"Jam"-ing in Cincy

I'm not a huge Pearl Jam fan.
I have nothing against them, I enjoy their music when I hear it, but I've never been die-hard, I don't know all the lyrics to all their songs. So, when I went to their concert, I didn't know what to expect. What I got was an amazing experience.

Most appearant was the kindness of people. I don't remember seeing or interacting with one rude person. When people needed to get by you, they said "excuse me" and were polite. When they were dancing, and bummed into you - they apologized for it. During some songs, they grabbed your hand and held it up with theirs. It was really a "bonding" experience. Before the show, so of the people around us ("Us" being my buddy The Dave, who had an extra ticket and was kind enough to invite me to go with him to the show) began talking to Dave about how many shows he'd been to, and which ones, etc... It appears that their followers REALLY follow them. Since you can go online and download EVERY concert they have, and see their sets lists for the last SIXTEEN YEARS WORTH of shows, the fans really can "follow" this band. It's cool.

The show itself went well. LOTS of standing, making me feet feel like Jell-O right now, but I'm surviving. They played for about 2 and a half hours, and did some really intense songs. Dave explained to me after the show that appearently the fans were complaining about the middle of the show, when they slowed down the pace, so they only did a couple of soft songs (which was kind of disappointing, because it meant we didn't get to hear "Last Kiss"). But, the BEST part of the night was the fact that I got to hear Pearl Jam play "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who. This song ranks in my Top Five Songs of All-Time. So, it was a GREAT way to end the concert, and end my first ever live Pearl Jam show.

While I'm not turning into a die-hard fan, I do enjoy the music. And Eddie Vedder is starting to grow on me. The most impressive part was when he pulled out a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine, which has him on the cover. Yes - HIM, NOT the BAND. And he began wiping his own butt with the magazine. He then went on to explain that they told the magazine MULTIPLE TIMES not to put just him on the cover, but to put THE WHOLE BAND. He went on to explain his deep upset feelings towards the magazine for pulling this on them. He then destroyed the magazine and tossed it into the crowd.

Probaby one of the most important events of the night was coming into contact with the ONE Booth. I'm seen the logo on fellow filmmaker Chad Richard's Blog, and I've surfed their website, but I'd never ordered anything from them. Well, I saw it as a sign when I saw the booth. So, I'm now taking this campaign upon myself. I bought some extra bracelets for anyone who wants one, and I've added the link to the right. Defeating Poverty and AIDS are two things that I believe in, and I'd like to do my part to help, and so can you. Just go to their website and sign the petition. They don't ask you fo any money. Just your support and your voice to spread the word to others.