Pearl Jam

02/03/92 - The Esplanade Club: Southend, England [70m]
attendance: 300
set: Wash, Once, Even Flow, State of Love and Trust, Alive, Black, Why Go, Jeremy, (Outshined)/Leash, jam, Porch
encore: chant, Release, Breath
notes: PJ's first European show was unannounced and unadvertised. After 'State,' someone asks for 'Hunger Strike' and Ed asks, "Mr. Cornell, are you here? If Chris is here, we'll play it." Instead, Stone plays the opening to 'Black,' but Ed stops him saying they need to play another first and they go onto 'Alive.' Ed notes how he finds it "weird" that people in Europe know the lyrics. After 'Jeremy,' Ed says, "Let's play a little Soundgarden," and a few 'Outshined' riffs are played. The jam after 'Leash' is based on the 'Dirty Frank' tune. Coming back for an encore, Ed gets a little chant going with the crowd, followed by 'Release,' (strangely) played for the first time as an encore. Before finishing with 'Breath,' Ed tells everyone, "Hey, we're gonna do a TV show tomorrow and it might even be live. Is there anyone we should tell to fuck off? We might as well just do it right here."

I was there. What else can you say? It was the most astounding gig I had been to, for a band I had never heard of (except the recommendation of a friend) to blow me away. The sound filled the venue like something physically tangible, its almost indescribable, I think I nearly broke my nose in the mosh pit but that has happened more than once, it was like being stoned without being stoned, the crowd in front of the stage just merged into a single beast. I even bought a t-shirt (which I still have though it is about to die) and I’m a tight bastard.

I bought the single the following week, then the album the next, all as soon as they were released. I ended up buying all the singles from TEN. There is a bootleg of the show in circulation and I would dearly love to get a copy.

Pearl Jam's follow Vs up left me cold, they became another band I dropped from my shopping list. Last year however I did catch up and brought my collection up to date, I still think that TEN is still the best they have done, in fact I would put it in my top 20 albums of all time.