The doors to The Meadows (in Hartford, CT) opened at seven on that early October night. The Fastbacks, the opening band for Pearl Jam from Seattle, had a lot of energy. But everyone was so anxious to be at the Pearl Jam concert that no one was really into their music.

At about nine-thirty the lights dimmed again. Everyone stood up and started screaming as Pearl Jam took the stage. The only lights on the stage were candles and a string of lights hanging from above. For their opening song they played "Long Road." Eddie Vedder was very friendly and thanked the fans for their support. Pearl Jam played everyone's old favorites like "Jeremy," "Black," "Evenflow," and "Alive" along with new songs like "Red Mosquito" "Hail, Hail," "Present Tense" and "Who You Are." At one point, Eddie threw a tambourine into the crowd. A mass of people began fighting over it. Eddie got off the stage to try to stop the fight when everyone in the first section rushed the stage. There were security guards everywhere, but they were helpless against the crowd's strength. A massive mosh pit covered the area surrounding the stage. Eddie Vedder did not want the security guards to start trying to control the crowd, so he suggested that the surfing stop. The consequences for those that did not stop would be to have a police escort out of the concert. This stopped most people but a few still continued. Eddie Vedder repeatedly told them to stop but eventually became frustrated and stormed off the stage. Meanwhile, the people up on the lawn seats in a struggle to see what was happening down in front ran into a wall of force as the SWAT team showed up and started pepper spraying the crowd to stop them from trying to move forward.

After a while Pearl Jam came back on stage to do two more encores and finish off with the long-awaited "Yellow Ledbetter." Many would agree that the concert was the best they have ever attended with the exception of the appearence made by the SWAT team