The green ribbon of sympathy identifies the true fan.

He or she has already been to Berlin, Zurich, Imola and probably dreams of traveling to Copenhagen, London, Vienna, Prague, Krakow or Amsterdam.

On Tuesday evening, however, the first destination is the Festhalle in Frankfurt, where the wristband guarantees access to a special circle right on the edge of the field.

In this case, the playing field is the big stage, in front of which the members of various fan clubs crowd, whose devotion does not belong to a sports club, but to a rock band, whose wanderlust can nonetheless be compared to any ground hopper.

Proud of every football stadium he visits for the first time, the ribbon bearers can now add the "crazy building" Festhalle to their list, as can most of Frankfurt,

Christian Riethmuller

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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It was in March 1992, at that time still in the old Batschkapp, whose roof would have had to be removed to squeeze in even one more soul, because everyone wanted to experience this grunge band from Seattle, whose debut album "Ten" released at the time was like one musical revelation and whose power has not diminished to this day, even if the nostalgia may exaggerate this feeling a little.

However, there is no trace of nostalgia when the band enters the stage shortly after 9 p.m. and the first notes of "Inside Job" ring out, a song that Pearl Jam has not yet played on the current tour, which makes the ribbon wearers happy.

Last but not least, they appreciate the fact that the group doesn't play the same set night after night, but always draws courageously from their extensive song catalog and also throws in one or the other cover version (in Frankfurt it's Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" ).

And when after "Animal" and "Last Exit" and thus after just three songs the whole hall is already raging, you immediately realize the power of this band, which doesn't even need a big show for it.

Two large video screens to the left and right of the stage are usually used to show the band in close-up while they are making music, only in very few cases is some film material recorded.

The focus is always on the music and Eddie Vedder's distinctive, often gently vibrating voice, which not only gives goosebumps in ballads like "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", but also the necessary bite for more eruptive songs like "Why Go" has, as the 57-year-old Vedder shows himself to be admirably agile, hops, dances and jumps.

He is only surpassed by restless lead guitarist Mike McCready, his own age, who is constantly on the move in his corner, as if not only Eddie Vedder's statement that he wants to have a good show should be backed up with action, but also the title of their most famous song will be the motto of the evening: "Alive".

Yes, they're still alive, unlike many of their peers from the grunge heyday, and they've long since outgrown the "here we are now, entertain us" expectation posited by Kurt Cobain.

Pearl Jam don't mind entertaining themselves, driving the crowd to the brink of ecstasy for two hours with smashers like "Jeremy", "Porch" or "State Of Love And Trust" or wowing them with a song of the century like "Indifference". To make them howl, because they can also formulate their concerns, which today no longer follow introspection, but now denounce the destruction of nature by humans, one of the themes of their last album "Gigaton", which was released two years ago.

They play four tracks from it in Frankfurt, including the bulky "Dance Of The Clairvoyants",

in which the otherwise hard-rocking band Pearl Jam is almost on the move in New Wave/post-punk realms, which may not appeal to everyone in the Festhalle wallowing in youthful memories, but probably underlines the fact that also in a of the greatest stadium and arena rock bands of our time continues to be musically innovative.

For this, too, people will be traveling after her for years to come and will be celebrating her in 2052 in the new Frankfurt multifunctional hall.