Pearl Jam Let Superfan Create Set List

Nearly every music lover has dreamed of meeting their favorite group before a concert and being asked if they had any special requests. Pearl Jam have done even better than that. For their June 27 show, they chose a longtime member of their fan club and had him create the entire set list for the performance.

According to Rolling Stone, Brian Farias, whose love of Pearl Jam extends back to before its formation (when Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were in Mother Love Bone), was flown to Amsterdam where he presented the band with the last of “40 or 50 drafts” of the set list. Pearl Jam played “90 to 95 percent” of the songs he chose with a promise to play the others at the next concert Farias attends, provided he gives them a week’s notice.

Farias, a 46-year old from Rhode Island, said the challenge was creating a balance between obscurities he had never heard live before (such as ‘Bugs’ and ‘Alone’) and audience favorites. “It was really stressful,” he said. “Because it’s something you know is never gonna happen again. You’re only getting one shot at it.”

After the final encore, Pearl Jam brought Farias out on to the stage to take a bow with them.

“It still doesn’t seem real,” he said a week after the show. “I couldn’t bribe Eddie Vedder to let me make his set list. It was like programming your iPod and then Pearl Jam show up in your yard and play it for you.”

Set List:

‘Wash’

‘Last Exit’

‘Animal’

‘State of Love and Trust’

‘Severed Hand’

‘Corduroy’

‘I Got Shit’

‘Daughter/WMA’

‘Nothing As It Seems’

‘Got Some’

‘Dissident’

‘Once’

‘Glorified G’

‘Deep’

‘The Fixer’

‘Bugs’

‘Better Man’