I promise this will be the last off topic post for a while.

Sweet 16! In some cultures and in some families, turning 16 is a big deal. In fact, to some, turning 16 is bigger than any other birthday. I was not one of the families that did “Sweet 16s” so I never got to know the joy…….until Oct. 7th, 2009.

I boarded a plane in Seattle at about 10:30 am and was off.

I landed at 2:40 or so at terminal #1 in LAX and called my buddy Mike. He was at terminal#7. After getting the lay of the land, I walked to terminal #7 and met up with him. We chatted a bit, asked some hard core questions of the “friendly” LAX staff, MAJOR tongue in cheek meant there.

After discovering that one of the largest airports in the world lack simple lockers to store stuff, we were on our way, without our pillows. I will get to that later.

We hopped a cab and were off to Universal Studios. $87.00 and an hour later we arrived. Those of you that have not visited Los Angeles lately would not know what I am talking about, but the “City Walk” that is adjacent to Universal Studios is amazing. It is like an outdoor mall with awesome restaurants.

We stashed our pillows behind a potted plant and we went to get our tickets to the greatest show on Earth, Pearl Jam. (We spent the night in the Airport and the pillows SURE would have made things better……..they were not there when we came back to claim them……BOO HOO!)

My buddy Mike went to the box office to claim his club seats and we waited with anticipation as to where the random ticket selection would position us. Would we be Mike side? Stone side? Back of the arena? Where?

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we would be 7th row, ALMOST DEAD CENTER.

We went out into the City Walk to prepare for what might be the best show I will see in my lifetime. It will probably be the closest I will ever be to my favorite band of all time.

So we settle into our seats just before showtime and they take the stage. We are so close that I can read the troop number off of Eddies Cub Scout uniform that he wears to the stage. I am about to see my sweet 16th from the best seats I have ever had.

They open with “Long Road” and blaze through a 19 song first set that leaves me practically exhausted. Hits like “Even Flow” “Animal” “Hail Hail” “Got Some” “Why Go” and others.

They sprinkle some deep cuts in there too for, as Eddie put it, “The Savvy collector.” Tunes that I had never heard live before like “All Those Yesterdays” and “Untitled” took the night in an unexpected direction.

I was basking in the glow through the set break when they came back out and blasted me with a second set closing that included “Reign O’er Me” (A Who cover that they absolutely ROCK) “Jazz Odyssey” (Just for those Spinal Tap fans) and “Blood.”

The last encore saw “State of Love and Trust” one of my personal favs that I had not heard in quite some time and another first for me, MC5s “Kick Out The Jams” with Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell on guitar.

The show ended in a flurry with “Alive” and “Indifference” closing the show.

I can’t tell you that this was the best set list I had ever seen, it was fantastic, but might not be the best. I can also tell you that it was one of the best experiences ever being that close and feeling the energy that the crow fed the band and the band back as us.

It was an amazing time and a great way to celebrate the “sweet 16th.”

Here is to another 16 in the future! THANK YOU PEARL JAM FOR THE GREAT YEARS!

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