Delusions of... Everything: Pearl Jam in Ten

If you've missed previous installments of my Pearl Jam story you can read them here.

Track 5 - Black "... All five horizons revolved around ~~her~~ their soul, As the earth to the sun..."

The thing about PJ fans is they travel to watch the band play. Their following is kind of like that of the Grateful Dead. Some fans will go to 5, 10 or even 20 shows on a tour. Maybe they will follow them around the western part of the US, or the eastern, or even follow them around Europe. I came to learn this while I was a participant on the message boards and chat rooms. It was intriguing to me. Travel to another state (or outside the country) for the purpose of watching a band play?!

The four shows Pearl Jam performed in Seattle in December of 02 were a warm up for the upcoming 2003 tour to support their new album. Once the US dates were announced ideas for a meet up started being thrown around. There was a pretty good mix of west and east coasters who I chatted with everyday... Where we could meet that was kind of in the middle, but also touristy? Las Vegas, of course!

Now I had to convince Handy Man that we wanted to go to Las Vegas on a vacation, take the kids, visit my aunt and uncle, OH YEAH... And see Pearl Jam in concert and maybe meet some of my internet friends I kept talking about. After his initial shock wore off (he's always shocked when I bring something up he's not used to doing) he agreed! The kids were excited! Even better, my parents decided to meet us there, to visit my aunt and uncle AND to watch the kids while we gambled and saw Pearl Jam perform.

For those who have met, in real life, people you first knew on the internet you know it can be a little un-nerving. I mean, how is it done? Do you hold a sign with a name on it at the meeting spot? Do you just wander around looking lost and when someone else looks lost do you say Are you...? We had cell phones, but unfortunately there is no cell reception inside the casinos. Handy Man and I met up with Dan and his girlfriend Amber first. We were staying at the same hotel and we had already met Dan in December, so that one was easy. Chrissy, from Boston, and her husband Mark were staying at the same hotel too. If I'm remembering correctly we got in touch through the hotel phone and made plans to meet up for dinner in one of the hotel restaurants (Chrissy can correct me if I'm wrong).

I was most excited about meeting Chrissy, but very nervous too. What if we didn't get along like we did on the internet? What if there was no "click" between us? What if she thought I was old and boring? What if we couldn't find anything to talk about in real life? I'm not sure if she was having the same apprehensions. Of course all my fears were nothing but wasted energy. We hit it off, especially after the show when we drank and laughed until all hours of the morning! She is one of the best friends I've had and I'm so glad I went out of my comfort zone and took a chance by traveling to Las Vegas to meet other Pearl Jam fans!

The show was amazing by the way! We had great seats, up a little on the side with a fabulous view of the stage. I can't tell you who the opening band was, because I don't remember. What I do remember was the crowd reaction when Pearl Jam took the stage. It can only be described as a loud roar with everyone on their feet. It was like nothing I'd experienced in Seattle. At that moment I understood that Seattle really is a slightly subdued place to see a concert, at least compared to Las Vegas. I understood the whole traveling to see them play! At one point the crowd sing-a-long was so loud I thought the roof was going to fall in. Handy Man and I were in awe, we just kept looking at each other with the most dumbfounded looks on our faces. I remember thinking that I couldn't believe we were part of such an electric crowd. And it just got hotter when Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart joined Pearl Jame on stage for a rocking encore performance of Rockin in the Free World. Simply no words for the whole experience.

The meet up in the hotel bar after was a blast! We met Buby, from Mexico, Phil from California, Zut and his wife from Colorado. Chrissy, Dan, Amber, Handy Man and I were there too. We laughed and talked for hours, it was great!

Here are the pictures from my scrapbook: