Pearl Jam put together a spectacular show last night in front of a full Gibson Amp (~6100 seats) in LA.

The concert opened really strong with Why Go, Animal, World Wide Suicide and Got Some which were just the beginning to a well performed, top-notch rock concert. Other than those four songs, the set list included 6 other songs from Backspacer (which is fantastic album), a mix of old songs from the all of their previous albums, including a few non-hits they normally don’t play like Rats.

Ben Harper who did the opening show, joined the band in the middle of the first encore and played Red Mosquito (video is from the Portland show) and his sliding guitar sounded fantastic and added plenty of depth to the song. The show ended, after almost 2.5 hours and two encores, with Neil Young’s classic Rockin’ in the free world.

The sound and acoustic the Gibson Amp provides is world class, and the stage & lightning design were extraordinary (pictures here). My only regret is that I left my Digital SLR at home and only had my iPhone with me to document it. At the seats I had those could have been amazing pictures.

Bottom line — The way Pearl Jam plays together, the way they interact with the fans, the way the fans participate in every song and sing all the lyrics, is what makes Pearl Jam the best (live) rock band in our generation.

Here’s a video another fan took last night of my favorite tracks from the new album, Unthought Known.