Voters For Choice Benefit-Pearl Jam, Neil Young, L7 January 14, 1995
Pearl Jam, Neil Young, L7- Voters for Choice benefit Constitution Hall, Washington DC 1/14/1995
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pearl-jam/1995/dar-constitution-hall-washington-dc-13d65d99.html
The minute my friends and I heard about this show we knew we had to go. During this timeframe, Pearl Jam was in an ongoing battle against service fees that ticketmaster added on to all tickets and was booking shows independent of them. So it was not like we could go to the local mall and sleep outside to get tickets. It was announced that they were doing a drawing where if you sent in a postcard and it was selected you would have the opportunity to purchase 2 tickets. My friends and I sent in hundreds of postcards and you guessed it NONE of the cards were selected. We were gutted but we went to Tower Records (RIP) and picked up an issue of the City Paper (also RIP) and when we got to the section where all the concerts were advertised we saw an ad that said “Pearl Jam tickets, if you got the money we got the tickets’”. We thought this was unusual because of the 2 ticket limit and the venue size so we did what any smart high school kids would do and we called up the Pearl Jam management number and provided them with all of the information. They said that they had been actively trying to find the people that broke into the box office and stole tickets. They were so grateful we reached out and called them about it that they offered us 4 tickets at face value (couldn’t give them away as it was a benefit show) we jumped at the offer.
The day of the show we headed off to DC early as we had to meet the bands manager at the historic Hay Adams hotel. We walked up and were totally out of place. We went to the desk and explained who we were there to meet and why. They called up and we were allowed up to their private floor! We got to the room and the manager was so awesome. He had our tickets and thanked us for helping them out and then apologized he couldn’t get 4 seats together. We didn’t care as long as we got in. We figured that we may as well hang out outside and maybe meet some of the band. Being January in DC, it was quite blustery and cold. We waited for a while and then all of the sudden Stone Gossard walks right by us, and we stopped him to say hi. He was amazing to us young high schoolers and even gave me an autograph. Jeff Ament pulled up in a cab and we yelled over to him, but he ran inside (pretty sure he thought we were paparazzi). We ran around the mall in DC for a bit and joked around. At one point we were chilling and out of nowhere a squirrel ran up to us and ran up my leg turned around and back down and took off. I still laugh about this with my friends to this day.
As it approached door opening time we worked our way over to the majestic Constitution Hall. If you have never been, it is a beautiful historic venue. We got inside and found out that our tickets were amazing seats. Two were in a private box and two were close floor seats. Walter and Jessy sat on the floor and Rachael and I sat in the box. After talking to the two other people in our box we found out that this was the box assigned to Gloria Steinem the head of the feminist majority and the host of the night! I am pretty sure she came to the box and we met her(its kind of a blurry memory).
The night started out with a short set from Lisa Germano. I remember enjoying her set as I had not really heard much from her I was pleasantly surprised. Next up L7!
They were/are one of my all time favorite bands so I was so excited to see them live for the first time! They did not disappoint. As usual they brought the intensity. The highlights of the set included “stuck here again” and “pretend we’re dead”. On the last song Jennifer Finch went topless and came and played the song while walking through the crowd. The Washington post said that it was “an apparent first for Constitution Hall, excepting National Geographic film/lectures”. Thanks for reporting on that and not the music Washington Post!
Next up was Neil Young. The godfather of grunge. I was pumped to see him play live. My two favorites of his set were “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and “Act of Love”. The later was a new song that was written with Pearl Jam as the backing band on his awesome album “Mirrorball”. This song would be played again that evening during Pearl Jam’s encore with Neil joining PJ. The crowd sang in unison to “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” “Hey Hey, My My Rock and Roll will never die”. I really enjoyed his set and was so excited to see Pearl Jam again.
Pearl Jam hit the stage to “Release” and the crowd went nuts and sang along to each and every word. Personally this is/was one of my favorites by them and used this song as a wake up on my alarm every morning in high school. I really enjoyed their set as they chose to steer clear of some of their biggest hits to date and instead played a very driving performance that helped drive home the message of the night. My favorite songs of the night included, “Spin the Black Circle”, “Not For You”, and “Deep”.
This was a one of a kind show. The entire experience was something I will never forget. The benefit made national news and brought light to a very important cause. I have attached pictures of my memorabilia from the day including my Stone Gossard autograph, Ticket, brochure, and Washington Post article.
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