pearl jam? wow. wow five times over.

here's how it went down - concert is set to start at eight, rob and i arrive in vegas at six thirty. we start bookin' it from our hotel at one end of the strip, to the mgm grand at the opposite end. at treasure island we come to the realization that at the rate we're going, we won't make it to the show on time, so we get a cab with an awesome couple who happened to be from canada. scott, the guy, was actually from edmonton, home to my sweet soul sistah cori, so that was neat. mindy was from calgary. they were super cool, and i wasn't even tempted to make an ass out of myself by saying 'eh' or anything. *l*

so we get to the mgm, pass through hordes of security, and are seated drinks in hand by about seven thirty. at eight the opening act idlewild came on and rocked the house. what an absolutely amazing band! they need to quit with the opening act bit already and get going on their own, they're that good!

so that was enjoyed for about forty-five minutes, and then the lights came on and the seats emptied in record time, their occupants (rob included) made a mad dash for the beer line. that's why you drink margaritas, my friend. the line isn't even an issue in your alcohol consumption when your drink of choice is margaritas. *g*

so beer and margaritas were purchased, and that's when we realized that the woman who had checked our tickets either had a twisted sense of humor, or was out and out batty. she had directed us to seats that matched our numbers, but were three sections over. whoa. so, we located our correct seats, which were even better than the first, and chatted for a bit. then a guy, who was first 'austin dude' but later became robby, sat down next to us in steve's seat and started chatting. and he was excited because some guy had sold him the ticket for $15 (they were going for $35), and it was legit, so hoorah! ;oD but he didn't dig his seat because he was next to some bah folks, so he asked if he could sit with us, and we said hell yeah, at least until steve and stoner boy josh showed up. truth be told, we would have preferred him to steve and the stoner any day, but whatevs. robby = good people. we found out he was from austin, in vegas since tuesday, and a guy who we wish lived down the street in san diego because that's just how cool he was.

so the concert began and deafness ensued. but deafness in a good way... as in, i can hear the music and nothing else, but it's aaaaall good! *l* the band jammed for about a half an hour, more beer and margaritas were consumed, steve and stoner boy finally showed nearly two hours late, the guy sitting next to me informed me one of his friends didn't show, so robby sat there, and everyone was happy! then a stop was put on the selling of beer (and margaritas) because some guy somewhere had passed out, and everyone who had been there since the start of the concert was cool with that, but our former and current roomies proceeded to pout and whine - but what's new? *g*

the concert raged on and on, and oh my gosh! eddie pointed directly to our section for the first encore and said "this is for the people in the back!" to avoid any misconceptions, he then took control of a spotlight and shined it over our area and said, "this section right here." the cheering, oh the cheering. the lost, cracking voices. and i'm pretty sure that the people in the back (as we actually weren't really that 'back') were ticked. heh. we weren't.

oh, and then the noise, everyone on their feet, the second encore! and i think it was the lead singer from heart that came on stage and they sang and eddie fell, and everyone cheered when he popped right back up, and some happy guy that was dancing got removed because some mgm dude was anal retentive. and then people were dancing and singing and eddie told us to blow the roof off and by god, i think we damn near did! *l*

the concert concluded at something like midnight, we said our good-byes to robby and the rest of the row, and left. steve and stoner boy wanted to hang out, but they were being so rude and well, they were party poopers, so rob and i went on a search for food instead. since yunno, we hadn't eaten all day. before leaving the hotel we ran in to scott again, and said good-bye, and he was just so friendly. and then we were on our way. we asked some cops were there was a burrito place (because some burritos places can make vegan stuff) and they told us, but when we walked the entire strip (that's right, we walked the entire strip, and in record time, too!) we discovered that said burrito place had closed up shop, and so we got into the car and drove until we found another one. got food, went back to the hotel room, ate it, and slept.

i had such an incredible time. i couldn't believe the energy that was in that place. i thought the coldplay concert had energy, and they did... but pearl jam just kind of took that and quadrupled it or something, maaaan!

go see pearl jam. one hopes and prays that they never break up and live forever, but yunno... that's never the case with good rock bands. so go see them as soon as possible. you won't regret it. nothing beats watchin' a bunch of aging rockers get down in front of hundreds of drunk people in the garden arena at mgm grand. no joke. i wouldn't trade that experience for anything in the world... short of an end to suffering. but for dramatic effect, let's just leave it at, "i wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the whole wide world."

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