Pearl Jam @ Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario - September 13th, 2005

Opening act: Sleater-Kinney. They opened for Pearl Jam on every show of this tour, and would break up not too long afterwards.

Click here for the set list.

I thought we were tired. This was the start of the last third of the Canadian tour for Pearl Jam, and they were looking tired. Between the show in Kitchener and this one they played London. So they went west and then east again ("Looks kids, Big Ben, Parliament!"). I would have understood if they just phoned this one in.

But they didn't. Instead they put together a show of a lot of the lesser-played songs. For example, "U", one of my favorite B-sides. It was a nice, refreshing show for all involved.

But that wasn't the best part.

During the first set of encores, the band started milling around and putting on tuxedo jackets while Eddie explained that that night two of his best friends were getting married in Seattle, and they couldn't be there and felt like real jerks about it. So they took out a video camera and he had the crowd yell some good wishes to the bride and groom and then "Okay, on three, everyone yell "Eddie's an asshole!"" (for missing the wedding) which we all did. And then they said they were going to play the couple's song, which was Neil Young's "Harvest Moon". While they do cover Neil a lot, up until this point they had only done "Harvest Moon" on a couple of occasions. They played a lovely version of it, and of course the crowd ate it up. It must have made quite a connection with the band because what was supposed to be for just one night became a regular feature on the tour (the song, not the whole skit).

This was a good show. Instead of a full rock show, it felt like a nice night spent with a couple of friends.

And afterwards we loaded up everything and headed to Montreal.