1996-09-26 Pearl Jam: Civic Center: Augusta, Maine

Source: 2-source mix: [UM > DAT > CD-R] + [Sennheiser 441 > WM-D3 > DAT > CD-R > dEQ > CD-R] > shn > flac

Sound Rating: A-


01 - Sometimes 03:07
02 - Hail Hail 03:43
03 - Animal 02:36
04 - Spin the Black Circle 02:42
05 - Tremor Christ 04:03
06 - In My Tree 04:03
07 - Lukin 01:00
08 - Not For You 05:54
09 - Betterman/Save it for Later 06:39
10 - Corduroy 05:31
11 - Jeremy 04:55
12 - Ed talking 01:17
13 - Red Mosquito 03:41
14 - State of Love and Trust 03:45
15 - Black 06:39
16 - Habit 04:04
17 - Rearviewmirror 06:47
18 - Ed Talking 01:50
19 - Alive 06:55

Disc 2

01 - Encore Break 04:01
02 - Who You Are 03:44
03 - Even Flow 05:33
04 - Daughter/Noise of Carpet 05:17
05 - Blood 04:47
06 - Ed Talking 01:18
07 - Leaving Here 03:05
08 - Ed Talking 04:24
09 - Patriot 03:41

5H Notes:

The English Beat's 'Save it for Later' snippet tossed into 'Better Man' sound great! Ed pays homage to Josh Ling during a quiet part of 'State:' "I recognize you. You were in the front row just the other night. I recognize you ... how you doin'?" :) In a reference to the lunar eclipse, Ed says, "It's happening right now. I just wanna rip the roof off this place." He get the crowd to yell three times, laughs and launches into 'Habit.' 'RVM' features the slow beginning. Toward the end of 'Alive,' Dennis Rodman takes the stage and puts Ed up on his shoulders, where Ed completes the song. Prior to the 'Noise of Carpet' outro, Ed utters the words, "black red yellow." After 'Blood,' Ed retrieves a shirt tossed onstage, saying "Hey look, plaid, grunge; it's purple." The Fastbacks help PJ with 'Leaving Here,' singing backup vocals and Ed expressing hope that the "boys up front will pay attention to the lyrics." 'Patriot' is performed solo by Ed, accompanying himself on guitar with the rest of the band watching from the side of the stage. 


Synergy Fanview:

Pearl Jam Does Augusta

by: Chris Davidson

The greatest aspect of this show was the unbelievably small size of the venue. This basketball gym could only hold about 7,000 people, so there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. As the Fastbacks came out, the crowd erupted, as many had been waiting more than two hours for someone to take the stage. Being down front was rough, even for the openers. I was approximately ten feet from the stage right in the middle. The pushing and pulling was incredible, and most of the younger kids and girls were taken out, some even started hyperventilating. Eddie came out for the last song of the Fastbacks' set wearing an odd mask and a sparkling silver suit. His disguise didn't fool anybody, the place went up when the crowd recognized his voice in the background vocals. The equipment change was quick, and before long Pearl Jam walked out in darkness, save the candles atop their amps. A dim light appeared creating only shadows as the band opened with "Sometimes". The crowd was still fighting for position down front when the lights came up and the band exploded into "Hail, Hail". Things got real rough, but the band seemed to feed off of the energy as they played several hard songs consecutively. "Animal", "Spin the Black Circle","In My Tree", "Lukin" and "Not For You" kept the crowd bouncing as the temperature in the place rose. I have never sweat so much in my life, and sadly, not too many people were making friends down front as serious pushing and leaning continued. Eddie seemed especially intense though, even during a slower version of "Better Man". Somewhat standard versions of "Jeremy" and "Corduroy" followed, but then the band wanted to screw around a little. They played an elongated version of "Red Mosquito" and a very special version of "Black". 

That night there was an eclipse and Eddie was sure to tell us all about it as he was checking his watch constantly. "Black" continued as Eddie screamed "It's happening" during the last guitar solo of the song. It was incredible because Eddie was frantically pointing at his watch and this intensity only added to the emotion behind the ballad. 

This serene and intense moment ended and the band regrouped for a very hard version of "Habit", with Eddie changing the central lyrics, saying "Speaking as an individual who's trying to see the year 2000" during the middle of the tune. After that Eddie slowly brought the band into "Rearviewmirror", as he gradually played the familiar opening sequence slowly at first, then quicker until the band broke into the song together. The highlight of the night was a huge surprise for us. Dennis Rodman was present sitting at the edge of the stage drinking wine with a few others for the entire show. Eddie introduced "Alive" by dedicating it to Rodman, so then Rodman comes out during the guitar solo and toasts Eddie-the place went nuts. Eddie then proceeded to climb up atop of Rodman' shoulders for the finale of "Alive." It was quite a sight to see Eddie still singing as he hung off Rodman's shoulders upside-down. It was the climax of the show. 

The band then left, returning moments later to play "Who You Are". "Even Flow" and "State of Love and Trust"- a song Eddie introduced as one they hadn't played in awhile , but it sounded incredible with Eddie making a lot of hand gestures and swearing quite a bit during the quickest song played that night. "Daughter" was played slowly, deliberately, and "Blood" was very hard initially, but then slowed down in the middle as Eddie did his best Bowie impression as PJ covered "Fame" for a few minutes. Once that was over the Fastbacks came back out for an upbeat and quick-paced version of the Who's "Leaving Here" which Eddie briefly and purposefully introduced to the especially rough young men in front. With that the band left. Surprisingly Eddie came back out and asked that all the lights be turned back on. So Eddie, alone, grabs his Fender and introduces an older song called "Patriot" that he had received a letter from a fan about. He called this kid's ex-girlfriend a bitch for stealing his bootleg and dedicated this version to the guy who lost his beloved tape. The song was amazing, and Eddie purposefully belted out the line "I sure as hell ain't no Republican" to massive applause. After that Eddie commented on how loud the crowd was for such a small group, casually thanked everyone and called it a night. 

The band seemed very quiet but intense, especially Eddie, all night long. There were some great moments, and a very enthusiastic and anxious crowd. The performance was better than the Boston Garden show I saw during the Vs. tour because of the intimacy provided by the venue. For the same reason it felt like a bunch of friends playing for a small group instead of the biggest band in the world playing the most anticipated date of their long-awaited tour. Thanks for an amazing performance, guys. 

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