Ticket scan coming soon...
June 28th, 2011
Chicago Theatre
Chicago, Illinois

Main Set...
Waving Palms/Can't Keep/Sleeping By Myself/Without You/You're True/Light Today/Longing To Belong/Sometimes/I Am Mine/Long Nights/Far Behind/Guaranteed/Rise/Blackbird/Just Breathe/The End/Elderly Woman/Unthought Known/Arc
First Encore...
Parting Ways/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away/Sleepless Nights/Society/Falling Slowly/Immortality/All The Way/Porch
Second Encore...
Hard Sun/Dream A Little Dream


In retrospect, these two Ed shows had perfect timing. Work had been very stressful for months on end and I couldn't "justify" taking time off for a mental breather - these shows ended up giving me that.

I met my sister at her work - which was literally two or three blocks away from the venue. We grabbed a bite to eat at Flat Top Grille. It felt so refreshing to eat some veggies as I had been in Arkansas the week prior and I always struggle to find decent veggie options while I'm there. Stir fry with Quorn, so yummy. Probably the healthiest I've ever eaten prior to a show.

We didn't make it to the venue until about 10 minutes before Glen's set. I really wanted to see Glen and wanted my sister to see Glen, but I saw the poster and knew I had to buy it. It was really cool. Grumble. Grumble.

The line moved quickly and we got to our seats. I didn't have 10 Club tickets for the show, but we were in a box which was an interesting experience. The people in our box were cool and not annoying so that was a total win. We still got to see a good chunk of Glen's set, though I exited for a little bit to go to the restroom and get some water. As I went in line to get my water, I noticed that the person in front of me in line was Protzel who was there with his wife. It's just crazy how small our little Pearl Jam world really is - was nice to catch up with him.

Show opened with Waving Palms and unlike Detroit, I guess I paid attention enough to the show to notice it getting played. Typical Ed show 2011 opener of Can't Keep followed. Overall, very similar vibe to the Detroit show in the beginning but the energy level was greater - Ed was in a talking mood tonight.

At some point, Ed took quite some time to tell a story about how he got locked out of his hotel room wearing only a blue t-shirt and his army helmet during the Lolla tour - supposedly while playing Alpine. He said he thought it was around Easter time and families were there for Easter brunch. Either he has his timing confused or he's just completely confused as we all know Lolla 92 did not occur around Easter. Nevertheless, the story was hilarious and the crowd was patient and laughed.

Longing to Belong sounded amazing with the cellist. I thought about it after the Detroit show - what song did I not hear that I would've liked to have heard? The answer is always Naked Eye but that's like a pipe dream. But outside of that, Longing to Belong was that song.

Unlike the Detroit show, Sometimes was the song that got the crowd going since it was played prior to I Am Mine (which really did get the crowd nuts, strangely).

Two Pearl Jam songs led into the Into The Wild section of the night which was finished up by Rise. As Ed got the mandolin out for Rise, some d-bag shouted "LUKIN!" and Ed was like, "Yeah right that's fucking stupid." But he strummed a few chords anyway.

Blackbird got the crowd going - Ed requesting the crowd to tweet like little birds. Was pretty cool as people randomly whistled throughout the song.

String quartet was brought out for Just Breathe and The End. I always love hearing the strings on these songs.

Elderly Woman was played next and then one of my favorites - Unthought Known. Set closed out with Arc. I had forgotten how amazing Arc is to witness live. Was sort of disappointed that it was a failed attempt in Detroit.

Parting Ways started out the first encore. I was grateful in some ways that Mike was not at this show. First, because he always shouts "hey!" embarrassingly loud at shows. Secondly because he pretty much wants to kill myself anytime he hears All The Way.

Glen came out and performed Sleepless Nights and I realized I forgot to mention (dork!) that in Detroit, Ed had the mics turned off for this song. A few woo boys and girls shouted during the song but it was so cool to hear because for the most part, everyone was silent and straining to hear the song. This is why I got upset at some point when Ed said the Philly and Detroit crowd was unruly - if the Detroit crowd was so bad, why would you attempt Sleepless Nights without mics?

The Glen portion of the show was stupendous yet again. Worth the price of the ticket on these three songs alone if you ask me.

Last three songs of the first encore were Immortality, All The Way and Porch.

As typical, second encore was Hard Sun. Thought that it was it. My sister and I went to leave and Ed came back again and performed Dream A Little Dream.

It was a really great show. Can not say that the crowd was better or worse (though the "Detroit Sucks!" shouts were very disappointing) but the show just had a better vibe. Was really glad I decided to do two Ed shows though all it did was leave me yearning for some Pearl Jam shows.
 
 

07.03.11

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