500 Miles for Neil Young − 24 June, 1995

Nito and I had been discussing the upcoming summer concert lineup and we found that Pearl Jam was going to be playing at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on June 24. They had not toured for two years and this was to be a big event. It was perfect, SF was a good middle spot between the two of us and, well, it was SF. So the plan was that we would get to SF on that Friday and go to the concert on Saturday.

In the preceding months, Nito promised he would handle tickets and accommodations for the trip. Armed with this knowledge, I marked the date off my calendar and didn't worry about it again. My girlfriend at the time, "Little Business Manager", had a girlfriend in Modesto that she wanted to visit. The plan was to drive from LA to Modesto, shake a few hands, then head across the state by way of the 205 to the 580 and so on to get to SF. The plan was set.

I arrived late Friday June 23 into the city and picked Nito up from the airport. Tired and ready for bed I was anxious to get to our hotel room. I asked Mr. Pink what hotel we were staying at. His response was the first of many undesirable things that happened that weekend. He told me that he had failed to secure a room and that we would have to figure it out. First though, we needed to head into the city to buy extra tickets that Nito had promised to a friend "JS" that he had met a few times while at SF state. We were to meet some guy in a hotel lobby in the heart of SF's downtown area. Needless to say, we spent the next 2 hours trying to locate the hotel and “the guy” who was going to buy these tickets, but we found him and were able to unload them without any other problems.

Now deep into the night, we needed a place to crash. I can’t recall why we didn’t get a room someplace. Maybe it was that the city was booked or maybe we didn’t have the money to spend, but we didn’t stay in a room. Nito decided that he would call on that old “friend” "JS" that he had met while at SF State the year before. He had met her a handful of times, but since we had just spent hours getting tickets for her, unbenonced to her of course, we figured it was the least she could do. Did I mention that she lived in Berkley? I believe that the call took place around 11:30pm. Nito ran through all the circumstance that had brought us to need a room for the night and amazingly she agreed to let us stay with her. We piled back in the car again for the 45 min drive to Berkeley.

When we arrived at “JS’s” place we were greeted with a warm smile, however her roommate was not too pleased. In fact I remember the roomate being exceptionally pissed that we were there. I introduced myself and thanked her for letting a complete stranger into her house. After some short pleasantries we all decided to turn in. Nito slept on the hardwood floor and I on the couch in the living room. I was happy that the day was over and excited that we would be enjoying the concert the next day.

The next day we showed up at the Polo Grounds. It was magnificent. 50,000 people had poured into the giant bowl. It was a warm, beautiful day with maybe one or two clouds in the sky. The group was so amp’ed up to see Pearl Jam and you could see it in their eyes. JP, her guy friend, Nito, and I basked in the sun for hours as opening bands played. Bad Religion came and set the tone for a great concert.

The time had come; Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam took the stage. Eddie came stocked wearing a gray shirt and signature long hair-head held down low-eyes peering blankly out the top of his eyelids.

“All of a sudden, the band began "Spin the Black Circle" and all hell broke loose.”**

I went berserk. I was jumping up and down like a madman. They played with an intensity that I had never seen at a concert. Then onto “Animal”, “Not For You”, it was amazing. Then, not even a ½ hour into the concert the band stopped. Eddie grabbed the attention of everyone in the entire Polo Fields and dropped a bomb. He said that he was not feeling well and that he was going to go back stage and “rest” a while. In the mean time Neil Young was going to come out and play for us. I could nearly hear the agony of hearts being ripped from the chests of everyone there, including my own. “What? Sick? Wait, that can’t be, I drove 500 miles to be here. I hate Neil Young. No, it’s ok, Eddie will rest and come back to finish the set.” At least that’s what I told myself.

Neil Young played for two hours. He played “Rockin’ in the Free World”, TWICE. It was painful because they kept us there with false hopes of getting to see Eddie come back out. He didn’t. I don’t know if Pearl Jam ever made the show up to the San Francisco locals, but I didn’t see it. I never saw Eddie Vedder again. I never bought another Pearl Jam CD again. I turn the radio station still when a Pearl Jam song comes on. This is the day I drove 500 miles to see Neil Young.

**Thanks to Michael Goldberg of Live 105 for reminding of the facts of the day.