Pearl Jam – Buffalo 10.1.96 Review

Marine Midland Arena – Buffalo, NY
Opening Band: The Fastbacks
Attendance: 21,000

Main Set: Oceans, Last Exit, Hail Hail, Spin the Black Circle, Animal, Tremor Christ, In My Tree, Corduroy, Lukin, Betterman/(Save It For Later), Not For You, State of Love and Trust, Rats, Jeremy, Off He Goes, Footsteps, Whipping, Immortality, Alive, Porch, Even Flow, Daughter

Encore 1: Blood/(Heaven)/(Fame), Present Tense, Yellow Ledbetter

For my first PJ show, it was great. However, I found Ed seemed to be a bit tired, and I think this showed in the fact that he screwed so many songs up. I’ve seen much better shows since, but a decent show (especially since it was my first). B+ (and I’ve got the video if anyone is interested, pretty good video and sound quality)

Two Feet Thick notes:

‘Oceans’ hasn’t opened a show since the final show of 1995. ‘Rats’ is started, paused (Ed notes, “OK, we haven’t done this one for a while and we’re gonna do it right”) and the song is picked up again. Lyrical changes to ‘Rats’ include “drag the bones of the Grateful Dead.” After a lyric flub at the start of ‘Off He Goes,’ Ed modifies the lyrics to “… I should relax.” By request, ‘Footsteps’ is played for the first time this tour. A climactic ‘Immortality’ makes the smooth transition into ‘Alive.’ After a problematic ‘Porch,’ the song is restarted … with Ed apologizing and saying he has a lot on his mind with the elections and all. During the ‘Porch’ jam, Ed pulls a kid up on stage who is wearing an old Who shirt and swaps shirts with him. The kid stage dives into the crowd but the shirt is instantly ripped off him by the audience. PJ immediately return after ‘Porch,’ with Ed commenting about a sign in the crowd reading “Don’t delay” and launching into a version of ‘Even Flow’ with a cool jam. ‘Blood’ includes a handful of lines from ‘Heaven’ by the Talking Heads prior to the ‘Fame’ reference. A request that the crowd “listen to the words” is the lead in to a lovely ‘Present Tense.’ Great connection between PJ and the audience at this show.

Buffalo 96

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