Pearl Jam, Bologna, 14 September 2006

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Pearl Jam’s Bologna concert was extremely hot. By the end every single piece of my clothing was saturated.

The setlist:

Setlist: Small Town, Do The Evolution, Animal, Severed Hand, Given To Fly, World Wide Suicide, Save You, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Marker In The Sand, Green Disease, Daughter/(It’s Ok by Dead Moon), Alone, Whipping, Present Tense, Comatose, Porch

1st encore: Black, Better Man, Life Wasted, Alive
2nd encore: Bu$hleaguer, Why Go, Baba O’Riley (by the Who), Indifference

Highlights included Bu$hleaguer, Present Tense, Baba O’Riley and Indifference.

Here are some photos:



The instructions for the bus to and from the concert area

The support band My Morning Jacket

Some local fans handed out photocopies of the Italian version of It’s Ok by Dead Moon, a tag often added to Daughter. Eddie only sang the chorus in Italian.

Eddie pointing to someone in the first few rows of the crowd

Matt during his Even Flow drum solo

Stone on guitar and Boom on keyboards

3 guitarists: Mike (lead), Stone (rhythm) and Jeff (bass)

Sweating near the end of the concert

Eddie with the George W Bush mask during Bu$hleaguer



The bastard with the tambourine and the person next to him (out of shot) pushed their way through to the front row. They didn’t have fan club wristbands (so they weren’t let in early) yet they still got to the front. And he got a tambourine! When the guy next to him was pushing through I told him to f*** off. He promised me he wasn’t pushing-yeah right!

The band members line up to bow at the end of the concert

The Bologna concert ticket

Ramazan, AFL Grand Final And Autumn

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I will post more photos from my trip to Italy and Switzerland soon. In the meantime, here are the main stories of the past week (not counting this morning’s bomb explosion):

Ramazan

Last Sunday (24 September) Ramazan (Ramadan) began in Turkey. The main changes I notice in Mersin during this holiest of Muslim months are:

a) The drum banging (and the consequential car alarms) on the street at 3 or 4 am in the morning.

b) Work mates and other folks refraining from drinking, smoking and eating during daylight hours.

c) Businesses changing their offerings and trading conditions, particularly those in the food industry.

I hope to write a more detailed Ramazan post soon. In the meantime, you should visit the great Ramadan blog written by some Nomadlifers.

AFL Grand Final

Shortly after 7 am yesterday (30 September) morning Peter gave me a call. Unlike in 2005, this year’s AFL grand final was on Fox Sports Middle East. And it was a great game, despite the stupid 5+ minute ad breaks after each goal in the first half. Even though West Coast defeated Sydney by one point in a thriller, it still wasn’t as good as 2004’s final 🙂

Autumn Is Here

The generally pleasant weather of autumn announced its arrival with a bang. A very short but extremely heavy storm hit Mersin. I was driving in my boss’s Volkswagen Beetle at the time and the visibility was very poor. Thankfully, I got through the violent weather without accident.

Bologna, Italy

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The first of Pearl Jam’s Italian concerts was in Bologna on 14 September. To get to Bologna from Bern I had to change trains in Milan. Passing through the beautiful Alps, the weather changed from partially cloudy in Switzerland to overcast and rainy in Italy. There was no passport inspection on the train, a great contrast to any Turkish border crossing.

Swiss Alps

At Bologna train station I met my cousin Graeme. We stayed in a chalet Centro Turistico Citta’ di Bologna. At EUR 65 a night it was good value but in an out of town location. Other Pearl Jam fans staying their included Finn Perttu and 4 Icelandic folks.

As I was in Bologna primarily to see Pearl Jam I only had a short while the following morning to see the city.

Graeme, Perttu and myself in front of a sculpture, Bologna

Back In Mersin

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I arrived back to Mersin on Tuesday morning. I enjoyed my trip immensely although I have a few minor gripes:

– It rained for most of Pearl Jam’s outdoor Verona concert and the moisture ruined my digital camera.

– The setlists for the Bern, Bologna, Verona and Milan concerts were not very adventurous (in Pearl Jam terms) and not once did they play my favourite song Rearviewmirror. This is in contrast to the last 2 Italian concerts, Torino and Pistoia, which had more interesting setlists, including Rearviewmirror! In the 6 Pearl Jam concerts (the 4 recent ones plus Adelaide 1998 and Adelaide 2003) I have attended the band has never played Rearviewmirror. It’s a conspiracy…

Overall, the concerts and trip in general were both great. I will write more and upload photos soon.

G’day From Verona!

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Verona is a really beautiful city. I have some brilliant photos of the town and also from Bologna’s intense Pearl Jam concert but I probably won’t be able to upload them until I return to Turkey next week.

Tonight it’s Pearl Jam’s concert in the ancient Arena and then tomorrow Graeme and I are off to Milan.

The pizza, pasta, espresso, tiramisu and gelati are all delicious!

Hi From Bologna!

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I am writing from the home of spaghetti bolognaise. Unfortunately I won’t get around to eating any. Yesterday I met cousin Graeme at the train station. He is travelling with me (but not attending the concerts) for the rest of the tour.

Last night’s Pearl Jam concert was very intense and hot in the crowd. I again was second row general admission on the right (Stone’s) side. It was so hot and sweaty all my clothes, including my jocks, was saturated. When I tried to take my t-shirt off after the concert it was stuck so hard to me that I ended ripping it in the process!

After the concert a Finnish guy and I couldn’t find the correct bus stop to our accommodation out of town. A bus driver going on the same route but in the opposite direction especially drove us to our destination after his shift had finished (at around 1 am in the morning). What a legend!

That is all for now. I hope to upload some more photos (I have some brilliant Bologna concert shots) when I get to Verona.

Pearl Jam, Bern, 13-09-2006

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Tonight’s concert was really good. As we had fan club tickets, Karin and I could get in 15 minutes earlier than those with normal tickets. The set contained many older songs and a few surprises.

Set List: Go, Animal, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Hail Hail, Dissident, Breakerfall, Even Flow, Glorified G, Small Town, Sleight Of Hand, Jeremy, Marker In The Sand, Better Man, Army Reserve, Satan’s Bed, You Are

1st encore: Garden, Low Light, Do The Evolution, Alive
2nd encore: Last Exit, Why Go, Rocking in the Free World (by Neil Young), Yellow Ledbetter/(Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix)

The following photos were taken from the second row on the right side (general admission). On this side the crowd was more unruly than the other so we had to watch ourselves.


Jeff, Matt and Ed


Matt doing a drum solo during ‘Even Flow’


Mike, Stone, Jeff, Ed and Matt


Ed near crowd