Welcome to In The Present Tense!------------------------------Celebrating 20 Years of Pearl Jam

Friday, January 18, 2008

MSG II 1998!!!

So this is night two at Madison Square Garden in New York 1998. An amazing set all the way through but this show is most known for the first time the boys played "Breath" in a very long time. It was a long campaign by the fans that made it all happen. You'll hear Ed remark about the whole thing just before they deliver this gem of a song! Interestingly enough I seem to recall another song campaign beginning at the Garden in 2003 when Ed read the sign that started it all: "Play Leash You Pussies!!" They eventually did 'drop the leash' but we had to wait until Boston 2006 for that one! Anyway, this is a great show. Hope you enjoy it. Got to the 1998 bootleg section to get!! Notes below are from Two Feet Thick!!

09/11/98 - Madison Square Garden: New York, NY [130m]
support act: Ben Harper
set: Release, Hail Hail, Animal, Even Flow, Given to Fly, Corduroy, MFC, Habit, Faithfull, Daughter/(Beginning to See the Light)/(WMA), Wishlist, Nothingman, Immortality, RVM, Brain of J, Black, Do the Evolution
enc 1: Breath, State of Love and Trust, Off He Goes, Leatherman, Better Man/(Save it for Later), Mankind, Baba O'Riley
enc 2: Indifference (with Ben Harper), Alive
notes: Returning for the encore and yet another sea of "Breath" signs on ever single level of the Garden, Ed tells the crowd they are never satisfied:
"You fucking cocksuckers. [shakes head] You fucking bitch! You know, we come up here as a collective band and we give and we give and you just fucking want more ... and you know what? You deserve it. This is like some kind of organized religion here; I've never seen anything like it. Do you see what's happening? ... the third night in a row, right? [applause] Well, fuck you. We're gonna play it!"
Leading to the first playing of 'Breath' since 1994!!! woo hoo!!! With a brief announcement ("same record, different track"), they follow with 'SoL&T.' 'Mankind' is introduced by Stone saying, "Well, since we're playing every song in the catalog..." 'Baba' is intro'd as being a response to "corporate rock bands who make the mistake of trying to cover a real rock song." 'Indifference' is played with an ecstatic Ben Harper (who has been including 'Indifference' at some of his shows). During 'Alive,' Ed makes four attempts to toss his microphone over the vocal monitor rig above his head, and finally gets it over, but instead of just standing there, he proceeds to CLIMB UP THE MIC CORD and hang there for the rest of the song. Possibly the best show the band has ever played in their life. Period. (And they knew it, too.)

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