My First Concert

When I was fourteen, shortly after my grunge obsession had kicked in, Pearl Jam went on tour. Since Kurt Cobain was dead and it was impossible to see Nirvana live, I settled for the next best thing: watching Eddie Vedder do his thing live. I can’t recall how exactly I convinced my mother to give me the money for the tickets, or how I convinced my step-father to drive Liz and I two states over to see them, but somehow we managed to get tickets and get to the show.

They had just released their album, “No Code” and although “Hail, Hail” was the most popular song on the radio at that time, I fell in love with the 4th track on the album, “In My Tree”. I listened to the entire album over and over in anticipation of my first real concert.

My stepfather made the three-hour drive to Hartford, CT and dropped us off at the show. Obviously he wasn’t going to come in the show with us and cramp our style, so he hung out by himself for a few hours and took a nap in the car while we went inside and did our thing. What a sport.

I can’t remember much about the concert, except for the fact that it was an outside venue, and we watched from the lawn as Eddie performed the new songs from “No Code”. I also remember how excited I was when he played “In My Tree”. When you’re fourteen, you don’t have a driver’s license and you don’t really have much going on in your little life, so an experience like this is like heaven. Being able to go off on your own, without your parents, and watch one of your favorite musicians perform. Actually, it’s still heaven to me, so you can imagine how I felt as the age of fourteen.

 “In My Tree” still makes me feel that weird nostalgic feeling. It’s funny how songs can really take you back to a certain place and time in your life. But they not only bring back the memory of a place and time, but more importantly, the memory of a feeling. Something that you felt inside at that moment in time, and when you listen to the song, you experience that same feeling all over again. It never ceases to amaze me.