Pearl Jam certainly know how to look after their fans: they let a guy who has attended over 100 of their gigs pick the setlist for their recent show in Amsterdam.
Brian Farias – who has attended a whopping 108 Pearl Jam Concerts during his life – was given the honour by frontman Eddie Vedder as a thank you for his incredible dedication to the band.
Farias has followed the band from its humble beginnings: he was a fan club member of Mother Love Bone – the band that would eventually see its members form Pearl Jam. From there, he naturally joined their ‘Ten Club’ as one of the original members.
Farias told Rolling Stone that despite the incredibly awesome honour, he actually found putting the setlist together a rather stressful process.
“It was really stressful, because it’s something you know is never gonna happen again,” he said. “You’re only getting one shot at it.”
Farias went through around 40-50 setlists before giving the band his draft for the Amsterdam concert – of which Pearl Jam ended up playing 90 per cent. He was also invited on stage at the end to take the closing bow with the band.
“It’s better than winning the lottery,” Farias said. “For all the money in the world, I couldn’t bribe Eddie Vedder to let me make his setlist. It was like programming your iPod, and then Pearl Jam show up in your yard and play it for you.”
The setlist that Farias picked included a handful of vintage tracks – including Crowd of Thoms, a vintage Mother Love Bone track, and Bugs – a track from their album Vitalogy, which they’ve only played live once before.
Brian Farias’ Pearl Jam Setlist:
‘Wash’
‘Last Exit’
‘Animal’
‘State of Love and Trust’
‘Severed Hand’
‘Corduroy’
‘I Got S–t’
‘Daughter/WMA’
‘Nothing As It Seems’
‘Got Some’
‘Dissident’
‘Once’
‘Glorified G’
‘Deep’
‘The Fixer’
‘Bugs’
‘Better Man’
Encore 1:
‘Release’
‘Hail, Hail’
‘Alone’
‘Footsteps’
‘Rearview Mirror’
Encore 2:
‘Crown of Thorns’
‘Sonic Reducer’
‘Alive’
‘Baba O’Riley’
‘Yellow Ledbetter/Little Wing’