Voodoo Music Fest Day One New Orleans, LA 11/1/13

Obviously, when you have fall break at college, the first thing you do is buy tickets to see your favorite band and go on a solo road trip. Right? Right. Since (at the time) I did not think I would be able to go on Pearl Jam's fall tour, I was pretty upset. But, Pearl Jam announced they would be playing Voodoo Fest in New Orleans over my fall break. Yeah, I'm so there. As soon as classes were done, I made a pit stop at my parents house, and then I headed to New Orleans. One of the few reasons this trip was possible is that I have family in New Orleans and they let me crash on their couch for the weekend.

The first band I saw on Friday was Youngblood Hawke. I first heard of them from VH1's Top 20 Countdown and I really liked their sound. They played (not in order)

Rootless

Dannyboy

In Our Blood

Dreams

Stars (Hold On)

Last Time

Protect Yourself

We Come Running

Forever

Glacier

At the end of their set, Sam Martin, their singer, asked who was ready for Pearl Jam. The crowd was very enthusiastic, as was I. It is awesome to know that they like Pearl Jam too. When their set was over, I ran to the main stage (also known as The Ritual Stage) and started to stake out my spot for PJ. I managed to catch the end of The New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. If Jazz music is your thing, then I highly recommend looking them up. But for others, who are just impatient and want to see their favorite band, I do not recommend them. After TNOPHJB, was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Never in my 15 years of concert going have I ever heard bass that loud. It was so loud that I could feel it in my throat and it was hard to breathe. I am not the best with Top 40 music, so I do not remember every single song they played but I do remember Thrift Shop, during which, Macklemore got a random person's costume jacket from the crowd and placed it on the mic stand for the duration of the song. The bass was the loudest during this song and I could not hear one word he was saying. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it and I did too. This was followed by my favorite song, Can't Hold Us. I had been listening to that song all week leading up to that so I could try to learn all of the words. I was fairly successful in my efforts. The crowd went crazy during the NANANANANANANANA part. A few songs after that, he played Same Love and gave a very inspiring speech about the meaning of the song. Fast forward a few more songs. He said that one of his friends from England came all the way to New Orleans to see him. He walked off stage and when he came back, he said that his friend was David Bowie and walked out dressed as the man himself. He put on the aforementioned jacket and a wig and proceeded to play And We Danced. The crowd, which consisted of middle aged men, was not enthused. Finally, Macklemore ended and It was time for Pearl Jam. Oh, my gosh, I was so excited. Since we were in New Orleans (the home of the New Orleans Saints), Steve Gleason, a player from Spokane, Washington who has Lou Gehrig's disease and is an avid Pearl Jam fan, introduced the band. We were later told that he made the set-list. Eddie also announced that Gleason was part of the band. The band played

Sirens (Such an interesting opener)

In My Tree (Love it! Great diehard crowd participation)

Save You (FAST SONG!)

Corduroy

Animal

Lightning Bolt (My favorite song on LB!)

Mind Your Manners (Love hearing this song live)

Given to Fly (One of my favorite PJ songs!) (Read below for the story on this song)

Getaway (I think this was only the second time this has been played)

Even Flow

Present Tense (AH!!!)

Severed Hand (See below for the story of this song! Favorite song on the self titled album!)

Daughter with Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II

Jeremy

Inside Job

State of Love and Trust

Rearviewmirror

(encore)

Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (OH MY GOD! ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS TO HEAR LIVE!!! I have had the luxury of hearing this version twice. The diehards were going nuts)

Do the Evolution

Go (After 7 Pearl Jam shows, I finally got to hear this song live. It is one of my favorites)

Black (Gave me chills)

Alive

Rockin' in the Free World

Yellow Ledbetter

Throughout the night, there were several things that are worth mentioning because, well, it just would not have been a Pearl Jam show without these.

Eddie made a comment about the VIP section [pointing to his left] "The jacuzzi section or whatever the fuck that is over there." We all know that Eddie has never been a fan of special treatment of fans, but whatever.

Eddie asked the crowd a number of questions: Who has been arrested before? Who has been arrested in New Orleans, and Who thinks they are going to get arrested tonight? Of course, for all three questions the crowd screamed at the top of their lungs. For the second question, Eddie said "I should raise my hand" since he was arrested almost twenty years to the week in the French Quarter. He said that if we were ever in Seattle, and we were arrested, we could call one of his friends and "He'll pay your bail or give you $10 to buy some big, floppy old man shoes. His name is Macklemore. His number is *********" and Macklemore ran out to stop him. Given To Fly was then dedicated to him.

During Severed Hand, Eddie made a comment about the song being written about "all the overdoses on marijuana in Seattle since it was legalized. Obviously, I'm joking, because that's never fucking happened, EVER!"

During RVM, The lyric "I'll forget but I won't forgive" was repeated multiple times.

And how about Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns?! I have always loved their version of these songs and I have had the fortune of hearing them live, not once, but twice (the other time at Wrigley Field). Chloe Dancer has only been played seven times and Crown of Thorns has been played 22 times. All of the die hard fans around me, including myself were freaking out and several of us, including myself, were crying. That is one of those songs that I could hear every time I see PJ and I would not get tired of it.

How could we forget about Eddie Vedder calling out the people in the crowd wearing costumes? One was a possessed unicorn looking thing and the other was a bunny. They somehow were picked out by Eddie and got to go on stage. When he called them out, he said "I heard about this on a Sonic Youth record. Something about how people can't get sexually excited unless they are dressed up like that. Is that you? I knew I would never see anything like this until I got to New Orleans. I am in room 518 at the Hudson Arm or whatever it is. I'll bring my teddy bear." The crowd laughed for a long while, including myself. It was a moment I wish I could un-hear, but it was still funny nonetheless.

Lastly, Eddie and Mike had some fun with the hanging lanterns. Eddie jumped on and started swinging on one of the lanterns and Mike ended up smashing one of the lanterns with his guitar and it was great. He eventually swept all the glass(?) to the side and kept on playing.

I have seen Pearl Jam at festivals in the past, but this was by far the best. (Uh, hello, Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns! Duh!) Steve Gleason picked a great set that combined the hits but still maintained a good variety of die hard favorites! I salute you, Mr. Gleason.