Pearl Jam at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit

Pearl Jam 'Lightning Bolt' mini-Midwest tour 2014 - Detroit

My favorite band in the whole wide world is Pearl Jam, and I saw them for the first time in April 1994, and this past Thursday night in Detroit, was my 24th or 25th time seeing them in these 20 years. In what first started as a stressful event in trying to obtain concert tickets from the 10 Club (PJ fan club, member since 1996), I lost the raffle for General Admission seats. But as luck would have it, I wound up getting great seats from Ticketbastard instead. And as luck would have it again, Eddie Vedder found his way to MY section, 109, to sing during one of their most mainstream popular hits, 'Last Kiss'.

As you will see from the video, it was surreal. Eddie left the stage to sing in the audience. He goes towards the back first but then realizes there is no way up to the audience at that time. So he comes back up towards the front and on the left side of the stage to Section 109, my ticketbastard seat section! You can hear me saying 'Oh my God, Oh my God'! as Eddie comes up the rows. I'm in row 9, so he got up to row 7. It was just so awesome! The Detroit show was incredible and Eddie was very chatty, drinking a lot of the wine - he shared a bottle with the audience. Stone, Boom, Mike, Matt, and Jeff were as usual, putting on excellent performances. Words fail me to fully express what this band means to me. I love them so much and wish that time, money, and logistics allowed me to see them more frequently. So it means all the more to me when I do see them that I am always, ALWAYS so happy and enjoying the show.

The last time I saw Pearl Jam was in 2011 in Toronto, and earlier that year I saw Eddie Vedder on his solo tour. I look forward to 20+ more years of seeing PJ in concert! Here is the video and some select images from the concert: