course our plane was a little delayed due to a Delta server crash. Awesome. We felt terrible for the multiple parents of infants on our plane that had to contend with their unhappy babies before the plane even took off. When we landed, the reality of the beautiful weather set in. We were on vacation!

No kids.
Of course we missed them but it had been nutso crazy at our house, non-stop since Piper was born. Newborn. Adjusting to having two kids under two. Nathaniel's surgery. We. So. Needed. This.

Dropped our stuff off at our hotel and went to the venue to laugh at the merch line - and pick up our tickets. Mike side. Have to admit that I was kind of bummed since Stone is my guy but after our weekend in Florida, Mike and I realized we like sitting on Mike's side better :-/

Eventually made our way back to our hotel which was filling up with lots of PJ peeps. Spent some time in the pool - I don't think there was ever a time I spent time in a pool before a Pearl Jam show. I know there were times we talked about swimming after a show but never happened. Florida. Ah.

Went to the venue, had to park far because the venue's parking was crazy...unless you owned a Lexus. I've never seen so much parking for a venue. It was nutty. Went into the venue and immediately started running into people. Glenn spotted me at the Music Cares table. Shortly ran into Sheri. I love Pearl Jam shows and reunions.

We wound up getting merch at the show - stickers, buttons and the keychains. Resisted the urge for the flip flops. The merch monster haunted us, though, and we made additional purchases in Miami. We were tempted to get the poster but damn, we have so many. Met up and hung out with TJ and made our way to our seats. TJ ended up being able to rock out behind us. Our seats were awesome. Thanks in part to the Ten Club and also thanks in part to the venue being very nice.

First show...so were we to expect Philip Glass? I have no idea what they did in South America or Mexico...so it was so weird to see them come onstage in the light. Wave to everyone. Nice change of pace. And wait...what was that? Were they REALLY playing the intro to Go?!? I feel like so many people did not even catch it at the show! It was so awesome! A part of me thought...are we gearing up for Vs.? I felt like it wouldn't happen that night but sure enough, it did happen a few days later in Greenville. Go...was not what I was expecting for tour opener. I thought we'd get something slower...ease into tour. That didn't happen and we are all better for it!

The beginning of the show was so rocking. Corduroy had a nice rearrangement. Given To Fly was like a long lost friend. Ah Given To Fly...it had been far too long since we had seen each other. I missed you.

Was thrilled to hear Help Help...one of my favorites! It sounded great, if it weren't for a few lyric flubs it would've been probably my best version heard live. Regardless of flaws, I thought it sounded great.

The set continues to chug along really well. At some point there was some mention of McCready turning 50 and having Cheap Trick play his party. Of course that prompted the crowd to sing to Mr. McCready. Then we got a sweet little short version of Surrender noting Cheap Trick's induction into the Hall of Fame that night. Which of course made me reminisce to seeing Cheap Trick open for Pearl Jam at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 1998...and how much I enjoyed their set.

I go into shows with zero expectations now, but of course I would love to hear my favorites...and happy I was to hear Amongst The Waves begin...lyric flubs and all. We all can't be perfect can we? LOL

Who You Are was another highlight of the main set for me with the set closing out with Why Go (nice!)

Yellow Moon started the first encore and went into a GORGEOUS version of Footsteps. Last Kiss played to the back - couldn't have it any other way!

Loved hearing Comatose and Lightning Bolt...and Porch closed out the first encore.

When the band came back for the second encore, Ed started talking about losing a member of their crew and I really held my breath. As stupid as it is, knowing the crew became very natural as a rabid young fan listening to every live recording she could get her hands on. When Ed said Scully died...it was mind blowing. And two young kids, including a daughter with the middle name "Pearl"... you just couldn't help but feel emotional. Ed himself was very emotional and then the band played Light Years. The rest of the encore was great...but after Baba, Ed talked about a sign that was in GA and played Patriot for a man in the audience who had recently lost his son who served. Very emotional encore.

Show ended with Indifference. Fantastic show - great tour opener. We felt so grateful it was our first show. While we didn't have a ton more to get to, we were happy we still had Miami before we had to go back to cold weather in Michigan...
 
 

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