Pearl Jam

I used to be quite a Pearl Jam fan. H was a huge fan. When she found out that they were playing here I wasn’t really that fussed about seeing them. H really wanted too. However, no-one else was up for seeing them so I decided I’d go along with her. We bought tickets a few weeks ago and because we’d left it quite late (it was their third and final night in Sydney) the only seats we could get had a “side view”.





























No sooner had I bought the tickets then I really began to look forward to the gig. Afterall, they have created some wicked tunes. The Kings of Leon were supporting and from what I ‘ve heard, they too are pretty decent.

(Unfortunately) last Saturday was a ripper of a day. Beautiful clear skies, warm water, surfing, snorkelling, tasty breakfast, haircut, beer and beach cricket with friends meant that we didn’t leave Manly till quite late. Needless to say we arrived ten minutes into the Pearl Jam set and missed all of The Kings of Leon. The Acer Arena is part of the Olympic site but Sydney Public Transport only pulls out all the stops when there is an event going on at the Olympic Stadium, not when thousands of people are all headed to the building next door.

The Acer Arena is an excellent indoor venue that holds about 18k people (all seated, but generally standing). The sound is incredible and we had great seats at the front of the upper tier with no-one standing in front of us. Row A! Although side-on we had a great view of the band and the thousands of people filling the venue.





























Although we missed the first two tracks (one of which was Better Man grrrrr!) we were there to see them play some enormous tunes, like 'Even Flow', 'Alive', 'Daughter', 'Rockin’ In The Free World' and 'Jeremy' (which I was dead chuffed to see played live). It was like going back in time. Eddie Vedder belted the tunes out with all those mannerisms he had way back in the day. There were long, self-indulgent guitar and drum solo’s and band members jumping around all over the place. It was great.















The crowd (late twenties, early thirties) were well up for it and the band played for over two hours. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves which is always good to see, especially as we’d shelled out the best part of $100 for the pleasure (maybe that was why they were so into it!).

And they made this kids day.....















So in the space of 8 days H and I have seen U2 and Pearl Jam. That isn’t bad going at all.

Next up, it’s Robbie Williams!

And this week I got tickets to see this band in February.

Result!