OKAY!!! No argument. Pearl Jam are the greatest band in the world, course I already knew that....... WOW!!!! Let me tell you of my day. I had planned not to sleep all night, but was awoken by a loving mother at 9:50 (I planned to be there at ten) So I was a little late. Taxiing to the Melbourne Park Centre, I was wearing my backstage pass, and upon lining up with four other girls. I had taken it off as I approached, at they thought I was a backstage dude!!!!! Anyway, after coming my nerves, our general excitement turned to discussions on PJ and me being a guitarist (again).I got along well with them, hey they were all Pearl Jam gals!!! Anyway, there were these women (forty years old!!) were following the band EVERYWHERE, were talking how they sat next to Eddie on a plane, and he noted they were shy and toyed with them, playing games with them!!!! They said he is nice and nothing like Rolling Stone try to shit on about him. After getting majorly fried (look at me!!!!!!) we got in at 6:00pm, and then waited outside the door for an hour and a half!!!! There I met a dude from a metal band who I made friends with when queing for Metallica tickets, his band played with s'chair/M.Dirt in Ballarat!!! He got a set list for my penpal in the US, Jodi, who digs Daniel like I dig eddie except in a girls way!!! Anyway after the worst support band, "Shudder To Think", we saw them, and Jett and I were second row!!!! They were awesome and played a great mix of new/older songs!!!!! Rocked all of it!!!! I got smiles from Eddie!!!!! And Stone!!!!! Stone was wearing these weird glasses he is now into, which he must've ditched for Brad!!!!!! The faces were there. Jeff is way huge and solid, a big man, when you see him live, and fuck, can he and Stone play!!!! Eddie didn't miss a note, but fucked up Wishlist with a grin and a chuckle, but only one line!!!!! Scary is Mike McCready...... he was SO thin always, an alcoholic........ then he went to AA....... Now he is way porky, like 50 year old men. He had a few grey hairs showing (dye will help) and is only 35, but he has a huge double chin and sizeable pot. I think to replace booze he is eating to compensate. I feel sorry for him, he looked sick. I was a little shocked, he aint the cute little mouse he used to be..... BUT boy his solos were mad, better than ever!!!! Yeah, looks dont kill off the talent!!!!! Go Mike, hope your health settles down!!!! Well, Eddie first said "Good Evening" before striking a D-chord for Long Road!!!!! Then some mad songs, Black, Even Flow, Daughter, Rearviewmirror..... JEREMY in full, and ALIVE!!!!! YEs, they DID play it,it was rumoured not to!!!!! But it was there, Eddie let up a boy onto the stage and sang "Alive" with him, then waltzed the solo with him, and gave him a pick. Lucky bastard!!!! Stone pissed himself laughing at eddie dancing. If it was me, I'd have kissed him!!!!! The Yield stuff (album of the year) is coming across well, Do The Evolution is chaotic!!! Faithful is magical, and Brain Of J, well you KNOW how good that is!!!!When Eddie spoke he said: "Australia.... back again, it's been 3 years, a couple of albums... you look great..... almost as good as me!!!!" THEN LATER ON.... "My voice fucked up then, we'll mellow out..... got songs to do!!!!! (crowd cheers) Oh, only two more for tonight,the rest for tomorrow night!!" They had fun and joked, and were pleased to be out of Europe and the US, everyone had a ball!!!!!!! It was new for Pearl Jam to have fun, and they were better for it!!!!!! The dude from Shudder To Think made us stick up our middle fingers, and say "SHUDDER TO FUCKING THINK". At the last song Ed did the same, and they came out and played "Rocking In The Free World" which is very rare that you'll see it!!! I SAW IT! They rule. At the end, Eddie threw his set-list....... Guess who caught it?????? ME!!!!!!!! Yes, it was torn in two, but I still got it!!!!!!! It is mad, and he changes it depending on how the show goes. Now I can send you the exact setlist, and I'll scan it at uni, and you can put it on your page, but I will give you the actual set.!!!!!! That capped of a great night, and I went and bought ALL their merchandise. And I was coming back the next two nights!!!!!! How MAD is that!!!! They are the greatest and will never be beaten. The setlist is a great souvenir!!!!!!!

The night I met Ed Vedder of Pearl Jam.... Okay............ After Pearl Jam's third and final show in Melbourne, after playing to a packed house whilst also being simulcast on radio JJJ, I had been tipped off by a weedy looking guy that Ed and the boys were staying at Hotel Como in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne.Well, my friend Steve and I thought what the hell? It can't hurt and if they are there, we'd at least get a glimpse of them!!!!! So, after the BEST pearl jam show I'd seen, and the last for quite a while, Steve and I hailed a cab, and got to Hotel Como, at about 11:30pm. We were the only dudes except for two girls, so we were gonna be first if anything was to be signed. By the time the first van got there, there were sixty dudes waiting. One girl had the Australian flag Eddie had played with onstage before throwing it back into the crowd. So, at about 12:40am, the first van arrives there with Jack and Jeffstepping out. Jeff walked straight in, but Jack stood in the doorway and laughed at us, I waved and yelled "Jack, come here"............ he didn't come, but he waved back at me!!!! So at about one o'clock, another van arrives, and this time we saw the big black security dude, and there was Eddie, only he was acting unconscious and was carried in by the security dude. It was a good way to avoid autograph hunters. We'd been warned also that if they wanted to sign stuff, they would come over, and if a camera was spot, they'd(especially Eddie) would just go in and have nothing more to do. SO NO PHOTOGRAPHS. So, Eddie, Jeff and Jack were in there, where were Stone and Mike? Well a roadie came out, and told us "The guys have been good to you, played a two hour show, and were tired and wouldn't be coming out tonight, and we could stay but it would be in vain". Eventually I was left with seven other people. I thought about staying cos, Pearl Jam are a rarity, and I love 'em enough..... I also thought less people outside the hotel would entice them in....... Even Steve left (jerk).Soon after I spied Stone through the glass of the foyer, alone, and walking off to bed. I smiled and gave him a wave, and he gave me a small wave back!!! SO, I gotten waves from Jack and Stone!!!!! The bar was located just off the foyer, and soon we spotted Eddie drinking in there. HA! REAL tired, he could drink so early in the morning!!!!! We couldn't go in, so the bar was out of the question. Frustrated, we all waited until he'd come out for us. At 3:30am, the security were gone except for a girl behind the bar, and Ed came out with three other dudes to take a pee, he walked through the lobby, and looked at us and smiled. He was pretty drunk!!!! He wore this stupid hat too, made out of grey fur!!!!! Anyhow, he went back in the bar!!!!! It got to 3:56am, and I thought to myself "Fuck it. Ed ain't coming out here, it's cold... there are no security... I'm legal to go in......" so I waltzed right in there!!!!!!!! I went to the bar right past Ed....... and ordered a beer, but was told they were closing. So, I waited about two metres from Eddie, with my notebook and texta pen. After making an unfunny joke and having everyone laughing, he saw me, the book and the Yield shirt and closed his eyes and nodded!!!!!! I took a deep breath..... He signed my book on this coffe table... "Eddie Vedder, Melbourne 1998" in perfect Vedder writing!!!!!! Then I spoke to him "Ed, you would never hear this amongst the cheering, but I wanna say thanks for touring and for three nights I won't forget ever...." He smiled from beneath the hat, the closed lipped, Vedder smile that makes his cheeks stand out!!!!! I've seen it so many posters, and had it a metre from me!!! I reached out my hand and he shook it, his hands were soft and warm (mine were freezing), and he had stubby fingers, but a firm shake!!!! I also got to touch the Jacket he wore on UNPLUGGED!!!!! Anyhow, he was also wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt with Air Jordan written on it in red. He is way short too, but never mind, and he has these really striking maginficent blue eyes, you only see when he looks right at you!!! I asked him about the little Yield signs in the Yield book, and he said "Jeff's work, I like to design the whole CD, not just the music. You know "No Code" the trick with that? That was my idea, that was me...!" WOW!!! Then a waitress came up and told me I shouldn't be in here and to leave. Eddie put his beer bottle between me and her, and said "It's fine, he is no disturbance, and is talking with me". THAT SHOWED HER!!! Eddie stuck up for me!!!! How cool was that!!!?? Anyhow we were alone from everyone and I asked him a few minor questions and he was putting his ear right next to me to hear, cos he was drunk and it was loud.... it was so cool!!!!! I asked him why he wasnt drinking Aussie beer. "We were, but we have to finish this American stuff (Budweiser), before we go to Adelaide". He was wearing a Budweiser watch too! I told him I'd met his pal, Dave Grohl, two weeks before (that's another story) and he laughed, (he has the cool deep voice in general conversation by the way). "Oh Dave" he said. I told him Dave was a big fan of his, and Ed said "well, you must be too, waiting out there for so long." I was like, "Yep, I'm a huge fan!!!!!!" I told him I have his setlist from the 1st show and he said "Ah, so that's were it got to, I want it back you know" and we laughed simultaneously!!! I also told him I'd give him this weird Guinness hat I'd won, but he said his suitcases were full!!! It was about five past four in the morning and Ed said "We best be leaving, and me get to bed". I agreed with him and said if Stone got sick I'd fill in!!! Ed joked "Okay, right your details down.... but don't call us, we'll call you" another Vedder joke. If he jokes, you laugh!! I also told him it was great to meet him, and that he was one of the nicest people, and that I know now that magazines write a load of bullshit about him (the whole tour he'd been way happy). He then looked right into my eyes, basically bore right into me and gave me a look which kinda made me a little uncomfortable, like I said something wrong......."DONT BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ IN MAGAZINES. I WILL SAY AND ACT AS ME ON STAGE." He told me. Wow, he certainly gets a message through. It was eery, but he'd made such a strong point. At that point it sunk in "YOU'RE TALKING TO EDDIE VEDDER OF PEARL JAM" and a few nerves came back. He could tell I was nervous, I was glad I wasn't being a freak. As we walked out the door, I asked if he was coming back here "Oh yeah, (and he was definite), you people are polite and we enjoy it". I thanked him again for his politeness, and he had been giving me these Vedder-style handshakes all night, where he reaches with his left hand outwards, palm facing downwards, and takes your right hand and shakes it. It is a cool shake!!!!!! I got it four times!!!!!I then said "Ed, I'm Mark, and I hope to one day see you again". He replied "Well, I'm Ed, and I will see you again, goodbye, and goodnight". And he took his bags and walked through the lobby to his bed. I snuck a photo of him leaving, it is blurred, but you can easily tell it's him, and his bag has a Yield give way sticker on it. SO I walked out after he'd gone, and I realised I'd met my hero, and idol, and the people outside were rather jealous of me, but they were too shy to go and meet the friendliest dude, which the media has made a myth of. I realise how lucky I am. How many PJ fans, how many have met Ed??? What a week I've had, a setlist, I've met Ed.... two weeks ago I met Dave. I'm high on life!!!!!! If you ever get the chance, be polite and meet him, it will change your life!!!! Mark L.

You can read about when Reverend Vedder met Saint Stone Gossard.
Have a PJ/Eddie/PJ member story to contribute? Then you can email Gilda (juliette22@hotmail.com) or Dianne (diawhitey@hotmail.com).
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