OCTOBER 21, 2001
BRIDGE SCHOOL BENEFIT
SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIAThe Kids Are Alright, Wishlist, I Am Mine, Low Light, Nothing As It Seems, Last Soldier, Black, Give Me Some Truth, Indifference (w/Ben Harper), Soldier of Love
I woke up around 8:30am the morning of the 2nd night of Bridge. I was ready for another day of Pearl Jam. I showered and then went up to the Hi-Fi Lounge of the hotel I was staying at...listened to some music and wrote up my thoughts on the first night of Bridge. Once everyone was awake, we went to go find something to eat and that was drama in itself, but I ended up buying bread and peanut butter and making sandwiches for the show. Yummy in the tummy.
We got to the venue after the gates had opened, so a lot of people had already gone inside. We milled around for a little bit...which was nice to do...since we had seats for the night and didn't have to worry about getting a good spot on the lawn. Benton wanted to go in...so we went on in...walked around for a little bit...found Dolin and Sundae and talked to them. Went back to the seats when my cell phone rang. It showed some phone number I had never seen before and I figured it could only be one person: SueAnn! And it was SueAnn. SueAnn had been reading my journal but had finally
e-mailed me a couple of weeks before Bridge and I was like, "Dude, we totally gotta meet up!" So I went and met up with her and it was really cool. By the time SueAnn and I had talked, Bowman and Rich had made their way into the venue and so we went to our seats and stuff. Not too shabby. We had second row, Jeff's side, 200 level. Bowman ended up leaving us for better seats, but we ended up having a good time without him...with Steph and Alex moving up a couple of rows and rocking out with us.
Steph, Alex, Benton, and Rich
having a grand time in our seats..During Jill Sobule's set, Rich and Benton wanted to make her feel...welcome...so they kept screaming for her to play "Jet Pack"...which she sort of heard and acknowledged...but she didn't play it. Instead, she played an entertaining song about Kathy Lee Gifford being in love with her. With all hokiness about Jill Sobule aside, she kept all of us laughing because we expecting nothing good of her...and she had a decent sense of humor...
We had heard that Pearl Jam was going to go on earlier this night. I didn't care...I was kind of concerned about them playing when it was still light out...I wanted them in the dark...
I think after Jill, came REM...I didn't pay much attention to them again...cause well, I'm not an REM fan. Sorry.
Ben Harper came out with his mom and that was pretty cute. I'm really mixed up...I can't remember if Dave came out
before or after Pearl Jam. Regardless, I think Dave's set the 2nd night was much more entertaining than his set the 1st night.
Waiting...And the Pearl Jam.
We had moved down to the first row of our section because no one ever showed up for like six of the seats in front of us. It meant lots of room for us and we had the rail. Woo hoo!
I think we can all guess about what Pearl Jam is gonna play (especially openers and closers) until we are blue in the face...but this weekend, I think they did a good job of proving us all wrong in our guesses...
Maybe I can't think deep enough when it comes to being original...but I didn't expect them to come out and open with The Kids Are Alright. I was just happy they didn't play a typical opener...since we did get Long Road the night before (I'm not complaining...)
The next best part came when Ed said they were going to play a new song...and while, sure, it could've been Last Soldier...which we got to hear the night before...I think we all had this gut feeling it wouldn't be. It turned out to be I Am Mine...which ruled up the place...and everyone had to agree...it was kickass.
After I Am Mine...Ed started talking, but I was still buzzing about hearing I Am Mine...and I heard, "We haven't played this one before..." out of what he said...not the whole..."We haven't played this one before live..." cause I wasn't freaking out...cause I just thought they were going to play Last Soldier...which yeah, cool...but there's gotta be other new songs...and I'd rather get the whole spectrum and hear yet another new one (I'm selfish, I know). But I was thinking too much...and the brain stopped shutting up when I saw everyone and their mom freaking out and I hear Low Light begin.
Oh my gosh! I was soooooooooooooo thrilled to hear it! Low Light is one of my favoritest songs off Yield. Low Light and No Way are the only songs I've never gotten to hear off of Yield (I think No Way is never gonna happen for me, damn it). What a perfect time and place to premiere Low Light...hopefully next tour they will break it out every once in a while. It's such a damn good song!
I'm not sure if everyone wanted to hear Nothing As It Seems at Bridge...since it did debut there...but I wasn't at Bridge '99 and I was secretly wishing they would play Nothing As It Seems...and they did...and Jeff ruled it up and I was happy.
Last Soldier into Black...Black was incredible...
Crappy pic of the band. Sue me.But then Give Me Some Truth...AGAIN! The song just rules and I have now deemed it my current favorite Pearl Jam cover songs.
I was kind of disappointed Ben came out and did Indifference again with the band. It's me being selfish again...but really...Jeff ruled Indifference. While his stage presence was overshadowed by Sexy Gossard...he made himself known through his playing. I just wanted to run onstage and give him a big old hug. Love ya Jeff...
When Ed started talking about Maricor again and Alan...we were all like "Fuuuuuuuuck...please no Last Kiss again! PLEASE!" I was crossing my fingers and I know those around me were as well...and while Soldier of Love is about as close to Last Kiss as you can get...it's still no Last Kiss...and it was good to hear it cause well...like all other Pearl Jam songs...it's been awhile and it's nice to hear all this shit live again...
Then they left the stage. And it didn't really hit me: There's only one more. There's only one more. There's only one more. There was no time for thinking that...there was only time for rejoicing...we heard I Am Mine AND Low Light! The
remainder of the night was like...relax and re-coup time. Sit with friends...relax...try to get out of your head that you had to be at the airport in like five or six hours. Steph, Alex, and I remained in our section...watching Tracey Chapman. It was so nice to sit there, all cuddled up under a blanket and hear her soothing voice. After that, we rocked out for a little bit to Billy Idol (who is my current hero). Then Bowman came and stubbed me down to the nearly empty front section for Neil's set.
Neil Young rocks out.While everyone else may not be happy he played the same set both nights...I was indifferent...cause well...on the hill the night before, I fell asleep. Heh. I felt bad, but I was so tired, I just zonked out until Bowman woke me up during Imagine. I will admit, hearing Blowin' In the Wind four times was not fun. I never liked the song to begin with...maybe bad memories of elementary school music teachers making me sing it or something...
When the show ended, we didn't congregate nearly as long as normal at the box office. We needed to get our asses in gear...we had to be at the Oakland airport at 5am...which was merely a few hours away...
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