by obie

Just back this afternoon to NJ from a week's vacation in Hawaii, topped off by this show. Third show this tour, but first time outdoors and first time in reserved seats (about 15 rows up on the right side). Rocko asked who was from Hawaii, and got a little cheer. He then asked who was from out of town, and got a massive cheer. This was a pilgrimage.

The Pearl Jam setlist was as close as they get to a greatest hits show -- included Corduroy, Even Flow, Better Man, World Wide Suicide, Crazy Mary, Alive, and Baba O'Riley to close out. Nice set, though some of PJ fans were complaining that they were only given an hour. As an aside, I stopped for shave ice in Haleiwa earlier in the week and PJ bassist Jeff Ament was there, complaining to a friend about PJ being purely an opening act. (He also said that U2 and PJ had done some studio work together, possibly serving as a fanclub-only release. He also had some not-so-nice things to say about Edge's guitar work on said collaboration...)

As for U2, the setlist held few surprises but the opening of COBL / Vertigo / Elevation remains as pulsating and envigorating an opening sequence as they've ever had. When Bono sang "I'm getting ready to leave the ground", the floor just exploded, moving like a massive tidal wave. For long parts of the show the stands literally swayed, as Aloha is strictly a metal shell of a stadium. The lower deck was up on its feet for the entire show, but the upper sections were mostly seated.

I don't think the Wild Horses fan thing was staged. The band's performance was far too ragged for that; given that they live for perfection and precision in concert, they would've rehearsed with the guy. Also, Edge never left the piano area, trying to follow along.

After that, the show kinda plodded along a bit until a very nice version of Miss Sarajevo, then hit the Pride / Streets / One victory march. Seeing The Fly with the big screens was very neat, and I'm partial to Mysterious Ways in the encore; just a good dancing song. 2nd encore rocked mightily, though I kinda felt bad for Bille Joe. Travel all that way for four minutes, and then not invited to stay on stage with Eddie and Mike from PJ? Rockin' was a bit of a haphazard mess, but that's what it's supposed to be. AIWIY to close out: very nice, good final song. Larry of all people gets the final word.

The show was NOT sold out -- big groups of the upper corners were empty. There were also several sections that opened up during the first encore. Oh, what they missed in order to beat the traffic!

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