From http://welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/:

Still no confirmed sighting of Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf (M.S.S.). An anxious world holds collective breath... France refuses to support breath holding but would still like to be involved "once everyone exhales."

Ed Vedder after "Save You," April 3, 2003, Oklahoma City (Ford Center)

"I'm glad you could all be with us tonight. There's a lot of fucks in that last song, and it's fuckin' great to be here. And fuck is a great fuckin' word. And it seems like ten years ago, freedom of speech...it all had to do with if you could say fuck or not. Because it is, it's a word worth fighting for. You know, you say like, fuck him, fuck her, fuck me. Fuck. And then great ways to say it, you know: That's fuckin' beautiful. Fuck! And I personally can't say that I ever said it this way, but I'm sure you could say: Let's fuck.

"But now, freedom of speech, it has a lot to do with some much bigger issues. And somehow we played a show the other night and it's all of a sudden been misconstrued. They said 24 people left because they were upset at an anti-Bush administration remark.

"You're booing the story right? You're not booing me. Let's clarify that.

"You know, you could've written that story differently and you could've said 11,972 cheered and applauded at what the singer said. And we did support, pledged our suport and love to the troops. You know, how could we not be for the military? Look at this fuckin' haircut.

"So, no matter what it is, no matter how you feel, I think it's important for people to be able to protest, say what they feel, and put public pressure...put pressure on politicians and government just so that they will do a better job. There' snothing anti-patriotic about that. Because their job affects our families, our safety, our security, our relatives who are in the military, our friends, it affects everyone so we have a right to be a voice and be part of that, I would think, as part of a democracy. That's all we wanted to say.

"This is Given to Fly."

Pearl Jam
          Riot Act 2003
          Oklahoma City

Musical Quality:
Fun Factor:

Review:

On Thursday night (April 3), Pearl Jam rocked the Ford Center in downtown OKC. It was a truly amazing show, and I felt I should share my experience with you all (y'all). You see, I preordered the "official" bootleg of the show, which will be shipped to me in five days or so. But preordering also allows me to download the unmastered MP3s of the show the day after. They're available for download, and I encourage you to give them a listen. Below is the setlist, and comments for some of the songs that really stand out. Of course, when I received the mastered 2-CD set, I'll be sure to rip that and give you access to the higher-quality recording. Enjoy!

1. Long Road - A lesser-known song from the Vitalogy era. It was featured on the "Merkin Ball" single with another song, "I Got Id."
   
2. Grievance - This song was obviously tinged with an anti-war, pro-protest sentiment: "I pledge my grievance to the flag." Only song from Binaural, Pearl Jam's 2000 album.
   
3. Jools and Jim (Pete Townshend) - Only the end of this song (about 30 seconds) as sung, which is just "Oklahoma" repeated, followed by a final "OK." The crowd went nuts.
   
4. Corduroy - The first song from Vitalogy, and a welcome one. Features a solo by guitarist Mike McCready (at least I think it was, I was kind of far away). Overall, the band did a good job of highlighting both of its awesome guitarists.
   
5. Save You - The first song from their latest release, Riot Act. Full of energy, full of "fuck"s, as Eddie mentions a bit later. Just plain cool.
   
6. Given To Fly - This is a long track, mostly because of Eddie's speech at the beginning about...well, what else - free speech. Apparently, two dozen people walked out of Wednesday's concert because of anti-Bush sentiments. Normally, Eddie comes out with a rubber Bush mask, dances around the stage in a gold sequined suit, then places the mask on top of the mic stand and proceeds to sing Bushleaguer. Well, none of that happened in OKC (thankfully, because half of the crowd might've left). But still, he thought it right to let his beliefs be known. Booing persisted, but come on. This is a Pearl Jam concert. You know they're going to be liberal, anti-war, anti-Bush. Why go if you're going to boo them? Makes no sense.... Anyway, the song itself was really good, and it was the first track from Yield.
   
7. Dissident - Ahh, track five from Vs. What a great song, and even better life. The crowd treated the beginning as a sort of "lighter" song. Perhaps they didn't know about the chorus.... Always remember, escape is never the safest path.
   
8. Even Flow - Once again, "Even Flow" cements Mike McCready as one of the coolest lead guitarists of his generation. The first song from Ten - and I'm not complaining. Extremely energetic, Even Flow rocked, plain and simple. The six-minute-plus time is mostly due to Mike's improvisation near the middle of the song (a two-minute solo). Absolutely brilliant. Ed says of Mike, "he just played all the notes."
   
9. I Am Mine - The first single from Riot Act, and a nice change of pace from "Even Flow." Eddie's vocals are great, and the band is right there with him. The build-up is perfect and Mike's short solo at the end is just right.
   
10. Love Boat Captain - Third song of the evening from Riot Act. I knew they brought the keyboardist on the tour for some reason...
    
11. 1/2 Full - Another amazing solo from Mike McCready. The fourth song of the evening from Riot Act. Anyone who claims that Pearl Jam has "lost it" or can't rock any more...well, you should've been there.
    
12. Not For You - This song started with just drums, then the baseline. I don't think anyone recognized it until the rhythm guitar kicked in. I know I didn't. And speaking of still rocking...phew, what a rush. A little bit of improv near the end, very interesting. Second song of the night from Vitalogy, and there will be more....
    
13. Off He Goes - Ahh, the forgotten album. The only song of the night off No Code, Pearl Jam's 1996 album. Definitely a slower song, and worthy of lighter usage.
    
14. Elderly Woman - The best sing-a-long song ever! Ok, well, one of them. And sing along we did. Everyone did. It was fucking awesome. Wish I'd had the whole 4 East crew there with me. Started off real nice with Eddie counting and the band coming in right on time with his vocals. Can't get much better than that. Interesting: Ed dedicates the song to Chickasaw. Not sure if he meant Chickasha or what, but it was damn funny. From Vs, if you didn't know.
    
15. Untitled - A track debuted on Live on Two Legs, Pearl Jam's live album released in 1998. First song co-written with Matt Cameron, the band's new drummer (formerly of Soundgarden) who joined the band on their Yield tour to replace the departed Jack Irons.
    
16. MFC - Stands for "mini fast car," and a fast song at that. This was a fun one. From Yield.
    
17. Happy Birthday - Well, shit. Mike blew out one of his guitar amps. Ed says "sometimes happens twice a night." So, Ed drags out his ukulele. At a normal show, we'd here "Soon Forget," with Ed on the ukulele, from Binaural. But not tonight. Turns out it was Ed's brother's birthday, so we all sang happy birthday to him. And then we sang happy birthday to one of their light techs. Just wasting time, but it was cool.
    
18. Drifting - While Mike is getting his amp fixed, the boys pull out an rare one. This time it's "Drifting," their 1999 Christmas single. Ed claims it was "written while flying over Oklahoma," and it certainly has a "Western" edge to it. Features Ed on harmonica.
    
19. Get Right - Another song from Riot Act. The long break due to technical difficulties didn't bring the band down any..."Get Right" is just as energetic as the rest of the show has been so far.
    
20. DEEP - An oldie! The second song of the night from Ten, and it's rare one. In fact, before Thursday, they hadn't played it in seven years. Aren't those rare surprises cool? Eddie must've brushed on the lyrics, because he's dead-on. I checked.
    
21. Blood - Another surprising track, this one from Vs. One of those Ed-screaming-for-three-minutes songs. But still damn cool.
    
22. Encore Break 1 - Oh no! They just left! No good byes. What does this mean? It's the encore break, dumbass.
    
23. Better Man - What a song to come back on. The lighters are back out, of course, but just for the beginning. And it's another sing-a-long. Who doesn't know Better Man? From Vitalogy.
    
24. Daughter/(War) - I'd been hoping for "Daughter" (from Vs) and finally I got to hear it. Was expecting the song to morph into W.M.A. as it usually does, but Ed asks the crowd if they "want to try a little freedom of speech." "We're not trying to push it, but it might be a good time to try a little freedom of speech. If you don't want to sing along, don't sing along. You have the freedom of silence as well. And if you disagree, I respect that. We respect that. More power to you. We respect that. The guy who wrote these next words, his name was Edwin Starr, and he passed away yesterday, and...just have to sing these words these words. We have to, you don't." I'm sure you know what comes next. There was an amazing number of people that actually sang along. Of course, there were still boos. Stupid Okies. Shut the hell up and let the man sing. Afterward, Ed says "thanks for letting us do that." What a nice guy.
    
25. Do The Evolution - A staple of Pearl Jam's live act and full of energy as always. Couldn't help but think about the Star Wars Episode I trailer. You know what I mean. From Yield.
    
26. Rearviewmirror - The big finale, or so we thought. Look for the nine or so minutes of "jamming" in the middle. Damn cool, and it would've been ok to end it with RVM. Of course, Yellow Ledbetter is a nice way to end too... From Vs
    
27. Encore Break #2 - Another break. I knew they'd come back. They always do two encores.
    
28. Alive - There had to be another big song from Ten. I'd been hoping for "Black," but "Alive" worked just fine. Only one question remained: what would they end with? There's only two choices, really: "Rockin' In the Free World" or "Yellow Ledbetter." Those of us who were lucky enough to be in Albuquerque on October 20, 2000 got both...but that's pretty rare.
    
29. Yellow Ledbetter - A great ending to a great show. Mike's guitar is flawless. In fact, he ends the show, with the rest of the band pretty much making their way off the stage. From the "Jeremy" single, perhaps the best that Pearl Jam has ever put out. Also includes "Footsteps," another great song.

Album Breakdown:

• 3 songs from Ten
  
• 5 songs from Vs
  
• 3 songs from Vitalogy
  
• 1 song from No Code
  
• 3 songs from Yield
  
• 1 song from Binaural
  
• 5 songs from Riot Act
  
• 4 b-sides
  
• 1 cover (2 if you count "War")
  
• 1 happy birthday

Oh, and here's an easily link if you want to download: ftp://bono:edge@129.15.136.176/MP3s/Pearl%20Jam/Pearl%20Jam%20-%20Oklahoma%20City/