Invading the land of the Bu$hleaguer, Pearl Jam marched headstrong into the massive Verizon Center in downtown Washington, DC for what turned out to be one of the best shows of this Summer tour. An overly enthusiastic crowd greeted the band with rousing applause and cheers, and the entire arena was on its feet and giving it their all from start to finish—a very remarkable sight and an experience to behold. From the vantage point of this reviewer, the house sound was dialed in from the first notes of “Hard To Imagine” and it only proceeded to get louder and crisper as the night moved on, so hats off to front of house soundman John Burton.

Aside from their appeal as one of the world’s greatest rock bands, seeing Pearl Jam live entails a great deal of spontaneity and improvisation, which obviously adds to the desire to want to see them so often, and it’s moments like the aborted “Evacuation” at this show that hails the band as not only always in the moment, but even open to embracing their occasional shortcomings. And in DC, they took that moment and turned on a dime and took the show to a continually higher mark with “Corduroy,” “I Got Id,” “Light Years” and “Green Disease.” An interesting, first time ‘You Trilogy’ of “You Are,” “U” and “Who You Are” came towards the end of the main set with unanimous approval from the still raucous DC crowd.

Delivering two encore sets that kept the energy rising, the versions of “Comatose,” “Given To Fly,” the tour breakout of “Come Back” and “Crazy Mary” will transcend you right smack into the heart of this show. Top it off with an “All Along The Watchtower” that featured a youngster named Jake pulled from the front row living the dream and playing Eddie’s guitar with the band before the finale of “Yellow Ledbetter,” and you’ve got yourself a bootleg you’ll be cranking many times over.